Milnerton Nippers

The wind blew Saturday in, along with choppy seas and sunny skies.
Even before we had walked into the club, we were bombarded with, "Can we go to the pool?" "It's too windy!" (this is becomming monotonous! every week i get to repeat this season's mantra: "we are beach nippers not pool nippers"...)

This week, however, B and I had decided that we wanted to take the nippers to the pool. There were exams to be done and drills that we wanted to do.
We made the nippers earn it however. We asked them a series of questions based on their theory. Each correct answer gave them 1 point, each incorrect lost them 2 points and every time someone shouted out they lost 2 points. The end goal was 10 points...

I dont think that the nippers thought that we would actually take away points... The first time we did, we were gazed upon like aliens from another world! The nippers were horrified!!
They came close to 10 points a few times ,but then in the excitement, someone would shout out and would lose the team 2 points.
I must give the nippers a huge thumbs up!! They really know their stuff! Their theory knowledge is great!! (must have something to do with their coaches...;-)..)
No seriously, theyreally are a bright bunch! Rarely did the give an incorrect answer.
They hit 10 points and we piled into Paul's bakkie and Joe's car to head off to the pool.

Everyone was excited and then we arrived at the pool...
Nobody informed us that the pool was being used by the sea scouts that weekend!! They had their annual "do" so we couldn't use the pool! B and I felt quite bad as we had worked them into going and they had earned it....
oh well... gues my mantra rings true: We are beach nippers not pool nippers!!

So off we went back to the beach. There was some grumbling but the kids were really good! They all got changed quickly and were on the beach in a matter of minutes!
They ran to the traditional marker of the house before running back...
running back they had to run in 2 lines behind Bryan. If he sped up then so could they, but they had to stay in 2 straight lines... i think that some of the nippers need to be taught about lines...
but it was funny to watch some of the more competitive nippers trying to catch B on he sprints!!!

We then did some run-swim-runs... or in the nippers case some walk-walk-walks... we split them up into their age groups with the u/10's going first followed by the u/12's then the u/14's.
Now generally during a run-swim-run, you would sprint the first run, hit the water hard and swim, then you would finish your swim and run as hard as you can until you hit the finish line...
Very few of our nippers grasped this concept. they walked some, jogged some, wlaked the swim, walked in, and trotted to the finish line...
they learnt a hard lesson as they had to redo this exercise about 6 times until they all got it right... and were running and swimming and running!!!

Then we did some "ins-and-outs" relays. We did this a number of times ans everyone was enjoying it. We had 2 cripples who had to go against each other as it wouldve been unfair to put them against an able nippers... Dianne and Caitlyn did well, they held hands and hobbled though it together! Am very proud as they didnt stop but kept going!!

Some of the nippers wanted to go further out, so we put the them in oredr of distance. The first 3 in each team would go far out and then Bryan would come in for the next nippers who are not as comfortable going far out. Some the nippers realised that when B says far... he means far! Sometimes the nippers couldnt make it to him... when they said further he went further... they just didnt realise how far.
With the strong current, this made for some very tired nippers back on the beach!

Due to the chill factor of the wind, the nippers turned blue quickly... Dianne asked me if they could have a 1 minute shower.. (we had been giving the short showers due to their bad behaviour) I said "no, you can have a longer shower." Dianne got so excited she started telling everyone that they were allowed a 2 minute shower!! Then she realised that she was getting excited about a 2 minute shower... it was very amusing!!

In the end the nippers had about a 5 minute shower... we hauled them out as the lifeguards ahd to make a rescue...
they had to rescue a rescue craft!!
One of the newer lifeguard trainees ahd taken it out in the high wind and choppy seas!!! He fell off and chose to hang onto the paddle instead of the craft. The lifeguards werent aware that he was out there. By the time they were told, the rescue craft and blown halfway to Blouberg. 6 lifeguards then ran down the beach while 1 went into the water on another craft to try and rescue the craft...
after a hard paddle and a long swim for some, the craft was recovered! Was quite amusing for those of us watching!
The nippers also got to get a first-hand look at why you "know your limits" before going out!!

