Lifesaving, as a sport, was originally established to ensure that lifeguards maintained their fitness and their skills for rescues in various conditions, which is why every event is either a fitness event or a simulated rescue event, explained Helen Herbert, the general manager of Lifesaving South Africa. Wilan Basson (left) competed in the line throw event as part of Western Province team. PHOTO: Facebook/Lifesaving South Africa
Stellenbosch University (SU) recently hosted the first day of the 2022 Lifesaving South African Inter-Provincial Championships.
This is according to Helen Herbert, general manager of Lifesaving South Africa (LSA).
The championships took place over two days, with day one taking place at SU’s Coetzenburg swimming facilities on 6 August, said Herbert.
At the close of the championship, the Western Cape team took home the gold with 550 points, according to a notice from LSA’s head office.
It was the first time Coetzenburg hosted the event, said Candice Williams, sports manager for aquatics at SU.
“Lifesaving is a world games sport and soon to be an Olympic sport,” said Helen Herbert, the general manager of Lifesaving South Africa.
Championship events include a number of simulated rescue events, such as the ‘line throw’, which is when competitors throw a rope to a patient 12.5m from the side of the pool and then race to haul their patient in first, explained Herbert. Other events that took place include submerged dummy rescues and underwater obstacle courses, she added. PHOTO: Facebook/Lifesaving South Africa
Rescue success
“Lifesaving has two disciplines, a pool discipline and a surf discipline,” said Herbert. The pool portion of the event took place at SU, while the surf portion took place the following day in Strand, he added.
Teams of athletes representing their provinces competed in simulated rescue events at the championship, explained Herbert. The provinces represented were the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape, North West, Gauteng and the Free State.
“The Coetzenburg pool is absolutely amazing and [LSA] really thank Maties for accommodating us,” said Herbert. “We would love to host more events like this within the university environment and highlight lifesaving as a university sport.”
“[Lifesaving] teaches you a lot and [all lifesavers] is competent in first aid,” said Angelique Moller, an SU student and lifeguard who represented the Western Cape Team.
The Western Cape team took home the gold with a total of 550 points at the 2022 Lifesaving South Africa Inter-Provincial Championships. PHOTO: Facebook/Lifesaving South Africa
Sport after service
The LSA is “the only sporting federation where, in order to compete in the sport as a lifeguard, you have to do community service”, said Herbert. All lifeguards must complete a mandatory 20 hours of volunteer duty in order to compete, he said.
“We are grateful for the work that LSA does to keep our pools and beaches safe,” added Williams.
“Our lifeguards from across the country in the past year turned out around 86 000 voluntary duty hours,” said Herbert. “If you think of it from a monetary perspective, if they were being paid by municipalities for those hours, […] it would equate to about R10 million.”
“These are activities that our lifeguards are doing on a daily basis,” said Herbert.
“Sport comes after someone has achieved a lifeguard award and only then can they participate in the sport of lifesaving,” said Helen Herbert, the general manager of Lifesaving South Africa (LSA).
LSA is “the only sporting federation where, in order to compete in the sport as a lifeguard, you have to do community service”, said Herbert. PHOTO: Facebook/Lifesaving South Africa