What’s cooking – and who is the big kahuna – at Plett Surf Lifesaving Club?
In a year where everything has been turned on its head, Lifesaving South Africa was one of the first organisations to engage with the government about keeping its essential services of training and placing lifeguards on beaches safely, given the Covid-19 context.
A manual of protocols was drawn up to firstly continue the work done on the beach; in Plett, all lifeguards received training on each of these protocols when doing their compulsory annual retest.
“The next level was to get on with the sports training side, and we were fortunate to have a set of protocols drawn up that allowed Nippers to start training under Level I lockdown rules,” explains Plett Surf Lifesaving Club (PSLC) chairman James Stewart.
“This was great for the youngsters after so many months during which most of them were unable to partake in any sport at all. A few weeks of Nipper training after this trying and disruptive year has had an amazing impact on all the kids, and certainly released many a pressure value after six months of lockdown.”
Although championships were held earlier in the year, lockdown prevented Plett’s Nippers ‘family’ from recognising their club champs. So on the last Sunday of November, they were finally able to recognise the achievements of all their Nippers and Juniors.
On the day, Nippers head coach Marc Jackson congratulated all top performers of the 2019/20 season: “With hard work and dedication, these Nippers and Juniors proved that we can achieve our goals.”
Along with the rest of the coaches and PSLC committee, he thanked sponsors Crush Surf and Face Adrenalin.
“The coaches play a huge part in developing our Nippers and we thank them for all their time and effort,” he said, adding a special thumbs-up to Tanya Coetzee for all her hard work behind the scenes.
Thirteen-year-old Matt Coetzer was awarded the legendary Peter Auersperg Kahuna Trophy. (In Hawaii, ‘kahuna’ is a wise man or shaman; the term is also used informally to refer to an important person or someone in charge: ‘One big kahuna runs the whole show.’)
“Peter was a PSLC stalwart who always had the utmost dedication and commitment to the sport,” explains James. “This award goes yearly to a senior Nipper who shows the same qualities.
“Matt is always ready and willing at the club and has helped out many younger Nippers. He has even assisted members of the public in the surf. Well done Matt, Peter would be proud of you.”
Members of the public are invited to come and experience the friendly atmosphere at the club, situated on Central Beach, on Wednesdays to Sundays from around noon onwards. Watch this space for extended hours during the season and visit www.plettsurf.org.za for more information, or if you would like to become a member.