Posted by laurenallott at 7:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

What a day!! The wind was up, the sea was swimmable, the shorebreak wasnt small and the sun was shining!
We had 4 new nippers!!! Carolette, Jade, Storm and Thomas. We hope that they had an awesome time!!!

Once again, the nippers asked to go to the pool and once again, we explained to the that they are beach nippers NOT pool nippers... think that i am going to start wearing a t-shirt with that as a slogan whenever we go to nippers ;-)

The nippers started off with a small run to the house and back, which most of them did well.
Then we lined them up in teams. (it was the first day that we were able to have a girls only team!) We made them lie in single file in their teams approx 15m away from each other. The nippers had to jump up and run and touch the next team members feet in order for the relay to continue. They had to get-up like they do in flags and then turn around and run towards their team mate...ie their team mate was their flag! At first it caused some confusion, with some nippers running the wrong way :-) But after the second time, they had it down pat!

We kept them in theit teams and then did some ins and outs. Poor Storm got taken out by a big wave! Luckily B was holding her as he had seen the wave comming and grabbed her. The wave was at least double her size! She handled it very well though! After the wave, she ran in and finished the relay! 2 thumbs-up Storm!!
Thomas proved to be very quick! He is a real sprinter! He gave some of the older nippers a run for their money :-) They realised that would have to work to stay ahead of him!!!
Aaron and Donovan again!! They both caught a beautiful wave and came bodysurfing in (again)... Donovan saw the sandbank, Aaron didnt. Donovan pulled out of the wave, Aaron didnt... and so he got a mouthful of sand!! He was not very impressed, i thought it was hysterical (again)
Nipper coaching is hours of entertainment!!! :-)

Due to the wind, the chill factor on the beach was high. We had to keep the nippers moving so that they wouldn't get too cold! We let them have quite a few free (20 second) swims. They love being able to go and get wet without instructions!

We had a "surprize" visit from the world's greatest nipper, Claire!!! She was in CT for the weekend and came to pop-in to see how everyone was doing!! It was so awesome for us all to see her again!!! Hopefully we will see her again soon!!

Shaun and Lucci were eager to carry on swimming when it came time to go inside for theory... unfortunately for them... the rest of the nippers didnt agree and were ready to grab a warm shower and some warm clothes! :-) those 2 are really proving to be very eager nippers! Keep it up Guys!!!

We did our theory in the warm sun on the balcony of the lifesaving club. The nippers know a lot of it which is great! They really do remember things incredibly well!!
The nippers were absolute angels! We didnt have to shout or ask them things more than once!! It was a huge improvement from the previous week!! Well Done Nippers!!!

PS:
Millies Nippers ROCK!!!!

Posted by laurenallott at 4:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The beach conditions weren't too bad. The wind was up and it was a bit overcast, but the ocean was flat and not too cold.
B and I had decided before-hand that we wanted the nippers to do a long swim. Justin W, a lifeguard, kindly put a buoy (a real orange one, not our human one) about 70m off-shore for us. The nippers looked at the buoy and looked at us. Looked back at the buoy and then back at us. Then the questions started... "Are we swimming there?"; "Why?"; "do we have to?" these were closely followed by mumbling and complaints... "i cant do it"; "its too far.; "its too cold" etc.
Bryan and I explained to them that they had to doit in order to get ready for their exams and for competitions. The nippers felt better when they saw that B and Justin W would be in the water with them. B and Justin went into the water while the nippers started their run.
They all did very well... everybody tried their best and went as far as they could. Dianne was first around the buoy and back, closely followed by Dean and Aaron. Lucci made it the whole way and did really well. Jordan, who is usually more cautious, swam all the way to the buoy and back! We were so proud of him!!!
The current was pushing the nippers quited hard and some of them came out of the water looking very tired!
We did the swim a second time, with Dianne again comming out first. Many of the nippers were very cold and did not want to put their faces in the water to swim ;-) This resulted in some very tired nippers back on the beach.

