Bradley Beach native Claire Cooperman swims through life as a lifeguard

By:  | August 5, 2024 |  Meet Your Neighbor |  Monmouth County

By Ryan Loughlin

To many, the job of a lifeguard seems idyllic. Days spent high on the tower, people-watching while basking in the sun’s rays, surrounded by the most gorgeous of seascapes, only to be broken up by the occasional slow-mo Baywatch-style jog down the sand. The lifeguard is the envy of everyone who ever failed a basic swimming lesson at their town pool as a kid. But does the fantasy match reality?

Not always. In case it wasn’t obvious already, being an ocean lifeguard comes with a massive level of responsibility, the kind that most of us mere mortals simply could not handle. But then again, we can’t all be Claire Cooperman.

Cooperman – a recent graduate of Communications High School in Wall Township – works summers as an ocean lifeguard in her hometown of Bradley Beach. The antithesis of the lazy teenager stereotype, she effortlessly fills her days with everything from poetry and guitar to crocheting and lacrosse, all crammed in between regular shifts spent guarding the lives of every carelessly splashing man, woman and child who chooses to enter the raging sea without so much as a pair of water wings to keep them afloat.

We had a chance to sit down with Cooperman to chat about what guarding the beaches each day is all about. Here’s what she had to say:

Community Magazine: You became an ocean lifeguard when you were still in high school. What made you want to take on a job with so much responsibly at such a young age?

Claire Cooperman: I grew up at the beach and I loved the water and being in the ocean and I had a lot of younger cousins and was always watching them in the water. So, I got very comfortable with the ocean, and I wanted to work at the beach because it’s a really great environment to be in.

CM: What has been your most memorable experience as a lifeguard?

CC: This year, myself and another lifeguard are helping out with the Bradley Beach Junior Lifeguards, running the 7-11 program. So, in the mornings we run and teach them things about the tides and the ocean. We did a surf dash where the kids learned how to enter and exit the water, how to paddleboard and we also have tournaments that we go to with the kids, so that has been really fun!

CM: What is the most dangerous thing you see people do at the beach that they might not realize is risky?

CC: Something I see people do a lot is dive into the water without knowing the depth, which is really dangerous for spinal injuries. Also, swimming by the jetty is very dangerous. People think they can grab onto the rocks [on the jetty] if they aren’t great at swimming, but those rocks are very slippery and there are actually a lot of rip currents in that area as well.

CM: Have you ever seen a shark while guarding the beach?

CC: No, I haven’t. I have seen dolphins and whales though, and I just saw a seal that was right in the bathing grounds where people were swimming!

CM: You work in Bradley Beach. Are any of the specific beaches in town more challenging than others to guard?

CC: I mainly sit on the north and the south ends of town. I am not in the middle too much. The south end is busier, so there are more people to watch, which makes it tough, but every beach has a different landscape with rip currents in different areas. McCabe and Second avenues each have pipes that you have to worry about and things like that. They move the new lifeguards around a lot though, so they become familiar with all the beaches.

CM: You are leaving for college in the fall. Do you think you will still work as a lifeguard in the summers after this?

CC: I’m not sure. It’s a good job because with college my summer will start earlier [than it did in high school], so I will be there for the start of the summer. Being in high school, it was kinda tough, because they would always start three or four weeks before my school year was over. So, it was hard to go to school five days a week and then also work both days of the weekend, but once I am in college maybe it will be a little easier. So I guess we will see!