Turning Junior Surf Kids Into Fully-Fledged Lifeguards

urning Junior Surf Kids Into Fully-Fledged Lifeguards

15 Dec 2014 11:49 am | Sheldon Nesdale

Six years ago Opotiki’s Surf Lifesaving Club was in danger of running out of lifeguards.

Their small group of teenage lifeguards, including Kayla Cronin, were all about to leave town for tertiary study.

And with only seven junior surf members enrolled, there was no-one to take their place.

The club decided to create a new position of ‘Lifeguard Manager’ to help turn things around, and it was an opportunity that Kayla couldn’t resist.

She has since transformed the club’s fortunes, and this season over 70 local children aged 4 to 13 years have enrolled in Opotiki’s junior surf programme.

“If those families keep coming each year then hopefully those kids will stay and train to become lifeguards when they’re teenagers. That’s what we’re trying to encourage,” Kayla says.

Around six new lifeguards have joined the club’s ranks each year since 2011, and this season there are 14 people undergoing the intensive training to qualify.

Dedicated role

Opotiki Surf Lifesaving committee member Andrew Taylor says having Kayla available for 30 hours a week to take control of the junior surf programme has made all the difference.

“We have a lot of difficulty maintaining an active adult membership so we really need to keep the young ones coming through,” he says.

“Kayla has done a wonderful job taking control of this programme and communicating with all the parents. It’s given our club a huge advantage and taken the burden off the parent volunteers.”

This year BayTrust has given $5000 towards Kayla’s wages – nearly half of what’s required to keep the position up and running.

“Having a dedicated Lifeguard Manager has certainly helped our club remain viable,” Andrew says.

“The continuity we have had with Kayla being available each year has been great too, although now she has finished her teacher training she’s looking for fulltime work. When she leaves we will begin looking to recruit another manger to take her place.”

On duty

Andrew says Opotiki is a safe, family-friendly swimming beach, and in the peak of summer several hundred people can be in the water at any one time.

“It’s a relatively long, open beach. We encourage people to swim in front of the clubhouse where our patrols are set up every Sunday but there’s certainly a range of beach spots where people can swim or have a picnic at,” he says.

“Our IRBs often get called out to rescue boaties too, particularly at our harbour entrance which has a bar. That’s where most of our IRB rescues come from.”

Club growing stronger

Thanks to the work Kayla has done building up the club’s junior membership, Opotiki is now able to send nippers and younger lifeguards away to competitions where they can mix with other clubs around the country.

“For an area like ours it’s really important for them to get out and see what other clubs are doing and interact with other lifeguards,” Andrew says.

“Last year we had a team go to the national champs for the first time in some years and it really boosted their confidence. They’re already planning to compete in the next one.”

The post Turning Junior Surf Kids Into Fully-Fledged Lifeguards appeared first onBayTrust.org.nz.

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