Skip to main content

More than 50 of the state’s brightest young lifesavers will come together on the Northern Beaches in April for the Ingenia Holiday Parks Junior Lifesaver of the Year (JLOTY) Program and the Youth Opportunity Makers (YOM) Workshop – two of Surf Life Saving NSW’s flagship youth development programs.

Held from 12-14 April at The Collaroy Centre, the programs assist young lifesavers to grow networks, establishing lasting connections and building knowledge through fun and interactive activities.

The JLOTY Program brings together all 22 of the Junior Lifesavers of the Year, nominated by the 11 Branches. At the end of the program, the overall NSW Junior Lifesavers of the Year (male and female) will be awarded.

Collectively, the group will further develop their skills by working with like-minded young members and the program aims to build a greater awareness of opportunities and individual abilities in the membership.

Former JLOTY program participants, Lily Gazzard from Kiama Downs SLSC and Andie Widseth from Redhead SLSC, said the class of 2022 can expect plenty of personal growth as part of the program.

“They will get to meet a lot of influential people and they’ll have a lot of fun and just learn a lot,” Lily said.

“They can expect a lot of advice.

“We have so many connections now, when we want to help our club, we can.”

“You definitely meet a lot of different people and get to know a bit about what other clubs do and how they cater for Surf Life Saving,” Andie added.

“It will help them to find new opportunities for what they can do in the future – they can get their Bronze, or Silver Medallion, join an IRB crew, stuff like that.

“They’re going to have lots of fun.”

This year Ingenia Holiday Parks has come on board as Naming Rights partner of the JLOTY Program, with Events and Partnerships Executive, Bec Cushing, stating the East Coast holiday park operator was proud to be supporting our future leaders.

“We’re so excited to be behind the juniors, supporting the next generation of volunteer lifesavers and lifeguards and keeping our beaches and communities safe,” she said.

“Especially for the young families that holiday at our parks, we love to know when they are swimming at our beaches, they’re safe too.

“Building great Australians, we love it!”

The Junior Lifesavers of the Year will be awarded at a presentation on 14 April – livestream details to come.

Ingenia Holiday Parks Junior Lifesaver of the Year Participants:

Ruby Yantsch – Far North Coast

Jayden Matthews – Far North Coast

Larnie Mordue – North Coast

Jack Barry – North Coast

Milly McGrath – Mid North Coast

Jarvis Lineham – Mid North Coast

Gemma Eady-Muxlow – Lower North Coast

Lucas Guiney – Lower North Coast

Briella Gyler-Dial – Hunter

Taj Horadam – Hunter

Emily Rose – Central Coast

Jett Avis – Central Coast

Emily Lock – Sydney Northern Beaches

Harrison White – Sydney Northern Beaches

Jasmine Springall – Sydney

Lennon Southwell – Sydney

Stephanie Staniforth – Illawarra

Declan Bone – Illawarra

Macey Guy – South Coast

Christian Ireland – South Coast

Jesse Doull – Far South Coast

Bray Constable – Far South Coast

Wednesday 16 March 2022