Starfish Nippers
Starfish Nippers is a lifesaving skills program designed for children and young adults with a disability 6 years and older.
The Starfish Nipper Program
Starfish Nippers is a lifesaving skills program designed for children and young adults with a disability 6 years and older.
The program aims to give young people with disabilities beach safety and water awareness skills. Starfish Nippers caters for students with numerous disabilities including but not limited to Autism spectrum disorders and Down Syndrome.
Run entirely by volunteers at the club, the program ensures that students with disabilities and their parents can be involved with surf skills and lifesaving like their siblings, friends and others on the beach.
Starfish History
The Mandurah Surf Lifesaving Club is the first club in WA to offer this program which commenced in 2017/2018 with 5 participants.
The Starfish Nipper program was started by volunteer lifesaver Janet Jones at the Anglesea Surf Life Saving Club in Victoria. Starfish Nippers has been supportive of people with a disability for many years in other parts of Australia.
The Starfish Nipper aim is to provide a water safety and awareness program for children from the age 6 and above. The program is designed to be inclusive of all abilities and needs in our community.
The instances of the Starfish Nipper program running around Australia generally consist of 5-15 people depending on a number of factors with safety being the key factor.
How to Participate
If you are interested in participating in this program either by being a volunteer or enrolled please contact our Starfish Nipper Coordinator Tash Gollan on 0448 342 205 for further information or visit our Facebook Page – Mandurah Starfish Nippers – Participants Page.
