One of Trigg Island Surf Lifesaving Club’s most respected and highly regarded members Jake Smith was recently crowned Surf Lifesaving Australia’s Athlete of the Year.
The annual Surf Lifesaving Australia Awards were hosted on the 4th of November, in Sydney, and bought together State winners, dignitaries, and supporters, to recognize and celebrate the work of the award recipients over the past 12 months.
Jake has had an absolutely phenomenal year, both inside competition and away from competition. As a member of the Australian Life Saving Team, Jake proved to be an unstoppable force, leading the campaign at the Lifesaving World Championships in Italy 2022 to be the most successful Pool Rescue campaign. Jake was the highest point scoring open male athlete on the team producing some of the fastest times ever swum by an Australian in a World Championship event in the Pool, and showed his versatility, successfully competing on the beach in multiple events taking home a total of 12 medals.
He also took on a mentor role to the ALT youth team, helping with technical aspects of different events whilst in Italy. Jake was also the captain of the Western Suns State Pool Rescue Team in 2022, where he also set 6 Australian Records at the National Championships. As an athlete and sports committee member he has an appreciation of the need to ensure guidelines and protocols are adhered to and maintained to guarantee fair competition and opportunities for all participants.
Within Trigg Island SLSC, Jake is one of our competition captains, and regularly helps to organize and manage events for members at competitions as well as ensure that member’s uphold club values. He regularly encouraged members (especially the youth) to better themselves, and continues to hold them accountable, helping them better their team and individual performances.
Jake is also the Trigg’s Ocean Swim Coach, responsible for coordinating and running ocean swim training for club athletes. Adding to his schedule, Jake has similarly taken on the role of Pool Rescue Captain for the club for the current season.
Jake is always looking for ways to improve performance, regularly engaging in discussions with a range of different people within the lifesaving community including competitors, coaches and officials about the rules of the sport of pool lifesaving to discover and trial different ways to evolve the sport.Jake is a qualified sports teacher, swimming and lifesaving coach having developed the skills of teaching, training and coaching from his personal, educational and work experience.
Trigg Island SLSC is incredibly proud of Jake, he is a shining example of a top bloke within our community, who is always willing to help others and comes with the added bonus of being a strong competitor, who is dedicated, passionate, and incredibly accomplished within the sport.
We look forward to the upcoming season, and watching what more Jake can do.
