BRIDLINGTON BEACH FUN & EUROPEAN YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIPS

from Voice Magazines - Alfreton & Villages Edition - August 2023

by Voice Magazines and Artliff Design & Print

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A glorious weekend in June saw thirty-two enthusiastic RASCALS Lifesavers back at Bridlington for the much-anticipated yearly beach training session. A departure from the usual single day of fun, the beach event has become so popular with our athletes that a full weekend of beach training was warranted. For a lot of our younger lifesavers, it was their first time at a beach training session, so the Saturday instruction and demonstration day was exactly what they needed. After the very important warm up, it was straight into beach flag elimination race training, lifebuoy launching and beach sprinting. With some time to lunch and lounge in the sun, it was into wet suits and straight into the warm waves. Safety with our younger lifesavers is paramount. Our coaches spent time before each activity explaining and demonstrating the sea skills while ‘spotters’ stayed close to all the lifesavers in the sea. After a Saturday night of well-deserved relaxation and partaking in the local culinary fare (delicious fish’n’chips), it was back on the beach early Sunday morning to put Saturday’s instruction into action. It was Sunday competition day! Our lifesavers can be a competitive bunch, so all that energetic racing was not only great experience for the lifesavers, but super to watch for all the parents and carers who journeyed north for the weekend. July would see all that beach training tested when RASCALS competed at the Blyth Beach Festival and were delighted to take third place – not bad for a team based in land locked Derbyshire!

Mentoring the younger lifesavers on the beach were Heather Watson, Luke Waterfall and Freddie Postlethwaite. All three athletes have just been selected for the GBR Youth Team competing at the European Youth Lifesaving Championships in Gorzów Wielkopolski and Międzyzdroje, Poland. Congratulations on this great achievement and well done to Heather Watson who was thrilled to be named Youth Vice Captain. We look forward to following their competitive journey from the European championships (August) to the Lifesaving Commonwealth championships (September) in Canada. It just goes to show, who knows where a competitive lifesaving session in a pool in Ripley with RASCALS can lead! If you would like to expand your swimming activities or try something new, please contact us.

If you would like to expand your swimming activities or try something new, please contact us. contact@ripleyrascals.org.uk | www.ripleyrascals.org.uk