Not only is Junior Activities a fun way for children to enjoy the beach in a safe environment, it also offers an educational pathway through the delivery of Surf Life Saving Australia’s Junior Development Program. We call it ‘surf ed’.
This program is designed to ensure children have fun at the beach while participating in lessons that provide them with a pathway into lifesaving and sport activities.
As part of the Nipper program, children have the opportunity to gain a Junior Development Award each season:
U6 SURF PLAY / U7 SURF PLAY 2
- Learn beach awareness and water safety
- Beach activities to emphasise games and group participation
- Water activities that are limited to shallow water near the water’s edge
- No competition other than participating in fun games. They will learn event rules by the time they enter the Under 8 (sprints, flags, wade & relays)
- Equal attention to water and beach events
U8 SURF AWARE 1
- Learn surf and sun safety, signals and feel safe.
- Wading, duck diving, grabbing sand under waves
- Board paddling, catching broken waves, correct board position, change direction
- Understand rules; demonstrate sprint, flags, wade and relay
- Recall surf awareness information and basic emergency care procedures
- Perform introductory self-rescue skills
- Complete Run-Wade-Run and improve confidence in the surf
- Equal attention to water and beach events
- Develop basic skills in events and have basic knowledge of the rules
- Ability to train in a group situation and understand training terminology
U9 SURF AWARE 2
- All of Surf Aware 1 plus;
- Learn surf and sun safety, signals and feel safe, wave types, rips and basic First Aid
- Catch broken waves from standing, swim in surf head down
- Board starts with skim, sit/pop, eskimo roll, able to correct board position
- Develop technique in beach events, able to do relay changeovers at speed
- Complete Run-Swim-Run and improve confidence in the surf
U10 SURF SAFE 1
- All of Surf Aware 1 and 2 plus;
- Learn Sun Safety, Signals, feel safe, wave types, rips, basic First Aid and CPR
- Catching unbroken waves from swimming, swim to back break with confidence and speed, slipstream
- Continue to advance skills in all events, knowledge of tactics in flags and wade
U11 SURF SAFE 2
- Learn Surf & Sun Safety, Signals, feel safe, wave types, rips, basic First Aid and CPR
- Apply surf awareness information & operate communications systems
- Provide emergency care (First Aid & CPR Training)
- Complete Run-Swim-Run
- Catch unbroken wave, swim in pack with head down, know when to wade/duck dive
- Introduce board rescue skills, angle across wave, chasing runners
- Beach relay changes at speed, correct sprint starts, correct flags technique and dive
- Begin to concentrate more on specific area (beach/water) but still train at both
- Work on ‘intermediate skills’ and have reasonable knowledge of rules
- Begin moderate endurance training to help with Iron and extra events now available
U12 SURF SMART 1
- All of Surf Safe 2 plus;
- Hold body wave using arm, correct wading
- Advanced board rescue skills, negotiate surf using correct choices, late take offs
- Speed drills introduced, fine tune skills on beach
U13 SURF SMART 2
- All of Surf Safe 2 and Surf Smart 1 plus;
- Learn Surf & Sun Safety, signals, feel safe, wave types, rips, basic First Aid and CPR
- Provide serious trainers with log book to monitor training
- Understand competitive pathways from Junior to Senior (Branch – State – National)
- Swim, board and beach – technique and skill acquisition becomes more individual and correlated to carnival performance
U14 SURF RESCUE CERTIFICATE (SRC)
- All of the above plus;
- Must be 13 years of age on assessment date for the SRC
- Operate communications systems and equipment
- Work in a team
- Communicate in the beach environment
- Participate in an aquatic rescue operation
- Demonstrate resuscitation skills