Surfing Australia in partnership with Walkin’ On Water Surf School sent 2 instructors to the Yirrkala community in East Arnhem Land for a surfing program with two main aims. The first aim was to train and upskill personnel on the ground in their Level 1 Surfing Australia Surf Instructor accreditation. The second was to run a surf program for the local community children to give them an introduction to the sport of surfing and a new physical activity to get involved in.

All materials required for the Instructor course were taken to Yirrkala and 18 soft boards with leg ropes and spare fins plus some repair materials and 30 rashies were supplied and left with the community to encourage long term participation.

Surf Instructor Course

The Surf Instructor course started out with 11 people including 4 local indigenous community members. Of these 11, 6 successfully completed all the weekend requirements and now only have some practical components to complete to receive accreditation. Unfortunately with the time constraints of the weekend and the intensity of the course due to these time constraints, 5 were unable to finish all the course requirements due to needing to be at other places during the course or finding the course too intense being run over such a short period.

There is definitely scope to continue similar courses to accredit local indigenous people in a course that is run over an extended period.

Surfing Program for the Local Community Children

For all of us, the attendance for this was a complete unknown. There was a howling cold southerly wind and the water temperature had dropped to unusually low temperatures.

We had a surf session scheduled for Saturday morning with local Aussie Rules footy on in the afternoon so the afternoon was a footy afternoon. Unfortunately there was conflicting rugby league and union in the morning which we could not avoid.

Despite this, the turnout was tremendous. We changed venues from the initial beach to find the most ideal location for prevailing conditions and had 20-25 children surfed with us in the morning, with a core group starting and then more coming and joining through the session as they saw the other children having such a good time. It also gave the new instructors immediate first hand experience in being involved in surf lessons.

The instructors had to call the surfers out of the water a number of times before they came out.

Sunday the numbers grew to double this and at least 50 children surfed on Sunday throughout the day. As a number of programs involve the provision of food to attract participants, we were slightly concerned that after a BBQ for lunch we would lose all the kids. Once sausage sandwiches had been eaten, the kids were straight back into the water surfing. Some kids would have surfed for at least 6 hours on Sunday. There was an amazing amount of local talent but more importantly a huge amount of fun and enjoyment for a physical activity that is beneficial for their health. Again at the end of the afternoon, the surfers had to be pulled from the water, with the instructors calling an end to the surfing as opposed to surfing finishing due to kids walking away having had enough. This was made even more amazing by children shaking and shivering with cold and refusing to leave the water because they wanted to continue surfing

The participants in the surf instructor course also were given the roles of running the programs and sessions on Sunday with the 2 Surfing Australia instructors merely assisting and guiding or giving advice when required to ensure the training instructors got good exposure to instructing while being overseen by experienced instructors.

Outcomes

-          6 local residents successfully completing the formal learning component of the Level 1 Instructor accreditation and partially completing the practical components.

-          Excellent participation rates by local indigenous children of both boys and girls within a wide age bracket.

-          Very successful introduction of a new activity and sport for local children to be able to undertake that offers a far more beneficial alternative to other less desirable options. The local school teachers and people involved in the surf instructor course told of high rates of glue/petrol sniffing, alcohol problems, smoking problems, substance abuse with marijuana being widely smoked by children (one 7 year at school was found with a foil and scissors just before the program).

-          Children excited about continuing to surf and keep going with the sport.

-          The teachers were convinced that school attendance the following week was going to be at a term high due to the surfing over the weekend with some children expected to turn up after not being seen at school for a number of weeks.

-          As well, all the children involved would have been thoroughly exhausted by the end of each day leading to an early good night sleep making it easy to get up in the morning for school rather than staying up late, traipsing around town down nothing productive

-          Learning these new skills could help develop.

• Greater self esteem;
• Greater self confidence;
• Participation in a regular sporting activity;
• Healthier lifestyle;
• A progressive opportunity to gain formal accreditation or qualifications in the surfing industry.