A Kiwi Christmas

Huntington Beach Junior Lifeguards get ready for educational exchange and competition in New Zealand.Summertime weather, sunshine until 9 p.m. and, with any luck, a brilliant display of crimson flowers covering Pohutakawa trees along the coastline will be some of the sights awaiting 32 members of the Huntington Beach Junior Lifeguard program.

It’s going to be a Kiwi Christmas, after all, and the phrase, “Hari Kirihimete,” which means “Merry Christmas” in Maori, is a greeting sure to meet the youngsters when they arrive in Auckland, New Zealand.

The junior lifeguards are traveling down under Christmas Day to take part in an educational exchange with their Kiwi brethren.

The trip marks the ninth time the junior lifeguard programs from both countries have participated in an educational exchange.

“It’s a competition exchange, a cultural trip and an educational journey, all in one,” said Brooke Fleming, a Huntington Beach Junior Lifeguard instructor and coach who is in her 10th year as a city lifeguard.

Fleming, 27, is making her first trip to New Zealand.

“Everyone is really excited and it’s going to be an amazing experience for these kids,” she said. “They’ll get to take part in some great competitions and experience the county and its lifestyle.”

Last summer, Huntington Beach played host to junior lifeguards from Tairua, which is near the top of New Zealand’s North Island.

Next summer, junior lifeguards from Piha, New Zealand’s most famous surf beach on the west coast of the North Island, will come to Surf City.

Mike Eich, who, along with Dave Simcox, coordinates the Huntington Beach Junior Lifeguard program, said the educational exchanges began in 1979 and “reinforce the differences in lifesaving techniques worldwide.”

Emphasis, Eich said, is placed on cultural differences and, to a lesser extent, competition.

In years past, Huntington teams have exchanged students with Australia and New South Wales.

During the upcoming trip to New Zealand, Huntington students will be “billeted” with other junior lifeguards their own age.

When the students from Piha come to Huntington in early July, they will stay with families of the Huntington students who are going on the upcoming trip to New Zealand.

Fleming, three other coaches and three chaperons will accompany the team on the trip, which ends with a return flight home on Jan. 9.

The 32 members of the Huntington entourage have participated in the junior lifeguard program for a minimum of three years, with most having five to seven years of experience. They live in Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley and Costa Mesa.

To land a spot on the Huntington team, potential members had to get two letters of recommendation and survive a few grueling rounds of interviews.

The team was selected nearly a year ago, Eich said. To cover the cost of the trip -- estimated at $2,500 per person -- the 32 members took part in several fundraising events -- including working the Pacific Shoreline Marathon, selling pancake breakfast tickets, silent auctions and, most recently, the sale of the program’s 2006 calendar.

Jenna Shively, 14, who has been with the program for six years, said she raised $2,400 through calendar sales. The basket she made for the auction -- containing a junior lifeguard scholarship and various junior lifeguard clothing items -- went for nearly $700.

“Friends of our family had been to New Zealand and from what they told us, it sounded like a pretty cool trip,” the Edison High School freshman said. “There are so many things that I’m looking forward to on this trip, one of them being that I have the chance to train and become a certified lifeguard in New Zealand. It’s going to be an amazing experience.”

Jake Schwartz, 16, a student at Corona del Mar High, also will be making the trip and echoed Shively’s enthusiasm.

Schwartz, who said he’s been with the program for nine years, said he picked up on quite a few things from the Kiwi students who came last summer to Huntington.

“They really, really are a laid-back people,” he said. “They have a good work ethic and are athletic and good guards.

“For me, the entire experience of going to New Zealand is what’s exciting,” he added. “Meeting people, seeing the scenery, seeing how their lifeguard program runs, those are things that will make this a great, great experience.

“It’s going to be a fun Christmas.”20051215irgs16kn(LA)Guards Michelle Powell, Tamara Driessen, Tom Shields and Gus Hamborg sprint during ocean training. They are among 32 members of the Huntington Beach Junior Lifeguards leaving for New Zealand on Christmas Day.