On the 23rd of June 2009 the Sports Education Development Australia (SEDA) Aquatics class took some time out of our regular schedule to brave the tough walk up the 1,000 steps in Ferntree Gulley. The 1,000 steps is a miniature version of the real Kokoda Track, with the day designed to test our fitness, whilst also offering an educational component, a cornerstone of the SEDA program.

After the class trudged up the steps in what would seem a record 10 minutes (Scott believed it would take 30 minutes, the brochure suggested 1hour!), we walked around 2 or 3 steep and challenging tracks in the surrounding Dandenongs, somewhat reminiscent of those on the Kokoda Track. (all navigated with a comical, but military prowess by Calum Dickson) When at last we got back to the top of the steps we split into two groups, some of us went down a steep hill to the bottom of the steps, whilst some of us opted to go back down the steps.

When all of us were safely back down in the car park we had a BBQ lunch. Although we had to purchase supplies on the day as Scott forgot some of the food and utensils .

When our lunch was complete we had to read some of the signs leading up to the start of the steps, this was to fill in our fact sheets about the Kokoda Track and some of the battles the Australian soldiers fought along it.

All in all I would say it was a most memorable and humbling experience to share within the class for all who participated. It not only provided us with a lasting memory but also enriched our minds with knowledge of Kokoda and somewhat gave us an experience similar to what the soldiers faced in the War.

By Dillan Savona

On the 8^th-12^th August Nicholas O’Connor and Kayne Johns from the SEDA Aquatics program attended the 2009 Australian Short Course Championships held in Hobart. This event is the highest level of competition in Australia before racing internationally. Competitors must come under the tough qualifying times prior to the event to be able to swim in these events.

Nick competed in 4 events over the 5 days while I competed in 5. Nick achieved 2 personal best times which included smashing his personal best time in the 200 backstroke. While I didn’t achieve any personal best times but was close in all events. Throughout the event there was 5 world records achieved. With 17 of the 32 members from the world championship team swimming at this event, making this event high profile and prestigious. The event was televised on the ten HD, showing the top swimmers in the country perform at their best. The event wasn’t my first major meet at this level but still a very good experience for me and nick.

It was good to be able to bring our experiences back to the group, especially in relation to the hot topic that had been discussed in class, with respect to FINA allowing the new controversial swim suits, and the effect that they had on the competition results.

We both enjoyed the experience a lot and had so much fun throughout the 5 days of competition.

Kayne Johns

Throughout semester two The Aquatics SDP have been running introductory sailing for the students of Port Phillip Special School.

The days often start with setting up ‘pacers’ and the especially tailor made for greater accessibility, ‘sailability’ boats, and then planning our course and sailing around what the days conditions often present. Once the students arrive we briefly speak to them about what the day will entail, then it is time to break into smaller groups, get in the boats and learn about safety and basic sailing skills. In the ‘sailabilty’ boats there was one SEDA student to each Port Phillip student, whilst in the pacers there are two Port Phillip students, and two SEDA students. The kids are all very excited about it all but also scared of falling in.

As the sessions progres the confidence in the kids became greater and they are all keen to go faster and take more risks. Luckily the Sailibilty boats are especially designed so as there is no chance in them flipping, therefore not making it too risky.

After the conclusion of all the sailing days we received personalised letters from students of the Port Phillip Special School, which provide a valuable, heartwarming, and often comical feedback. In a letter from Abdi who is 12 he said ‘I didn’t fall in but they (the lifesavers – us) were there to save me if i did.’ And from another student similar in age she said that she will go again in summer so that if she falls into the water she won’t get cold.

Overall the Port Phillip students gained some confidence, learnt something new, made some new friends, and most importantly had a good time, whilst for the SEDA students, our outcomes were not too dissimilar.

Bridgette Meaden

As of Wednesday 26th May our Structured Workplace Learning (SWL) began with myself (Emma Doyle) and Calum Dickson choosing to enhance our knowledge in the sport and recreation industry at Life Saving Victoria (LSV).

