In a season where we have had no competition available, on the 28th of November, Maroubra SLSC put together an R&R & March Past Carnival which would be our first comp event of the season.

MARCH PAST
Our Junior March Past Team with limited preparation managed to win the event with some good team work, although we have plenty to improve on leading in to Branch & the State Championships next year.

Special thanks to Georgie Kiernan, who at short notice agreed to march with the team and help us secure 1st Place! She is a natural!

R&R
We had 8+ teams representing our club compete successfully in the R&R event. These teams were mainly from our U12/U13 age groups. Considering the limited preparation (same as MP), our teams did us proud.

We are keen to see more interest from our nippers into R&R, particularly from our younger groups, like our U10/U11s.
Looking forward to having more of you involved in R&R, some carnivals are in the horizon, and hopefully (within the restrictions) we will be able to participate, we are also looking forward to the Branch and State Championships.
So if you believe you have what it takes and are interested in representing our club, please contact Corrine Henville (our R&R coach) or see me on any Sunday, alternatively.

Go South Maroubra!!!

George Alexiou
MP & R&R Competition Coordinator

On the morning of the 28th of November at Dee Why, five competitors from South Maroubra ushered in the dawn of a new era.
For the first time in a number of years, the South Maroubra cap was seen on the start line at an Opens Carnival. It was an impressive sight. Even more impressive were the results that followed. The Sydney Northern Beaches Branch is an extremely competitive environment. Throw in some competition from Cooks Hill and others from the Hunter Branch and you have yourself a red hot field. That was the case today, both metaphorically and literally.

The age groups were split into two, Opens and U15.
We only had competitors for the U15 age group, most from our u14s group, Kane in the u15s.
​We’ll fill the older age groups as the seasons progress.
Representing you today were Lillie & Sienna in the girls; Kane, Luini and Charlie in the boys.
In all, there were 7 races available to each of them. The racing was intense. Over and done within a couple of hours. With the training our team have been doing, this sort of racing suited them down to a T.
There were even a few decent sets rolling in to make things interesting.

In the girls there was a field of 37 competitors requiring a couple of heats for the board, but straight out finals for the surf race.
Sienna posted results of 2nd, 7th, 8th, 6th & 7th in the board races, and 13th & 19th in surf races. Lillie was similarly consistent with her performances today finishing 3rd, 4th, 5th, 5th & 4th in the board, 16th & 13th in the surf races. What must be remembered here, and for the boys also, is our team may be giving away up to 18 months in age to those they were racing against. To record these results, our team should be really proud of themselves.

The boys posted results that were just as impressive. Kane only participated in the board races today. Considering it was his first carnival since last season's State Championships,  I think he surprised himself with his results, recording finishes of 10th, 6th, 13th, 8th & 10th. With a few more sessions & carnivals under his belt, expect to see a lot more top 6 finishes from Kane.
Luini, still waiting on the arrival of his new board, recorded finishes of 13th, 16th, 16th , 10th & 16th. It was however in the swim where he excelled with finishes of 11th and 18th out of a field 47 starters.
Finally to Charlie. I don’t think there are too many competitors who can read the surf as well as Charlie. Whether it be finding an easy way out to the cans or jagging a wave from nowhere, you can be pretty sure Charlie will be amongst it. He recorded outstanding results of 2nd, 4th, 7th, 7th & 4th in the board race, 8th & 6th in the surf race and 3rd in the dash for cash surf race. He was unlucky not to grab the win in this race. Maybe next time Charlie.

In all races today, there was no competitor from any club who won races by any significant distance. Each race was up for grabs right to the end and our competitors were right in the mix for all events.

All in all, it was an impressive first up effort from these five competitors at an Opens carnival. I look forward to future events when we need more than one tent on the beach to shade our team.

Thanks to Shane and Darren for managing the group.

Go South Maroubra!!

Marty Kiernan
Coaching Coordinator

​Our youth group, led by the club's Youth Coordinator Maria Garay, is currently participating in The Mental Fitness Program, a program designed for high-school aged children by the Black Dog Institute in collaboration with the Australian Institute of Sports.

The Program includes two x face to face presentations, and kicked off on  Monday 26 October 2020. We had over 30 cadet members from our club attending the first presentation.

The team has been given the six week challenge to be completed and then come back in early December to our club for the second face to face presentation. This time, the AIS will have a well known athlete that will deliver the last part of the program. At the end of this session, the team will enjoy a social get together with pizzas provided by Dominos Matraville.

This part of the season, we have moved from Oz-Tag to Mixed Netball, our team, 'The Baywatch' is participating and representing our club at the Mixed Netball Competition run at Heffron Park, the team has had so much fun, great social evening, building team work, friendships and camaraderie.

The competition section has also invited our youth members that are interested in competing and representing our club to meet them at our club this Sunday at 9:30AM.

Our youth boaties are hard at training with Captain Phil, keep an eye out for their development.

We are looking forward to see many of our youth also attending the first 'Sunday Swim' this Sunday 8/11/2020, it'll be great fun, for more details, please go here

For further information, please email us on [email protected]

What a busy couple of months we have had.

The committee has been working hard, getting the training program setup for the season, recruiting members that are interested in representing our club at competition, bringing past traditions back to our club and many other things.

Training has commenced in all aspect of competition, please email Maria shoul you need some information or are keen to attend these sessions.

