Little Nippers/Surf lifesaving

Been pondering this for over the summer for ours. Mainly as I'd like him to have more awareness of the beach, the sea and so on and also as I think it'd be a fun thing to do.And his swimming has really come on brilliantly of late and he's a much stronger swimmer now.

I was looking at Seacliff and was wondering if anyone had any experience of the club and the Nippers programme. I'm also going to get in touch with the co-ordinator in the next few weeks and see if there is a try out day to attend.

The only thing that does bother me is its Oct-March on Saturday afternoons from 1:30-4pm. That's a long afternoon in the sun/heat which isn't always ideal in the middle of summer.

Has anyone elses kids done Nippers or surf lifesaving and if so, how did you and your kids find it? Did it give the kids some good water safety skills and so on?

Thanks in advance.

Our son did, at Glenelg. Despite being a strong, competition-quality (so we were told lol) swimmer, he gave up after an exercise that put him further out at sea than he was comfortable with.

He learned about rips etc, although I think they also covered that when his class had the week of swimming lessons in Year 4/5 (can't remember)?

I think the biggest thing we all took away from his experience was....take your thongs down the beach, otherwise you could be running back across scaldingly-hot sand!

We absolutely understood why he gave up, but I've got to say, we did miss relaxing with a drink watching him. Particularly once Glenelg SLS moved into their present building!

Hi,

my kids still do it and love it. Best on the beach and in the water than elsewhere in my opinion. But, not everyone loves the water and some parents expect their children to do more than they could or would do themselves. I would say it's not like a sports club where you can drop your kids and go, always best to offer a hand with the age group your children are in. Being in the water and actively training will require police clearance.

The 'Blackheads', I don't know much other than seeing them at carnivals and having an unfortunate nickname

The kids get great all round water skills and confidence. However, the 'deep' water can get into their heads and they can get paranoid but that can be the same for adults. But, with all the supervision, where else would they get the opportunity to overcome it? Obviously, the s word can also strike fear! Overall, the kids learn a lot, have fun and hopefully learn about social responsibility.

Cheers,

Cooler