During the summer period I worked in the LSV education department running beach programs, so have a basic understanding, however the SWL is the first real experience I have had in an office based environment, so it has been good to see what’s involved in the structure of an organisation from the office view.

Some of the skills that I have learnt and increased have been customer service, answering phones in the education department answering any questions that may be asked and also taking messages. With summer fast approaching the need of re-writing the training books for the education programs have been high on the list, having to read through each one and re-word each manual where it is needed. With Life Saving Victoria an emergency response organisation updating and requalling of lifesaving awards is essential and therefore both Calum and myself have been helping in the process of mailing awards out to participants to ensure them of their currency for summer.

Having a break from the summer period makes it the best time to update the contacts on the LSV server and getting every school in Victoria’s email has been a challenge, but hopefully doing this will be of value and go some way to ensure greater program participation, and to raise awareness of water safety. Our input to this has been worthwhile as there has been a big response from schools in the state not knowing about LSV beforehand.

This Structured workplace learning will continue every Wednesday till mid November, whereby we hope to continue to enhance our knowledge and skills within a State Sporting Body.

Emma Doyle

Throughout term 2, the SEDA aquatic students have been conducting clinics at Middle Park and St Kilda Park Primary School in the sports of : AFL, Soccer and Basketball.

At first the group was hesitant in running such clinics, and were a little shaky struggling to get our head around the daunting task of being in charge of students. However as time has gone on, and we have conducted more clinics, we have got better and better and now are running clinics effectively, with the improvement of the SEDA students coaching skills highly noticeable.

Over the various clinics we have learned how to construct and run a clinic that are free flowing, and are of great benefit to the students we are teaching, so as they can develop their skills to be near the best they can be. The things the students have gotten out of our clinics are role models and leaders to aspire to, who are also closer to their own age than some of the other teachers.

At St Kilda Park Primary we were shocked to find that they had no sports department, which was great for us in the end because we are the only real sporting influence within their school now and they are having fun and learning lots. In contrast at Middle Park they have a sporting co-ordinator named Dan who as well as being the co-ordinator for the whole district, has a lot of industry experience, so has helped us by giving valuable hints and tips. We will be continuing with clinics on a variety of sports throughout this term, and hopefully as the weather warms up, be doing some more Aquatic based coaching in term 4.

Brenton

The group has settled into the year well and is positively engaged and enthusiastic. Our staff member has also displayed a terrific enthusiasm for the role and has developed an excellent rapport with the students.

The venue is ideal for this type of program and is situated right on Albert Park Lake. This provides us with access to Yachting facilities and MSAC is only a short walk away.

SEDA has formed a partnership with the following Aquatics organizations to assist with the delivery of the program

• Lifesaving Victoria
• Yachting Victoria
• Swimming Victoria
• Surfing Victoria

All these organizations are fully supportive of the program and are excited by the possibilities to engage with our students.

Students will be involved in the following training with the above organizations

• Bronze medallion
• Working with people with disabilities
• Boat Smart course
• Sailability training course
• Boating safety 4 kids
• Level 1 Surfing coaching course
• Level 1 Swimming coaching course

Our students have been assisting the with the following development work

• School Surf League events
• Rip Curl Pro – Surfing event
• Beach days for Primary Schools

Links have been made and work is being completed with the following organizations in the various regions:

• Local council
• Lifesaving Clubs
• Local schools
• VSSSA / VPSSA

Examples of the types of activities the students have been involved with are:

• Active for all Abilities clinics
• Zone Swimming carnivals
• Beach day for Port Phillip Special School

Monday 9th February - Our first day of the Sports Development Program.

Our first task was to make our way to gate 5 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground where we got to meet our new classmates. Many of us were nervous as to what to expect, however, most were excited to be starting the new Aquatic program. As we walked through the gate, we gathered in a room to listen to Tony Kiers (LSV co-ordinator) talk to us about SEDA and meet our teacher Scott Turnbull.

