Anglesea SLSC beat out sport heavyweights for team of the year honour

ANGLESEA Surf Life Saving Club’s six-person rescue and resuscitation team is the toast of the local sports community after winning the AED Authority Team of the Year award.

The team last week took out the 2023 Victorian Sports Awards at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium.

The awards honour those who have made an exceptional contribution to sport either as an individual or through their team as a coach, team member, volunteer or administrator.

The Anglesea SLSC sextet beat out a series of sporting heavyweights for the team of the year title including the Melbourne Football Club, the Deakin Melbourne Boomers and the Victorian Special Olympics Team.

Spearheaded by coach Christine Cardwell, the Anglesea R and R team bring more than 100 years of lifesaving experience together and consists of surf club members aged 22 to 39 who have competed in the sport since they were children.

The sport of R and R involves the team members performing a series of traditional rescue and resuscitation techniques with accuracy using a reel, line and belt in competition.

The sextet has been competing as a team for more than two years and recently made history by becoming only the second team in Victorian history to win the Surf Life Saving Australia title for R and R.

Mrs Cardwell said the team was over the moon to secure their biggest accolade to date.

“We are pretty ecstatic and considering the competition we were up against it was absolutely incredible.

“The other finalists all had such amazing achievements in their own right, it was very humbling to be amongst them.

“We had four of our members and our support crew there on the night to accept the award.

“The team members were very shocked and it was so pleasing to see them achieve whey have.”

Mrs Cardwell said the award was a strong reminder of their hard work and diligence to the sport throughout the countless hours of training, patrolling and competing.

“It’s absolutely reward for effort.

“Not only over the last two years of this team being together, but from their whole time in the sport of surf lifesaving.

“The Team of the Year is just so satisfying and I’m so happy for them.”