Surf Life Saving Devon Youth Development Camp success!
Earlier this month, more than 70 young people attended Surf Life Saving Devon’s Youth Development Camp at Woolacombe.
The aspiring young athletes were instructed by some of the UK’s finest Surf Life Saving coaches. All were put through their paces in disciplines such as ski, paddleboard, swimming, surf awareness, beach training and team building exercises. An interactive and lively seminar on Saturday evening covered sport specific conditioning and injury prevention.
The young athletes spent the weekend developing and practising their skills, culminating in all the young athletes gaining a variety of competency awards over four levels in three disciplines: Swimming, Board and Ski on Sunday.
Millie said: “I really enjoyed learning new techniques and perfecting the ones I know. It was great to get the experiences of the coaches and I think they did a fab job”.
All the skills learnt are key elements for Surf Life Saving Sport as well as being a good foundation for those wishing to move into a career as a Lifeguard in the future.
Part of the Youth Development Camp experience was residing in caravans with other young people and an adult leader. Evaluations highlighted the benefits to the teenagers; Charlotte wrote: “Staying in the caravans were really good fun and I learnt how to cook noodles and pizza”, whilst Chloe said: “It was good meeting new people and getting the independence”.
Project manager Tracy Lark commented:
“The children’s attitudes were exemplary. They put their all into the training and displayed a superb level of camaraderie. They were great to work with and me and the coaches were pleased with what they achieved over the weekend”.
Look out for our next events in North Devon -
Women in Waves. This is a special taster fun day for women aged over 29 to increase surf safety and confidence , learn surf swimming techniques and gain board paddling skills culminating in achieving some Surf Life Saving Level 1 Awards.