Awards of Excellence Recap

The Woolamai Beach Surf Life Saving Club has received significant recognition for its 2019-20 season with the Club and three of its members nominated for prestigious awards at the Life Saving Victoria 2020 Awards of Excellence.

The annual awards recognize the enormous contributions by volunteer lifesavers who are members of 57 Clubs across the State.  Due to Covid-19 the awards night was held ‘virtually’ on Sat 1 August 2020.

Woolamai Beach SLSC was nominated for Victorian Club of the Year with Hannah Tzimokas nominated for Victorian Beach Life Guard of the Year, Terry Aslanidis nominated for Volunteer Trainer of the Year and Campbell Smart nominated for Youth Lifesaver of the Year.

Hannah Tzimokas was awarded Victorian Lifeguard of the Year for the season 2019/20.

Hannah (23) served the past season as Chief Lifeguard for the Bass Region and is the Club’s Director of Leadership Development.

According to Hannah “The 2019-20 season was a time of growth and development for our lifeguard team. With minimal rescues and many preventative actions, I feel so proud to have been part of such a cohesive and hard working group.  I am humbled to have been nominated alongside such wonderful and deserving lifeguards.  I am so grateful for all of the support I received.”

Hannah said her most memorable moment of the season would have been lifeguarding on Christmas Day. “I worked alongside some incredible team members and together we were able to ensure that everyone could celebrate the day with friends and families safely.”

Hannah joined the Club in 2010 when she gained her Surf Rescue Certificate as a 13 year old and after 10 years of service has progressed through to now be one of the Club’s leaders and is now responsible for delivering one of Victoria’s largest summer lifeguarding programs.

Also nominated for an important award was the Club’s Membership Officer and Equipment Officer Terry Aslanidis. 

Terry was nominated for Life Saving Victoria’s Volunteer Trainer of the Year.  Although he did not take out the prize, the Club is immensely proud of Terry’s efforts.

According to Terry, “I feel honored to be nominated by my club for the Volunteer Trainer of the Year award.  Whether I won or not, I love what I do every year, and being recognized for something I put my heart into is an amazing feeling.”

During the 2019/20 season and for the past three seasons, Terry (23) has run a series of training camps and courses and has been responsible for helping hundreds of life savers gain qualifications.  Terry is also the Lifesaving Operations Officer for the Bass region which involves him assisting 6 local Clubs in any operational capacity. This season Terry also was successful in becoming a lifeguard.

Terry first joined the Club in 2015/16 and says “Thinking back to when I started my lifesaving career stepping through the doors on the very first day of bronze camp, I was really nervous.  What made the camp enjoyable and easy to fit in, was the passion and excitement that the trainers put into the camp.  The reason I became a trainer three years ago was to give back all the opportunities Woolamai has given to me., and to give that excitement that I once had, to every candidate I teach. 

Terry believes that it is very important that the Club continues to develop the skills of its members.  “Woolamai Beach SLSC is such a unique lifesaving club.  We not only have active patrolling members, patrol one of Victoria’s most dangerous beaches, we also patrol a second location, Smiths Beach.  Due to the nature of our club, we also provide an emergency response, all around the Island.  Having members with the skills and qualifications to be able to do those rescues outside our patrolled location is crucial.”

Campbell Smart was nominated for the Victorian Youth Lifesaver of the Year.

This award recognizes and rewards a young member aged between 15-21 years for an outstanding contribution to the delivery of frontline patrolling services.

Campbell (20) began his life saving journey as a Nipper and when he was 13 gained his Surf Rescue Certificate and then his Bronze Medallion in 2015 at the age of 15.  Campbell has gained many qualifications since and from an early age he has taken on important leadership in the Club and Bass District.

Campbell is the current Vice Club Captain, Inflatable Rescue Boat Officer, and Membership Protection Officer.  He is also the Bass District Powercraft Officer and the Co-ordinator of the Bass District Life Saving Development Camp.

According to Campbell “ 2019/20 was a jam packed summer with all of my formal life saving roles both at a club level and district level, helping anyone possible and working with many different teams in order to ensure a smooth sailing and safe summer for our members and the public”.

The highlight of Campbell’s summer was the opportunity to be the Camp Co-ordinator on the Bass District Development Camp, the largest lifesaving development camp in the district.  The week-long camp down at the Waratah Beach SLSC is one of a kind, blending training and practical scenarios to assist young life savers in obtaining awards and further strengthening their skills as young leaders.  Planning the camp took months of hard work and organizing.  According to Campbell “Being able to transform the candidates into confident lifesavers in 7 days is beyond rewarding, but it’s not possible without my phenomenal team of leaders and management behind me.”

“I feel privileged and honored to have been nominated for Life Saving Victoria’s Westpac Youth Lifesaver of the Year Award.  I found the experience humbling as simply being nominated was enough for me, regardless of the win or not.”

With three emerging young leaders such as Hannah, Terry, and Campbell, plus a number of their peers and those they have trained, the future of the Woolamai Beach Surf Life Saving Club will be in very good hands.

Woolamai Beach was also nominated as Victorian Life Saving Club of the Year.  Although the award was won by Portsea Surf Life Saving Club, to be shortlisted for the award is a huge achievement and great recognition of the thousands of volunteer hours put into keeping the beaches of Phillip Island and Bass Coast safe, running a popular Nippers program, organizing community events such as the Channel Challenge and many other activities which benefit the community and provide professional development opportunities for members.