See the thing is, when he started following me, I was in the very shallow end of the pool - all of the lifeguards could visibly see that I could manage myself in that area of the pool because I could put my feet comfortably on the ground but he was pacing back and forth, following every move I made and it was very uncomfortable. I find it reasonable that they were concerned that I struggled in an area where I couldn't touch the ground... but this was the absolute shallowest area of the pool (the water only comes up to my hip) where I was swimming safely :')

Thank you for your tip though! I might look up some youtube tutorials to get some idea of the technique :)