Pink Patrol is a Life Saving Victoria campaign acknowledging and celebrating the many contributions women past and present have played in lifesaving. Pink Patrol aims to empower future generations of women and girls to confidently undertake operational and broader leadership roles within lifesaving and the aquatic industry.  Learn more about Pink Patrol.

Meet Rosie Lieschke

Yarra Leisure Operations and Aquatics Coordinator, Rosie Lieschke, has been working in the lifesaving and aquatics industry for nearly 10 years, pursuing her passion and growing her skills along the way.

“I started working in the lifesaving industry the way a lot of people do, in high school, coming off being a competitive swimmer, and working with a swim club. Then I joined the club’s teaching staff in the learn to swim program,” Rosie explained. “I was a swim teacher for two years before I became a lifeguard.”

Lifeguarding introduced Rosie to a wider view of the aquatic industry and her interest in lifesaving and aquatics grew.  “I trained as a duty manager over the next couple of years and progressed from there,” she said.

Through her different lifesaving roles, Rosie discovered a passion for community engagement and water safety education.

“Lifesaving is a role where women can branch out, be involved on a larger scale within the community and gain leadership and teamwork skills,” Rosie explained.

“Progressing into team leader and coordinator roles allowed me to move from public education to staff training and my involvement with Life Saving Victoria.”

While there are many opportunities for progression in the industry, there are also challenges for people in lifesaving to face.

“Some lifesavers never face a critical emergency, and that is amazing, but when you do it can be quite confronting,” she said. “It took me a while to learn how to separate the pressure of knowing the worst can happen from not anticipating it,” she said. “I learnt to trust in my training and my team to ensure the safety of pool users.”

Rosie also talked about the rising incidents of confrontation and aggression towards lifeguards as one of the biggest challenges lifesavers must face.

“People come to the pool or beach to have fun, and ‘fun’ and ‘safe’ don’t always align the way they would like,” Rosie explained. “Having to be strong and confident enough to talk to people and enforce safety rules has become increasingly challenging in recent years and it does put people off the role.”

With Royal Life Saving Australia (RLSA) data showing more than 2,000 incidents of abuse, violence, and aggression directed at staff working in aquatic facilities across Australia every year, patron behaviour is possibly the most difficult challenge faced by those in lifesaving.

Safety awareness and education campaigns such as RLSA’s recent Keep your cool at the pool are in place to highlight the importance of respectful patron behaviour towards both staff and other patrons.

“There are many avenues and areas of lifesaving,” Rosie said.

“Whether you get involved on the beach in a volunteer capacity or pool in a paid capacity, it’s an amazingly community-based environment. There are many avenues for continued professional growth and a supportive and strong environment for women to develop skills, in a rewarding setting where you can have such a positive impact on another person’s life.”