Mount Maunganui Lifeguard Service head coach John Bryant.
Mount Maunganui Lifeguard Service head coach John Bryant.
Next time you are watching a surf carnival held at Mount Main Beach consider this. The speed, strength and dexterity in the surf of the athletes on show may well be the difference between life and death if you are ever caught in a rip off the beach.
Hamish Miller is one of the top-quality young athletes coming through the Mount Maunganui Lifeguard Service programme.
The good news is that Mount Maunganui Lifeguard Service has the best record at the surf nationals for nearly a decade and has depth in talent through the age groups other clubs can only dream about.
Head coach John Bryant, 51, has been the driving force behind the club's success since he was enticed up north from the Christchurch beaches in September 2003.
The man universally known as Spindles is justifiably proud of the five national titles won in the last eight years and so many other regional titles he has lost count of them all.
"We are a family. We work hard not just for the winning teams but for every single person that goes out there," Bryant said. "We definitely love to win but we also like to compete to our best all the time. We are dedicated and train hard but we just have this culture. It hasn't happened over night. This is a culture that I brought to the club when I came here about 12 years ago. It is based around being loyal to the programme and to the people around you, honesty, hard work and just the commitment to making sure that the club is the best not just in competition, but in lifeguarding and everything that they do.
"The public around here don't see the Mount winning all the time but when they come swimming out here they know they have faster, fitter and the best lifeguards in New Zealand looking after them. They don't want me going out there to try and rescue them. I will look after them when they get to the beach. They want someone like Jess Miller, Hamish Miller, Daniel Barron - kids who are swimming four minutes for 400 metres."
Bryant says the sports side of lifeguarding is fundamental to the retention of the athletes they have on patrol and the next generation coming through.
"They wouldn't be here without it. The surf sport is their passion but they understand the lifeguarding is number one and that's what they are here to do. If we have 100 lifeguards out there, maybe 15 or 20 might be around if there wasn't surf sports. Surf sports is what sells it for them to come along. We will retain our membership because of that.
Sam Shergold from Mount Maunganui Lifeguard Service in action. Photo/file
"In the programme we also branch them off into other areas. The best known are Lisa Carrington into kayaking and Andrea Hewitt into triathlons. We have Andrew Roy and Sam Roy into their kayaking and Jess Miller in Australia trying to crack the open water scene. Andrew Newton and Sam Shergold have gone into Surf New Zealand and the prone paddleboard side of it and Olivia Eaton is a good chance of being named in a New Zealand athletics team this year."
Bryant is also the man behind lifeguards jumping off the Moturiki Island blowhole as part of their training. It is unique to the Mount club and has become famous worldwide thanks to the spectacular Mount Monster endurance ironman surf sport event. The 10m leap from the rocks into the turbulent surf below is not for the faint-hearted and caused Gisborne's Cory Taylor, the inaugural 2013 winner, to hesitate before he took the plunge.
The leap of faith began as a punishment if guards did not race or train very well.
"It certainly does take away a lot of fears and challenges them. We talked about it being part of a race five years ago and if it wasn't for Steve Bird putting up the cash it might not have happened."
The future of the Mount Maunganui Lifeguard Service on and off the water looks assured with a rich vein of talented younger athletes coming through the system.
"I have a group of under-16 boys who are absolutely awesome at the moment in Daniel Barron, Isaac Marshall, Morgan Brockelsby, Hamish Miller and Dylan Williams," said Bryant. "They are very capable kids, with another group coming behind them in Daniel Miller, Benji Rowe, Lachlan O'Connor and Tai Woller who will all be there next year. In the 19 age boys, we have a very strong group in Perry Farrell, Cam Hayes, Kane Sefton, Charlie Haynes and Dan McMahon, plus the under-16 girls in Libby Bradley, Molly Alton, Amy Barron, Adriana Bird, Katie Wilson."
The work Bryant has done in joining forces with Otumoetai Swim Club's head coach Stefan Swanepoel is another initiative paying dividends.
"They are like our sister club. Stefan and I have created something different with a working relationship between the two clubs. We have good kids coming through who won't all be winners but we know they will probably be our next patrol captains."
Bryant is confident of another national title at Gisborne's Midway Beach on March 12-15. But he knows it will be a tough assignment.
"The northern region clubs like Piha, Red Beach, Mairangi Bay have lifted their game quite a bit so they will come through. Omanu and Papamoa will definitely be amongst it. Nationals are a funny thing. We have been there and been super hot on the Friday, destroying everything and then for some reason on the Saturday we just go cold. It could be as simple as a wind shift has changed different currents and we haven't read it as quick as everyone else. Little things like that can upset teams."
