As relentless, crashing waves pummeled the shores of Seabright Beach in Santa Cruz, Calif., over the weekend, churning up sand and turning the surf into a salty foam, a teenage lifeguard with an unrelenting grip pulled, dragged and lifted a young boy from the water to bring him to safety.

A video captured the save and showed bystanders rushing into the surf in an attempt to help as violent waves sent the lifeguard and the boy under the water multiple times. Claps broke out as the lifeguard, with the help of another person, pulled the boy to the shore.

“You never see panic,” said Tom Gill, president of the United States Lifesaving Association, after watching the video. “He does such a good job maintaining contact with the victim and understanding the situation and what he has to do to maintain safety.”

Mr. Gill, who has been a lifeguard in Virginia Beach for more than three decades, also noted that the rescue had involved little to no equipment. Although the lifeguard appeared to have a buoy with him, he did not manage to get the flotation device around the victim.

“This was really simply a human helping a human,” Mr. Gill said.

The video of the rescue quickly spread through social media, drawing the attention of President Trump, who said he wanted to honor the lifeguard at the White House.

“Very brave, he deserves it!” Mr. Trump wrote in a post on X.

Ryder Williams, the lifeguard, described the moments leading up to the rescue in a statement shared by the California State Parks agency on Wednesday. He said that after he saw a child lose his footing in the water, he threw his radio and sunglasses at the base of the tower where he was stationed and ran toward the boy.

The water’s volatility made it difficult to pull the victim out, Mr. Williams said. Two to three more waves hit before he and another lifeguard could pull the child to shore.

“I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to return the child to his family safely,” Mr. Williams said. “This is my job and I love what I do.”

The child was pulled from the ocean without serious injuries and released to his family, a parks spokeswoman said.

The National Weather Service said storms across the Pacific this summer had resulted in a very active southerly swell season along the California coastline, which can contribute to record high tides.

“The ocean may appear that it’s seemingly tranquil, but know that there’s a lot of energy still moving in the water,” said Cynthia Palmer, a meteorologist.

In June, two Bay Area college students died after they were swept from a beach near Santa Cruz. A few days earlier, a 5-year-old girl died after she was swept into the sea at Laguna Beach.

Scott Vander Dussen, who captured the video of Mr. Williams rescuing the boy last weekend, said in an interview that it was the thunderous booms of the waves that had prompted him to look out at the water and notice the boy drifting. Onlookers were pointing at the boy and screaming. Mr. Vander Dussen said he alerted a lifeguard, who told him someone was already on the rescue.

That day, the National Weather Service had warned of elevated surf and hazardous conditions along the Pacific Coast. The agency said beaches across the San Francisco Bay Area faced an increased risk of rip currents and sneaker waves — fast-moving walls of water that can arrive without warning and surge farther up the beach than other waves in a set. Breaking waves could reach up to 10 feet, the service warned.

Lifeguards with the California State Parks’ Santa Cruz District made 34 rescues over the weekend, officials said.

Sumit Rai, the father of the boy who was rescued, said “it’s a miracle” his 10-year-old son was alive. Mr. Rai, who is separated from his wife and lives in Texas, said his son and his 8-year-old daughter were vacationing with their mother in California. Mr. Rai said he had learned about what happened in a phone call that night from his children, whom he described as “extremely” close.

“To watch her brother go through a near-death experience is not a small thing,” Mr. Rai said.

Mr. Rai said he didn’t sleep for several nights after the phone call and described himself as the “biggest fan” of the lifeguard who saved his son.

Wyatt Werneth, a spokesman for the American Lifeguard Association, said he hoped the recognition from the president would help elevate lifeguards to the status of other emergency responders.

“We sometimes get overlooked,” Mr. Werneth said. “What this young man exhibited is the true ethos of lifeguards.”

Amy Graff contributed reporting.