My first contact was at the tryout. You must be able to swim 500 meters in less than 10 minutes and run .5 miles in less than 3 minutes. Everyone who passed the tryout was able to attend marine rescue academy - a lengthy and time consuming training course. It was four weeks long, met three days a week (Tues-Thurs) for classroom time and a workout and on Sundays almost the whole day for a little more class time and a LOT more physical training. At the end of the course, there is a written exam, a physical exam (the Gauntlet), and an oral exam as well as an interview. Everyone in my class who made it to exam day was hired.