What is Oceans?
'Oceans', previously called Ocean Athletes for the past decade is the name for the SLSNZ Championships for 10-13 year old surf athletes.
Events include individual races such as the 70m Beach Sprint, 400m Surf Race, board races, Beach Flags and Diamond Races. There are also a lot of team events – beach relays, board relays, tube rescue, Cameron relays and 2km distance beach relays etc.
At Papamoa Surf Life Saving Club we encourage all our 10-13 year olds to have a go in order to gain confidence in their athletic abilities. We realise that abilities do change a lot during these growth years due to puberty and other influences. By encouraging activity during these critical years we can counteract some of the more negative influences in some and build on already blossoming talents in others. By providing physical goals and challenges we build confidence on many levels. With confidence comes enthusiasm and enjoyment and therefore more is gained from life in general.
Papamoa Surf Life Saving Club’s Surf Sports training programme therefore aims to do three overall things:
Develop confidence - so that kids are happy and comfortable in surf. Even big surf at an appropriate age/ability is encouraged in order to alleviate fears of deeper water, shadows, lumps of seaweed etc Develop surf specific skills - body surfing; how to read the surf – rips etc; dolphin diving; beach flag starts; tube rescue race starts etc Improve fitness - encouraging a fit, healthy and active lifestyle
These three factors combine to not only improve a young athlete’s chances of succeeding in competitions but educate them in skills that are relevant for lifeguarding. It is a well known fact that kids thrive on success…and that success breeds success. Success isn’t just about winning races – it can be a young person feeling really happy they have achieved a goal such as completing a buoy swim or perhaps a swim round Leisure Island after having first been terrified by the prospect.
We have discovered that children who train and compete through an entire surf season often enjoy some fantastic sporting results at school – in athletics, cross country, swim sports, interschool surf lifesaving, water polo, triathlon, multi-sport….
Overall research has shown that children who participate in surf lifesaving have a remarkable success in many other aspects of life – school, tertiary studies, other sports and on into the business world. It is about setting goals and committing to something and understanding that effort is rewarded by success. It is also instilling important ethics at the same time, volunteer service, community spirit, team work, responsibility and personal pride – all important life skills in this modern world.
What is required?
There is no requirement to attend every training session. However if your child does not end up in an ‘A’ team it may be because they haven’t been to enough training sessions!
The programme is designed to enable our young athletes to peak at the critical times of the competition season with specific rest periods built in. In order to give a young athlete the best chance of competitive success, attendance at as many training sessions as possible is a good idea (if that is your child’s goal). We appreciate the parent’s time in assisting the children to get to these training sessions.
When can someone join in?
Anyone can join in at any time during the season and are welcome at any and all sessions. Last year we had some top competitors join as late as mid January. They can compete so long as they are a financial paid up Junior Surf member of PSLSC and have paid the Surf Sports Levy which covers competition entry fees and is a contribution towards the extensive coaching available to them. All racing at approved SLSNZ & SLSBOP competitions and events is covered by this levy.
How good are we?
Papamoa has won the National Oceans 3 times and now has a proud history of being consistently the top performing Junior Surf Life Saving Club in the Bay of Plenty. We are proud of our success and it is the result of total commitment from the coaches, the parents and the young athletes themselves.
| Year |
Number of Athletes |
Overall Placings |
| 2001 |
13 |
Not calculated |
| 2002 |
23 |
Not calculated |
| 2003 |
33 |
Not calculated |
| 2004 |
33 |
4th |
| 2005 |
53 |
3rd |
| 2006 |
52 |
2nd |
| 2007 |
55 |
1st |
| 2008 |
Approx 55 |
1st |
| 2009 |
Approx 65 |
1st |
| 2010 |
Approx 50 |
2nd |
| 2011 |
Approx 55 |
1st equal |
In 2010 Papamoa SLSC was awarded the Ocean Athletes Club of the Decade trophy.
