Saturday 15 July was the night of nights for surf life saving on the Sunshine Coast with the Sunshine Coast Awards of Excellence Gala held at the Maroochy RSL.
The night showcased and celebrated the achievements of the 15 Sunshine Coast Surf Life Saving Clubs (SLSC) and their members throughout the 2022-2023 Surf Lifesaving season.
Awards categories consisted of membership, lifesaving dervices, club, community and innovation, surf sports and branch awards.
Noosa Heads SLSC took out the top award with Club of the Year for its ongoing support of Peregian Beach SLSC over eight years and successfully handing it back to its newly formed committees and members.
They were awarded for its implementation of a jet ski service to assist patrols for the 23-24 season, successfully patrolling over 10km of beach including the national park and it’s Seahorse Nippers inclusive program, which has been running for over 10 years and is now the foundation for a national inclusive program, and for its education of over 3000 school and community members through its Community Education program, cementing its holistic approach to keeping the community safe.
Ross Fisher, president, life member and life governor said, “Being recognised as Club of the Year is my most proud moment as president.
“This award acknowledges all the members, committees and staff’s commitment to the community and to delivering the best frontline service as possible.”
Another top honour went to Joey Glassock as the U18 Junior Lifesaver of the Year.
This season Joey has been involved at all levels.
At a club level Joey patrolled 69.75 hours and obtained his QLD SSV Operators, Silver Medallion IRB Driver and First Aid Certificate.
With these new skills, Joey was keen to help and assisted as an IRB Driver for external events which required water safety.
He was also heavily involved in surf rescue where he and team partner Jessie Lloyd-Stewart won the Sunshine Coast Branch Open First Aid, at the QLD State Championships, they won Gold in the Mixed Open First Aid Competition and at the Australian Championships Joey and Jessie received Bronze in the Open Mixed Firsts Aid Competition.
At the Sunshine Coast Branch, Joey was selected as a camp leader for Camp Commando where Joey had a group of participants in the U14 and U15 age groups which he supported and coordinated over the three-day program.
Steve Crisp was awarded Assessor of the Year for volunteering over 200 hours in operation support, RWC training, club training, and patrol hours.
His dedication has directly contributed to the Noosa Heads, Sunshine Beach Surf Life Saving Clubs and Sunshine Coast Branch in upskilling its members through IRB and RWC courses.
Jenny Glassock won Official of the Year for her ongoing dedication and passion to surf sports and the surf lifesaving movement.
This season Jenny officiated at all levels from club, branch, state and the Australian Titles over in Perth across the junior and senior disciplines. She attended 22 days this season ranging in roles from a technical official, marshall and assessor for Nipper, Senior and Masters events.
“The individual awards recognise the hard work and commitment by these members who go beyond for others,” Mr Fisher said.
The club also took out the Junior and Youth Club of the Year for successfully running the Nippers program which sees 650 nippers, 50 age managers/ parent liaisons and over 40 water safety assistants run Nippers each Sunday.
Noosa Next Wave continued to provide opportunities and programs for its 13 years to 17 years to ensure members leaving nippers had structure to continue their surf life saving journey.
“We run a junior activities program as big as a primary school,” Mr Fisher said.
“This program produces our next lifesavers and ensures our sustainability. All awards combined showcase the club culture to serve the community.”
Noosa Heads SLSC and the individual award winners will now progress to the Surf Life Saving QLD awards to be announced in September.