We had a team of our Masters (Dave Lowlett, Nathan Goldschmidt, Stephen Fraser and Tim Jeffreys) representing our club at the Inaugural Bate-Bay Coolangatta Gold at Wanda at the beginning of October, the team did exceptionally well coming third in their division, a great result considering the course an the conditions.

Whitey and Dubbo have also been working hard supported by Maria, our reliable section Secretary, they are bringing back one of our old traditions, 'Sunday Swims'. Details can be found here.

This Sunday (8/11/2020) we invite all members that hold a current SRC (cadets) or BM that are interested in representing our club at competition in Surf and/or Sand races to meet the committee in the Heritage Room at 9:30AM. We want you!!

Captain Phil has been busy training his crews have been busy at training, attending carnivals and also hosting State of Origin 1. From the whole room, only our president was happy with the result, great event with large numbers attending.

Our IRB team has also been busy training and training, always fine tuning and polishing those skills, we are looking forward to the winter competition. Let's hope competition is held this season.

Please email Maria on [email protected] if you require additional information or have any questions.

Go South Maroubra!!!

Competition Committee

October 11th saw the start of the 2020 nippers’ season at South Maroubra.
This year the pre-season preparations have focused on the safety of our members with the Covid pandemic still hanging over us. Split start times, Covid safety plans, marshalls, social distancing and hand sanitising are just some of the requirements this season and all the volunteers that help put on nippers each week have been incredible in making this happen.
 
The first two weekends ran very smoothly with our nippers heading straight to their zones and learning the new skills from the surf education syllabus. Each age group is getting plenty of water time with many proficiencies completed. One of the limitations this year is that if the beach is closed due to large surf, we must cancel nippers for that day as per our Covid safety plan. Where previously we could utilise the clubhouse or take groups to the lifeguard tower, with the current restrictions these options are no longer viable.
 
With the additional requirements this year we need extra people to jump in and help out. The only people allowed into the zones are those that have a current Bronze Medallion or Age Manager awards.
The AM award is available online through the portal https://sls.com.au/role/age-manager/
Holding this award will provide support to your Age Manager and improve the delivery of the program to the nippers.
 
Interviews for the South Maroubra Junior Club Captain’s positions will be held this week with a very strong list of candidates from the Under 14 age group. The position is a great opportunity for these young lifesavers to provide support and leadership to all the nippers at South Maroubra. I wish the best of luck to all the candidates.
 
The start to this season has certainly being an interesting one but with the adaptability and enthusiasm of the whole team at South Maroubra Surf Club it is shaping up to be another great one.
 
A big congratulations for the nippers that graduated with their SRC in September. They started in February and had to wait a few months before being able to finish it off. A big thanks to the education team for holding some long refresher weekend sessions before putting the students to the test. A fresh bunch of Under 14’s have started the SRC course last week so we wish them luck.
 
Keep an eye out for our SRC’s selling meat tray raffle tickets each week, with fund-raising opportunities limited this year, not only could you win dinner for the family, you are helping raise valuable funds for the Nipper section of the club.
 
See you at the beach.
 
Greg Turton
Director of Youth Development

Sunday November 1, South Maroubra recognised and celebrated 40 Years of Women in Surf Lifesaving and the contribution made by female members past and present to our great Club.
 
It was pleasing to see so many in attendance on what was such a winter’s day. Sitting in the Club’s Heritage Room and BK Lounge surrounded by our memorabilia and history, we celebrated and recognised our many trailblazing female members who have contributed to the success of our Club over the past 4 decades.
 
It was an absolute privilege to be part of this celebration alongside trail blazers including Patricia Beazley, Kathy Mazzeri, Renee Dever, Yvette Rutherford, Kim Rutherford, Samantha O’Brien, Fiona Thompson and so many more. So many amazing females have contributed to our club over the past 40 years, we are indeed so fortunate.
 
Committee members from season 1980/81 were present and shared some wonderful words of the decision and the impact the introduction of females to our club as full members was back in 1980. 

Our first female member from 1980, Bronwyn Roberts who now resides in England and was one of our first 3 females to gain the Bronze Medallion award in 1980 sent a message to share on the day which is included below;-
 
I feel very privileged to be called a ‘trail blazer’ but in reality all I wanted to do was follow my male club mates to the senior surf club having been left behind for 2 years in the nippers or nipperettes as we were called at the time.
I remember the President at the time telling my dad he was not surprised to see I was the first female to join South Maroubra.
He went on to say that they chose the wonderful Bernie Kelly to be our instructor as they knew the importance of making sure the first female bronze medallion squad were well trained and passed!  We took it very serious and were not about to let anyone down, hence we became part of the first females in NSW to gain the Bronze Medallion and patrol.   I remember being very proud to finally be an active member and remained active for over 10 years with South Maroubra.
My Message to present and future female members of South Maroubra. You should be extremely proud to be part of a club that didn’t just allow females to join the club to simply comply with government legislation, but embraced, encouraged, nurtured and most importantly treated us as equals.
They had the foresight to see that the future was and still is equal opportunity for all.
Bronwyn Roberts
 
Thank you to all who attended, including Mayor Danny Said RCC, Councillor Alex Luxford, our Life Members, Peter Agnew - President SLSS, Elissa Hancock - Director of Administration SLSS, members past, present and their families. 
 
To all our females - keep on keeping on, you do amazing stuff and your contribution on and off the beach alongside our male members delivering lifesaving services to the community is commendable.
You can view the slide show by clicking here.
Our Facebook page has a few photos from the afternoon.
Linda Perrin
Vice President