Month: <span>March 2020</span>

08/03/2020 By admin

MEDIA RELEASE Friday, March 6, 2020

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY HONOUR FOR SEASPRAY STALWART 

Leanne McDonald from Seaspray Surf Life Saving Club has been honoured as an outstanding woman in lifesaving.

The honour was bestowed on Leanne as part of Life Saving Victoria’s celebrations for International Women’s Day.

Seaspray Surf Life Saving Club President Amanda Castle said Leanne had a long and distinguished record of contributing to the club.

“Leanne has held her Bronze Medallion and was a patrolling member,” Mrs Castle said. “She has had a long involvement in the Nippers program as an official at local, regional and state level.

“Leanne has been a panel member for our Nippers of the Year and Life Saver of the Year awards and has served as treasurer on club committee.

“She has been invaluable as our grants officer. She’s worked closely with other members to help Seaspray Surf Club to secure many thousands of government and non-government grants over many years, including for the construction of our new club house and for our operational areas.

“Leanne has given countless hours to help out with our fundraising activities and represented the club at high level functions and advocated on our behalf. She’s also been a driving force behind getting progress on the club’s strategic plan underway.

“As a club, we are truly thankful to Leanne for all that she has done and achieved. We are pleased that Life Saving Victoria has chosen to recognise her important work in this public way.”

Leanne attended Life Saving Victoria’s International Women’s Day breakfast event at the organisation’s Port Melbourne headquarters on Thursday morning. The event celebrated and acknowledged the contributions made by 48 outstanding women to life saving.

 

08/03/2020 By admin

MEDIA RELEASE Thursday, March 5, 2020

SEASPRAY NAMES ITS CLUB CHAMPIONS

Seaspray Surf Life Saving Club has marked the approaching end of the surf life saving season with the running of its annual club championships.

The championships were held on Saturday morning in near perfect conditions.

The event signaled the end of the season for the club’s youngest members, but was a valuable opportunity to train and compete for others who’ll soon be representing Seaspray at state and national title events.

President Amanda Castle said the club was proud of all that its junior members had achieved over the 2019-2020 season.

“The focus of the season for our Nippers caters is on fun, getting involved and safety,” Mrs Castle said. “As they move through the age groups, these kids learn valuable water safety and life saving skills. They gain confidence in the surf and learn how to use valuable life saving equipment.

“For our teenage and adult members, competitions of this kind are a way of practising their life saving skills and an opportunity to show they are rescue ready.

“The club is incredibly proud of what our members have achieved over the summer months, particularly those who were joining us at the beach for the first time. The wider community, too, should be proud of them and feel confident in the skill and ability of those who watch over them at the beach. 

“The club championships are an opportunity for our members to come together on the beach and enjoy a morning of friendly competition. It’s a great chance for our new members to see our experienced life savers in action and also to compete alongside one another.”

Those named as age champions at the Seaspray Club Championships were:

Mackenzie Gibbs, under 8 female

Chevy McMahon, under 8 male

Milly O’Brien, under 9 female

Remy Stephenson, under 9 male

Lola Van Berkel, under 10 female

Ky Fleming, under 10 male

Charlotte Armstrong, under 11 female

Leo Stephenson, under 11 male

Dean Feltis, under 12 male

Charlotte Stephenson, under 13 female

Jimmy Greenwood, under 13 male

Ashley Centra, under 14 female

Luca Centra, under 14 male

Kate Ronchi, under 15 female

Ryan Feltis, under 15 male

Bridget Brown, under 17 female

Will Boulton, under 17 male

Jess Jackson, under 19 female

Tom Fleming and James Robbins (joint winners), under 19 male

Bridget Brown, open female

Neil Lazzaro, open male

While the beach training sessions are now over for the youngest club members, beach patrols at Seaspray will continue until after Easter.

Club members involved in surf life saving competitions at state and national level still have a number of major events to look forward to, including the Victorian Lifesaving Championships in Lorne later this month and the Australian Surf Life Saving Championships 2020 on the Gold Coast in April. 

05/03/2020 By admin

MEDIA RELEASE Tuesday, March 3, 2020

SEASPRAY’S NIPPERS MAKE WAVES AT POINT LEO

 A small group of talented local Nippers have competed at a junior surf life saving carnival at Point Leo against some of the best young competitors from across Victoria.

Despite their small numbers, the youngsters from Seaspray made their presence felt on the beach and in the water.

The junior carnival, the sixth of the season, was a lead-up event to the 2020 Junior Lifesaving Championships in Warrnambool this weekend.

From left to right, Max McLay, Jimmy Greenwood, Luke Dwyer (back), Remy Stephenson (front), Mack McMahon, Leo Stephenson, Charlotte Stephenson and Jett McMahon comprised the team from Seaspray, cheered on by Gus McLay (second from left, front). 

The group competed against much bigger teams from surf life saving clubs including Mornington, Mentone, Mordialloc, Lorne, Torquay and Portsea.

Each one of the local Nippers performed strongly against talented nippers from across the state.  Among the results were:

Max winning the under 10 boys board race and placing fourth in the surf swim;

Remy securing third in the under nine boys wade race;

Charlotte coming sixth in her heat of the under 13 girls iron nipper event;

Leo winning through almost 20 heats of the under 11 boys flag race to reach the final;

Leo competing with Max, Leo and Jett to come fourth in the wade relay;

Jett coming second in his heat of the beach sprint;

Jimmy claiming fourth place in the final of the under 12 boys board race and sixth in his heat of the iron man; and

Jimmy teaming up with Leo to make the final of the under 12 boys board rescue.

Charlotte, Jimmy, Leo, Jett, Mack, Max and Remy will this weekend travel almost 500 kilometres or around five-and-a-half hours to compete in the 2020 Victorian Junior Lifesaving Championships.

Warrnambool Surf Life Saving Club is hosting the three-day event at Lady Bay, with the first events to begin on Saturday morning.