IN THE past the Warrnambool Surf Lifesaving Club's surf skis have sat collecting dust in the equipment shed.
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Last season only five members of the club's competition squad pulled the skis from their resting spots and took to the surf with them under their arms.
A year on and heading into the Lifesaving Victoria Open State Championships at Warrnambool's Lady Bay this weekend, the club has 20 testing their skills on the ski against the state's best lifesavers.
WSLSC member and one of three surf ski coaches Ben Johnson said one age group was leading the way in the club's reborn discipline.
That age group was the under 17 girls, which has the most participants giving surf lifesaving's most testing event the go.
Johnson, who coaches alongside Mark Owen and Peter Day, said his daughter Ellie Johnson, 16, and her friends Hannah Owen, 17, Emma Ragg, Molly O’Brien, Stella Bridgewater, all 16, and Etta Harrison, 15, were the athletes leading the resurgence.
They saw the fun Ellie was having and have jumped on board... They are a competitive bunch.
- Ben Johnson
"Ellie did well last season and that provided encouragement for the other girls to give it a go," the 47-year-old father-of-three said.
"They have been a really tight group since under 8s and have come through the ranks together for the past nine years.
"They are a great bunch of friends and have all done the board discipline together as well, but they saw the fun Ellie was having and have jumped on board.
"They are a competitive bunch so they have been pushing each other as well."
Ellie said the group of girls had more fun when training because they were all trying to master the discipline.
Johnson said the club's members had embraced training for the discipline well before the season had began in late October and into the summer months.
"We did a winter program in kayaks and that helped them to step into skis to get stability and learn about how to do the stroke and get the balance of the boat right," the Warrnambool Presbyterian Church minister said.
"As the water got warmer we were able to get them on the surf skis and out into the ocean. We now have four ski squads training throughout the week."
Surf lifesavers can only begin to compete in the ski event in under 17s.
In the 108 events the club will compete in across the two-day event 25 of those will involve at least one member on a ski - including relay and ironman events.
Fifty athletes will represent the south-west club across Saturday and Sunday's state championships, which attracts the best surf lifesavers from across Victoria to compete.
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Sean Hardeman
I'm a sports journalist for the Warrnambool Standard who covers a number of different sports across the south-west of Victoria. I enjoy watching cycling, surfing, football, soccer and Formula 1.
I'm a sports journalist for the Warrnambool Standard who covers a number of different sports across the south-west of Victoria. I enjoy watching cycling, surfing, football, soccer and Formula 1.
