UWA Water Sports and Outdoor Program Manager Bob Herriman with program Coordinator Rita Pizzini by the Swan River
UWA helps bring Bronze Medallion programs to the river
Royal Life Saving Society WA is working with UWA this summer to bring Bronze Medallion courses to the Swan River. This collaboration with UWA Recreate will see up to 32 participants learn how to negotiate survival situations beyond the confines of a swimming pool.
UWA Recreate offers a series of summer short courses, enabling participants to keep fit and healthy. Program Coordinator Rita Pizzini and Water Sports and Outdoor Program Manager Bob Herriman believe the addition of the Bronze Medallion will be well received, as many of their clients “are based at nearby residential colleges or live in Nedlands and surrounding suburbs and regularly access the river.”
Two seven week courses are on offer to both UWA students and the wider community between January 16th and March 5th 2017. The first will run weekly on Thursday evenings between 4:30 and 6:30pm and the second on Saturdays from 9:00am until 11:00am. These courses will take place at the UWA Water sports complex, with water based activities making use of the Swan River.
Royal Life Saving’s Bronze Medallion is a challenging course that teaches survival swimming skills, CPR technique and aquatic rescues with participants encouraged to collaborate and come together in a series of mock rescues and survival situations.The Bronze Medallion can also lead to employment opportunities in the aquatic industry and is highly desirable by employers.
Rita and Bob believe the Bronze Medallion will “get people out of their comfort zone and challenge their physical fitness as well as their problem solving skills.”
Conducting the Bronze Medallion in an open and dynamic aquatic environment further challenges participants and enables them to learn firsthand, just how much river systems can change, even within hours. The program is part of Royal Life Saving's Respect the River campaign, funded by the Federal Government, which aims to raise awareness of the many hazards that underlie our rivers, lakes and streams.
If you’d like to learn how to keep yourselves and others safe in all waterways this summer, enrolments for both Bronze Medallion courses are now open! Please click the link below and select Bronze Medallion.
For further information on the Respect the River campaign, and further tips on how to stay safe this summer click the link below.
