Umina SLSC has been nominated on five occasions for the Surf Life Saving NSW Club of the Year. On Saturday night a small group of members attended the 2019 SLSNSW Awards of Excellence to see if we were to be 5th time lucky!
Umina has always strived to encompass everything that the lifesaving movement represents. We have worked hard over the last few years to provide an inclusive community where everyone is welcome and everyone can find their fit.
Our recent #capfits campaign was a springboard to get this message across. That Umina SLSC has something for everyone.
As now the largest club on the Central Coast, we have a rich and diverse group of members bringing many different skill sets to our organisation. The strength in our lifesaving skills has seen club members gain an Australian Rescue of the Month award as well as NSW and Central Coast Rescue recognition.
Our education unit provides training across a range of courses, enabling new members to gain their Bronze and existing members to upskill in their lifesaving awards. The club also provides a supported forum for members to gain online qualifications such as RSA and coaching and official certification.
Our community outreach programs see our youth go into schools to deliver surf safety messages and our education team provide surf safety talks for tourists at Umina’s busy holiday park.
Our nippers numbers continue to grow as our Junior leadership team provides surf education and skill development for kids U6 up. Our mission is to create great young Australians and our youth programs deliver leadership opportunities, Duke of Edinburgh awards, with the club providing a safe community for young people to belong.
Our success as a club carries over into our surf sports department, with our very own professional Nutrigrain athlete Jemma Smith having come through our nipper ranks to achieve incredible success at an Australian and International level. Behind her are some of the strongest competitors in NSW, with a cohort of World and Australian medallists as Jemma’s training partners and fellow club members.
Our newly formed IRB team has already achieved podium finishes with NSW and our Boat crews continue this thread with successes both at State and Australian level.
With our nippers starting to shine through the ranks on the Central Coast and our First Aid and Champion Life Saver teams achieving Australian champion status – the future is bright for our sports programs.
Beyond all of these successes is the heartbeat of our club – family, community, saving lives and giving back. With no lives lost between the flags last year and every visitor to our beach returning to their homes safely, we have much to celebrate.
And so, on Saturday night, we were delighted to find that after five nominations, our 1042 members were finally recognised for their achievements and Umina was awarded SLSNSW Club of the Year.
Congratulations each and every member of our Club and our wider community who have contributed to everything that is UMINA SLSC.