We had a short rest and then it was out for a run. After our run, we discovered that the club did indeed have flags. We lined the nippers up for some flags. Its started to get quite ruthless, with nippers grabbing each other, jumping on each other, holding each other down and so forth... we had to put a stop to it before somebody lost a tooth or broke something. Flags was quite closly contested between Shaun, Dianne, Dean and Aaron. Shaun successfully beat Dean both times. Dean was so focued on trying to grab Aaron's flag that he lost sight of the other nippers and Shaun took his brother out.
Aaron has learned a thing or three from watching one the Senior Lifeguards (guess who.... Brent). He has become quite clever and very good at flags! He took top honors both times. We had a glitch when some of our nippers tried, on the second round of flags, to eliminate themselves by not doing their best. This was stopped short by a lecture on disappointment and bad sportsmanship.

We split the nippers into 3 teams and did some baton relays. This went down very well, wth lots of heated competition between the teams. The nippers have this down quite well and know exactly what to do.

We went back into the water for some wading sprints. The nippers seemed to be deaf to the sound of B's voice and so were hauled out of the water to be told what to do by Drill Sargeant, me. With the wading sprints completed, we did some more short swims. These went down well, but the nippers seem really seemed to have forgotten their ears in their bags and did not listen to instructions or obey signals given.
This resulted in a very short shower for all.

It was not all bad! the nippers did try their best, it was just a pity about their ears being left behind. This made it a difficult day but we are hoping to see an improvement next week...

Posted by laurenallott at 8:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

What a yukky beach day...
The tide was very high, the beach was filthy and dotted with blue bottles. Bryan and I decided that we would stay at the beach, much to the nippers disgust at first. They were begging to go to the pool. We tried to make them understand that they are beach nippers and not pool nippers, they weren't really interested in that concept.

We ran towards the golf club for a change, as our normal route was covered in water. Some of the nippers decided that they would walk instead of run, so we ran again. Many of the nippers were paranoid about blue bottles and being stung. We explained to them that if they are stung, they are unlikely to feel it at first, and when it stings that they must not rub it with their hands but wash it with sea water to prevent stinging their own hands. They calmed down a bit after that chat. We also told them that the lifeguards have stuff to ease the sting. (amazing how whenever we say lifeguards, they all mention Brent. Their seems to be a fascination with him)

The nippers went swimming in the rough sea and mini-rip with Bryan. They all handled quite well and no-one got dunked too badly ;-)
We set off with our boards to have some fun. The beach was not condusive for much else. we let them play a bit on their own with their boards, while Bryan worked with them individually, showing them how to paddle and catch waves. Nathan did really well catching some of the bigger waves of the day! His confidence is growing with each session. Aaron and Donovan successfully caught the same wave, with Donovan comming down on top of Aaron. Those 2 seem to attract strange wave scenarios.

We did 2 run-swim-runs to get the nippers used to horrble surf conditions. They all tried their best, with most making it to Bryan and back. The rest of the time, we spent on boards or running.

We adopted a new policy, if one nipper steps out of line then everybody is punished. It made for an interesting dynamic when I said that we will all run, if a certain nipper did not get off his lazy behind. All the nippers rushed at him and pulled him to his feet. I think that I will keep that policy in place for a bit... ;-)

We hope that the beach improves for next week as we neeed to get some competition practise in, before the competition at the end of the month.

Posted by laurenallott at 6:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Under 10:
Nicholas Fisk
Sean Teuchert
Jordan Mayers

Under 12:
Aaron Barnes
Nathan Boon
Luci Clementi
Caitlin Singleton
Dean Teuchert

Under 14:
Chloe Holloway
Michael Marini
Diane Swart
Donovan Chambers
Janna Fisk

Posted by laurenallott at 8:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)