Nippers on an early Sunday morn

I cannot remember the last time I woke up at 6 a.m. on a Sunday morning. My friend Tiffany (a very chill N.Y. girl) and I were a bit bitter for the first two hours of the day but got into a better mood once we hit the beach. Why were we at the infamous Manly Beach at such an ungodly hour? Fieldtrip. That's right. I'm a cool cat and so have managed to find courses at university that include fieldtrips. It's an education course called Australian Sports. So about a hundred of us from the class (all international students) bussed and ferried over to Manly Beach at 8:30 in the morning to watch the Nippers Surf Competition. Nippers = children. My professor's daughter is in the club and so he's heavily involved with the Manly Junior Life Saving Club. I've never seen anything like it.

These kids start training at the age of six. They learn everything from how to surf, to how to avoid rip currents in the ocean, to how to become trained lifeguards. Except in Australia, most of these kids grow up to become lifesavers and not lifeguards. The difference? Lifesavers are all volunteers. Unlike other parts of the world, most of Australia's beaches are patrolled by (qualified) volunteers. It blows my mind.

At the competition today we saw all sorts of races. Sprinting on sand, sprinting on sand into the water and swimming to a designated flag, and surfing were the three main events. I don't understand how these kids run that fast on sand. I can't even walk fast on sand without tripping and falling.

All of us in the class have to write a 1000 word report on what we saw today. I spoke to the club executives and interviewed some of the parents to get a feel of what they're all about. This club will be celebrating its 100th birthday next year.

After getting two shades darker and munching on sausage, sliced bread, and tomaaato sauce (which would be equivalent to our North American hotdog, bun, and ketchup), Tiffany and I took the ferry back.