Youth Opportunity Makers Camp
By Jerome Dillon-Baker
This year I was invited by Coogee SLSC to attend a NSW run lifesaving camp that focused on leadership. I really enjoyed this camp because it let me interact with people from the furthest stretches of NSW.
Throughout the duration of the camp we took part in various leadership building exercises that taught us how we could start something for the youth in our Club, basically something like the Blueys. As we already have such a strong youth system in our Club I tried to put forward ideas that could help other clubs start their own version of the Blueys. On the flip side, it was very interesting for me to speak to people who were my age or a little bit older who took on roles such as patrol captains or IRB captains in their own clubs.
As a group we decided to look to in the future and found that we agreed a good goal was to break the age barriers that are currently in SLS - because we believe many kids are just as good or better as their adult counterparts.
One of the activities we did, which was probably the funnest, was a number of sessions on building a surf club within a branch. This comprised 4 teams - one Yellow SLSC, one Red SLSC, one Green SLSC and one Blue SLSC. As the branch of 'Rainbow Bay' we had to work with each other to set up our clubs. This included things such as dividing the allocated number of patrolling members between nippers, competitors and even resources such as IRBs, boards, Jet Skis and ATV. We also had to define what type of club we were ie Lifesaving, competition, youth etc which took a lot of thought. I took a lot away from this particular exercise as it gave me a look into how many different aspects there were when running a club.
This camp has taught me a lot and I have built really awesome friendships with people from all along the coastline, and hopefully next season we will be able to work together to possibly organise inter-branch activities such as beach exchanges for our youth members which will add another exciting aspect to Surf Life Saving. In the near future I and many members of my group hope to return to these types of camp to help instruct them because I believe these camps are one of the most useful tools that SLSNSW can use to develop our youth.
Patrol Comp wrap-up
Thank you all PCs for organising your teams so well to attend the Patrol Competition in some interesting and variable weather conditions combined, as usual, with our traditional Coogee Surf easing over the reef (or Lake Lice as it should probably be known).
After a sluggish Sunday morning start, some good natured ribbing and a call to the line, the general thrill of competition took hold and game faces were brought to bare. There were many polite offers of advice (read sledging) between the teams, and there were some motivational gems urging unlikely performance improvements based on blood/alcohol ratios and limited sleep. Pod's camp fire style psyche session clearly an example of this although the confused looks on the faces of P6 was a treat to behold.
We had a total of 78 members across 12 teams turn out to compete for this prestigious award which made a mighty fine sight as all contended the run swim run, everyone finishing with smiles and energy to burn - a season's worth of training quite evident amongst those in the show.
Two heats and a final for the board rescue event showed some raw talent amongst our youngsters giving some of the older members a lesson in how it should be done.
The 2-station CPR show drew some healthy interest from those patrols waiting their turn and I'm glad to say provided our competitors opportunity to shine in the less glorified activity - well done all.
Finally, the PC's race drew a number of stand ins along with the usual suspects making the finish a little challenging to judge - footage is still being reviewed but the judges (and some token still shots) clearly gave the top 6 places.
Fabulous performances by everyone on the day and I hope a great time had by all involved. I know I had a great sense of pride in seeing so many wanting to be included and the wonderful camaraderie amongst the teams. It is clearly evident that our Club strength continues to build in all things Lifesaving - let's hope this provides our fantastic Patrol Competition team further motivation in their goal of a medal at the National Championships.
The marks are now in and these along with the various forms of patrol activity feedback (keep those coming), patrol inspection reports (scenarios, etc) will all be tallied and go toward the final result handed down at the end of the season.
~ Dave Winkle, Club Captain
Patrols
Patrols will start this year on Saturday 24th September, 2011.
The 2011/2012 Patrol roster is now available
You can also look in the Calendar or download the calendar from Download Calendar
I can't make my Patrol
If you cannot perform a rostered patrol for what ever reason, you should find a substitute and swap your patrol with another member.
If you cannot find a substitute, then please notify your Patrol Captain, the Registrar or Club Captain before the patrol. The more notice the better.
Patrol Handbook
Download the 2011/2012 season Patrol Handbook for more information on the club and your patrolling obligations. Log into the members only section and click on downloads to download the patrol handbook.
Proficiency Dates
IRB Crew and Driver
Coogee Beach Boat Shed
Sat 17th Dec at Coogee @ 7am
Bronze, Spinal and SRC
Coogee Surf Club downstairs
Sun 23rd Oct @ 9am Sun 20th Nov @ 9am
Sat 17th Dec @ 9am
ARTC nights
Coogee Surf Club downstairs
Wednesday 19th October @ 7pm
Wednesday 14th December @ 7pm
