Rebecca Johnson was 12 years old when she first walked through the doors of Jan Juc Surf Life Saving Club (SLSC).<\/p>\n
More than three decades of service later, the businesswoman, mother and volunteer has touched the lives of those who consider the Surf Coast\u2019s beaches to be home.<\/p>\n
Upon joining the club as a Nipper, she became the first female of her age group to represent the small township of Jan Juc on the shore and in the water.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was quite early on in women\u2019s involvement in surf life saving. I did two years of Nippers, and I won various awards when I was a junior with Life Saving Victoria,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI then went on to be selected to do some leadership development scholarships with Surf Life Saving Australia.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was 18 I won the Sir Adrian Curlewis Scholarship which was for leadership involvement and competition in surf life saving for juniors. With that I travelled to New South Wales and Queensland \u2013 there was one person selected from each state.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been on the committee at Jan Juc for about 20 years. I\u2019ve gone from a role as Junior Club Captain and then progressed to Club Captain, which we now call Life Saving Services Manager.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 1999, Rebecca (best known as Bec) won the Victorian Surf Lifesaver of the Year award for her overall contributions to service, competition and surf rescue.<\/p>\n
In 2011, she was granted life membership at the very place where her love for water sports was realised.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a huge honour, and it\u2019s probably my most rewarding achievement and what I cherish the most with everything I\u2019ve done in the club,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Bec\u2019s two sons, Harry, 12, and Tom, 9, were as keen to throw on the red and yellow uniform as their mother was when she first looked out to the water as a child.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy kids are now involved in Nippers as well, and it\u2019s been really nice to come through the club when it was so small, to have my family involved as well. It\u2019s great in that way.<\/p>\n
\u201cHarry will start patrolling next year which is really exciting, so we might be able to patrol together.\u201d<\/p>\n
On top of her responsibilities running Surf Coast Podiatry, Bec co-ordinates the patrols roster every summer.<\/p>\n
Throughout the cooler months, she organises an emergency call-out crew to be ready in the event of a crisis.<\/p>\n
She said what she loves most about being part of Jan Juc SLSC is the enduring friendships she\u2019s formed along the way.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s such a great community involved, from seven-year-old kids starting Nippers right through to 70-year-old people who have been involved in the club for such a long time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s such a healthy environment for families and kids to be involved, the fresh air, the life skills that you get through being involved with a surf club.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got so many lifelong friends that I\u2019ve met from other clubs and around Australia through my involvement in life saving over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bec said despite the impressive spike in the club\u2019s membership population, the sense of mateship within the humble building on Clubhouse Road continues to be felt by all.<\/p>\n
\u201cJan Juc itself used to be a very small community, and the club was mainly built up of locals.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had two large clubs on either side of us being Torquay and Anglesea, whereas now we\u2019re considered one of those larger clubs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re highly regarded as one of the really prominent clubs in terms of our life saving skills at Jan Juc.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve also been asked to operate the Life Saving Victoria jet ski service out of our club which is a huge honour.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not that small club anymore, we embrace the whole wider Geelong and Melbourne community as well, but we still maintain that family cohesion.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody knows each other, right from the younger ages group through to our more senior members, which I think is a really nice thing to have.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Jan Juc SLSC documents, throughout her tenure with the club, Bec has run a popular \u201cred faces night\u201d for members, been in charge of first aid at club fundraisers including Bells Bash and the Danger 1000 Ocean Swim, and hosted junior discos.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s also been heavily involved in other club fundraisers such as roadside collections and door knocks, all the while patrolling more than 875 recorded hours.<\/p>\n
Jan Juc SLSC president Aaron Green described Bec as a \u201cstalwart\u201d who embodied the ethos on which the clubhouse was founded.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s not much she has not participated in or achieved during her time with the club,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMoving from athlete, lifesaver, mentor, board member and now parent of young Nippers, she has truly experienced and contributed to all parts of the club environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cMembers like Bec are integral to the success and sustainability of any club.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rebecca Johnson was 12 years old when she first walked through the doors of Jan Juc Surf Life Saving Club (SLSC). More than three decades of service later, the businesswoman, mother and volunteer has touched the lives of those who consider the Surf Coast\u2019s beaches to be home. Upon joining the club as a Nipper, […]<\/p>\n