SUMMER NIPPERS PROGRAM

Your children will be looked after by parent volunteers – called Age Managers – who have had training by LSV. All age managers wear a red age manager club shirt during Nippers, this will help you identify them. If you need to discuss your child’s needs or have any queries please see your Age Manager. You can also talk to the Nipper Coordinator or a member of the Nipper Committee.

The Nipper Program aims to teach children surf safety awareness, surf skills, lifesaving skills, teamwork & limited competition skills. Nippers will learn to identify beach hazards such as rips and gain a basic knowledge of resuscitation and first aid skills. We follow the LSV Junior Development Awards for our programs. They are taught in their age groups with specific age managers and water safety who are with them throughout the program.

The Nipper Program is for children aged 5 to 12 (U6-U13). Your child’s age group is calculated by the age they are at 30 September each year. For example, if your child is aged 10 at 30 September, they will be in under 11 age group. Age groups have colour coded feather flags to make it easier to find them on the beach.

Yes! All Nippers need to be supervised by a parent during Nipper Sessions. This is a legal requirement. If you want to take your child to the toilet etc, You must sign your child in and out of their flagged age group area on the beach. We cannot let your child leave the beach unless they have been signed out. If you are volunteering during a nipper session, Please ensure the age manager is aware and has your up to date contact details so we can call you.

YES! With 300+ nippers & 70+ water safety, this program has a wide variety of jobs that need to be done, from sweeping the garage of sand, to being an age manager, cooking a sausage to running a social event. All Nipper families are required to help with running the program in some way. Please see the volunteer sign-up website link and sign up for 2 jobs. Please take note of what you are signing up for and the day and time you need to be there. We don’t like to force jobs on people but leftover jobs will be allocated to families who do not volunteer for a job.

Nippers will run, rain or shine but if there is a chance of lightning, we won’t let the nippers into the sea! On those cold days, the smaller younger nippers will usually need a wetsuit.

We are a Sun Smart Club and all Nippers must

• Wear Pink Vest when in water
• Wear a Nippers cap with Nipper name written on both sides in black permanent pen.
• Bring a water bottle and towel
• Be sunsmart
  • Arrive with Sunscreen applied & reapply
  • Wear a wide brimmed sun hat – mandatory for beach activities
  • Wear a long sleeved rash vest/ wetsuit

We run a secondhand stall for wetsuits and Nipper apparel which is open during Nippers sessions but will also be open for donations and sales prior – Dates and times TBC.

Inverloch Nipper caps and pink vests are mandatory for all activities and children will not be allowed in the water if not wearing them.

A variety of club apparel is available from the Merch shop including t-shirts, shorts, tracksuit tops & bottoms. They can be pre- ordered or bought on site 8.30- 12.30 during nippers days. See our website for details.

These are our wonderful volunteer surf rescue certificate and bronze medallion holders. These teens and young adults, aged 14+ give up their time to help look after the Nippers and can be identified by their orange rashies. When Nippers are in the water, the water safety are there with them at a ratio of 1:5. They are all trained in first aid and most have been through this nipper program prior to starting their own volunteering journey. If required, we can arrange for a water safety to swim 1:1 with a less confident child.

When your child turns 13, our Nippers go on to become active members in our club in a variety of ways, including:

Completing training :

• Surf Rescue Certificate (SRC)
  • Must be 13 years at the time of completion
  • Usually run at the same time as the nippers program)
• Bronze Medallion
  • Minimum age 15 years
  • Usually run the week or 2 weeks before xmas

Once certified, they can

• patrol the beach as an active patrol member
• Help run Nippers as either junior leaders or water safety!
• Be involved in YIPS (Youth Involvement Program)
• Go on U13, U15 and 18-25 Development Camps through LSV.

For more information on the SRC and other training opportunities, please contact the Chief Instructor – email chiefinstructor@islsc.org.au

Yes! We run a Nipper Competition Team for Nippers who are interested in developing lifesaving competition skills, training and competing in multiple nipper carnivals over the season.

To compete, children must complete their ‘S badge.’

Participation is voluntary & will require additional training & costs outside the normal Nipper Program & travel around the state to Nipper Carnivals.

For those joining the competition team, our Competition uniform can be purchased from the uniform shop.

For more information, contact the junior Comp coordinator: juniorcompteam@islsc.org.au

To maintain safety and lifesaving standards, Surf Life Saving Australia has a set of standards of competency that Nippers must achieve before being eligible to compete in water events at carnivals. Called the S badge, Club representatives will assess the child’s swimming Proficiency during the Nippers program. Once your child obtains their S Badge their results will be entered on the Surf Life Saving Australia database and it will be valid until 31 December the following season.

Nippers will not be able to participate in water events at carnivals if they have not completed their S badge and had their result entered on the SLSA database.

We fundraise throughout our Nipper program by selling food and running fundraising events at the clubhouse. Each new Nipper board costs between $500 and $1200.

Nipper parents contribute significantly in a wide variety of ways, from becoming Major Sponsors, donating boards, volunteering or just coming to our social fundraising events.

After Nippers every day, we sell sausages, drinks and cupcakes to raise funds. To assist our Cupcake Fundraiser, we request that each family brings 1 bag of your favourite unwrapped) lollies which will then be used to decorate the cupcakes sold at Nippers each day.

We accept cash, card or if you’d prefer, you can buy a pre-paid card for 10 items in our stalls – Every sausage and cupcake bought helps.

We give a sausage and drink to the water safety every day they volunteer. You can donate $50 to “feed a water safety” during the program – either pay at the stalls or if you require a receipt, donate online through our website – with “Nippers Water Safety Donation” in the description.

Inverloch SLSC membership gives you access to the clubhouse, facilities & programs.

To unlock the doors when the clubhouse is locked, please purchase a ‘fob’ for $10. Please note the clubhouse is alarmed when not in use, so fobs should only be used when Clubhouse is open.

• Sign out the board, adding your details and the board number you are borrowing in the Nipper Board Book
• Sign the board back in and document any repairs needed
• Take care of boards
  • Ensure you only use the board size of your age group & capabilities
  • Carry, don’t drag or drop
  • Return to board rack in clubhouse, rinsed clean of sand.

At a club level we actively look for sponsorship, fundraising and donations to sustain and develop the club.

If you can help in any way big or small, it is appreciated. Contact our community relations Director or email communityrelations@islsc.org.au

If you have feedback, a complaint or another issue with something going on at the club, please let us know.

We appreciate all feedback!

On Day 1 there will be a callout on the grass next to the clubhouse at 9am to go through Nipper information and season plans.

On all other days, be on the beach in your age group flagged off area for 9am. This will give you time to sign your child in and listen to the daily news/ instructions before the program begins.

Sign up to Team App for your Nippers age groups and look out for Inverloch Summer Nippers social media for Information on our social events.

This is a new program, trialling this Summer season where our U13s/ U12s Nippers will be given the opportunity to help the U6s/ U7s that may not have older siblings to show them the ropes during the different social events. New Nippers in other age groups are also welcome to get involved.

Please contact nippers@islsc.org.au for more details.

The Summer Nippers program runs from 9.00am  -11.30am for U6-U8s and 9.00am-12pm for U9-U14s. Please note the different finishing time between the younger and older age groups