Volunteers wanted for disabled surfers
The Central Coast Disabled Surfers Association is seeking volunteers for the 2016 summer beach season.
It will host a free volunteer training session on Umina Beach on October 29.
The association is a volunteer-run organisation that enables people of all ages and abilities to take part in one of Australia's most popular pastimes, beach surfing.
Association volunteers serve to provide a unique, safe and happy surfing experience to a wide range of people with various disabilities who would otherwise be unable to access the beach.
In order to ensure safety, the association has a high volunteer to participant ratio, with a minimum of six to one up to as high as 30 to one for more challenging participants.
We only surf in broken waves, in waist depth water.
The association provides volunteer training for those who want to help at one of their Hands on Days, summer surf events.
These events aim to give disabled participants an amazing experience in and out of the water.
Attending a training session will provide volunteers with valuable information and insight into how the association helps participants enjoy the experience that able-bodied people often take for granted.
Potential volunteers are asked to meet at Umina Beach Public School at 8:30am for registration before moving onto the beach for training from 9am to 12:30pm.
The first part of the training will provide insight into the theory of volunteering with the Disabled Surfers Association and then put it into practice on the beach.
The 2016 crop of volunteers will help make the four scheduled Hands on Days events a success by assisting participants to and from the water, setting and cleaning up and providing food and smiles.
This season's events will be: Hands on Days at Umina Beach, November 5 and February 4, from 9am to 1:30pm; and Hands on Days at Toowoon Bay, December 3 and March 4, from 9am to 1:30pm.
Media release Oct 3, 2016
Interview, Oct 3, 2016
Rae Fiechter, Disabled Surfers Association
Dilon Luke, Reporter