From the age of 5 years children can join their local Surf Life Saving Club to participate in Junior Surf Lifesaving. We encourage children to have fun and develop their skills, so they can enjoy the beach and one day might be able to save someone else too. It’s about developing tomorrow’s lifesavers and opening up a whole new world to children.
If your children would like to become involved in Nippers, contact your local surf life saving club.
Further to this, the new-look cache of resources has extensive session plans for those new to the Age Manager role and also includes a guide to Surf Sports skills and events, as well as an Age Manager Learner Guide and “Rainy Day’ worksheets for:
JDR Preliminary Skills Evaluation
JDR Preliminary & Pre-competition Checklist
The Preliminary Evaluation Checklist has been modified to include more candidate names.
The attached Junior Development Resources (JDR) have undergone an extensive review and re-brand. The Preliminary Skills Evaluation looks very different to past seasons and more accurately reflect a typical Nipper session at the beach, now including a Submersion and Continuous Skill Sequence component to the already existing Flotation and Propulsion checklist. Remembering that this pool-based Evaluation is used to determine mandatory Water Safety ratios for Nipper sessions once we hit the beach.
Note: Under 14 Age Guide is an SRC Certificate
The Junior Surf Sport Events document outlines the physical skillset that will be explored and developed as a part of every junior membership.
Junior Surf Sports - Resources
The SLSA Foundation Skills Framework breaks down each acquired skill into achievable phases and is a new tool for Surf Sports Coaches and Age Managers.
SLSA Foundation Skills Framework
Each Club runs its own Junior Surf Program. For contact details of Surf Life Saving Clubs around Tasmania click here
Most Clubs run their Junior Surf Education program on Sunday mornings from October through to March, joining is as easy as heading down to the beach and signing up!
Competition
Surf Life Saving Clubs provide regular Junior Surf competition events for those members who want to take part in events and have fun testing their skills against those from other Clubs.
For the Junior Activities - How to Guide for 2022/23 click here
SLST takes seriously its responsibility to deliver a safe, fair and inclusive environment for Children & Young People involved in Surf Life Saving.
The Child Safe Program assists Surf Life Saving (SLS) in our commitment to the protection of Children and Young People (CYP) from abuse, harm and exploitation.
The program builds the capacity of SLS to protect our CYP by providing resources and education to support clubs to provide a safe environment for all members. Clubs can begin to provide a safe environment through the development and implementation of the following key strategies:
• A statement of commitment to child safety
• Implementation of the code of conduct that establishes clear expectations for appropriate behaviour when dealing with CYP
• Screening, supervision, training and other human resources practices that reduce the risk of child abuse by new and existing personnel
• Educate and inform members of the signs and indicators of child abuse
• Processes for responding to and reporting suspected child abuse
• Regular communication, awareness and promotion of the Child Safe Program
• Strategies to identify and remove risks to CYP
• Strategies to communicate and promote the participation and empowerment of CYP within the club
Resources, webinars and an online training course have been developed to assist all Clubs to achieve these standards outlined above.
The Child Safe Program is underwritten by the Surf Life Saving Australia Child Safe Policy.
The Registration to Work with Vulnerable People Act 2013 aims to protect children from harm by providing
the highest standard of compulsory background checking for anyone involved in child-related
work or volunteering in Tasmania. It does not matter whether the role is paid or unpaid, supervised or
unsupervised.
Working with Children Registration applies to people within all sectors including club and association activity.
Sport and recreation plays a pivotal role in children’s development. It is important that safe environments
are provided for all children who participate in this sector.
Not only is it up to the individual to make sure they are registered to work with children but employers and
volunteer organisations have a number of responsibilities and obligations under the Act including
the responsibility to ensure that their staff and volunteers have a valid registration to work with children.
For more information on volunteering with children visit the CBOS website
Play by the Rules provides information and online learning for community sport and recreation on how to:
Click on the logo for more information about how your club can use the resources on Play by the Rules to promote inclusive, safe and fair participation.
Play by the Rules is a unique partnership between the Australian Sports Commission, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, all state and territory sport and recreation and anti-discrimination agencies and the Queensland Commission for Children, Young People and Child Guardian.
The information on Play by the Rules is not intended to be, nor should it be relied upon as, a substitute for legal or other professional advice.