Afterwards we split up into groups and met in the Richmond change rooms to fill out Victoria University enrolment forms, collect our uniform and have group photos taken.

After lunch all the SEDA groups meet at Federation Square, for the great city challenge. This task involved team work, communication and determination to be able to complete the challenges. Some of the many challenges were to find specific landmarks in the city, provide evidence of our visit and meet back at Federation Square by a certain time.

The whole day was a great success and many tasks we did helped to get to know everyone and form new friendships.

Emma Doyle

On the 4th of May our class went to the National Sports Museum, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). There we had our own private tour. We watched three short films; one was how professional surfing started, the second was a new winter sport introduced into Australia, and lastly, the third film was Peter Brock’s career.

There were also many activities that we participated in at the National Sports Museum. One of these activities was a game of visual bike racing, though there were many more.

We ended the day at the TAN. The TAN is a national park just across from the MCG. There we split into three teams and ran a relay around the whole park. After that we ran some suicides up a massive hill as part of our fitness testing.

The day was fun and we learnt heaps.

Diane Newman

It was the 30th of March and we set off to Australia's greatest sporting venue for a tour. Our tour guide was Greg and he had been a MCC member for over 50 years so we were bound to get some great knowledge of the MCG and its History. We started off going into the ground level seats and on to the ground.

Greg explained that the current MCG has completely changed from its original creation. We then went to the southern stands where he explained some of the MCG's greatest achievements such as hosting the 1954 Olympic games , the 2006 commonwealth games as well as the annual boxing day test. Greg then led us to the prestigious “Long Room” where we saw a great view looking out onto the ground, restaurants, and even old ashes trophies.

Greg took us to the Richmond (boo) Football club change rooms, where we saw all the players’ lockers and the hot and cold baths and family rooms. Greg then took us to see the Library and also the cricket box where the players sit when their team is batting.

The tour sadly ended with us seeing the new MCG library. We all enjoyed the tour of the great venue and we really were grateful of Greg taking his time off to give us a tour.

Mark Chad

On Tuesday the 24th of February the Aquatic Sports Development group ventured down to Sandrige Lifesaving Club to compete in the Surf League.

This was in the 3rd week of school, so it was a great team building exercise as we had to perform events as teams and it really showed the team bonding at it’s best. We arrived all together and other schools had no idea who we were.

The day started off well with the boys and girls individual ‘run, swim, run’ race where SEDA won a few races which was great. Then the team events started and the weather was getting colder and windy, but that didn’t stop the students from participating to the best of their ability. Half way through the day the team moral was at it’s highest with everyone cheering and encouraging our team to do well in all events.

The last event where nearly everyone from the team was involved was very enjoyable and SEDA won the race which was very pleasing to all involved.

I would say the highlight of the day was Dylan Savona's, otherwise known as “Choppa”, enthusiasm for all events.

Nick O’Connor

On the 13th of February all football and aquatic groups went to North Melbourne football club to participate in the recreation football day.

We were very privileged because it was summer and to be able to use the home ground of the Kangaroos was a greta experience.

The day enabled us to meet the other SEDA groups and it was also an educational day to see how an organisation runs a meet or competition. We were broken up into mixed teams to compete against each other in two ten minuet halves in a game of touch football. There were eight teams and two games going at the same time, it was quite competitive between the football guys, where as the aquatic group tried to do their best and enjoy the day.

The day went for about 4 hours, it was great fun and we all made some new friends. Also I learnt a lot about how an activity is run and how much work is involved in the set up and preparation of a large activity.

Jye Thompson

On The 9th of March a few SEDA aquatics students went down to Bells Beach to the Rip Curl Pro. We met Scott there and he took us to the office area where we met Elley Harrison. She then explained what we had to do for the next few days.

Our job was to get people to complete surveys for Rip Curl so they could give their results to the government on the Rip Curl Pro’s financial impact on the surf coast shire so that they could apply for government support. We spoke to all different types of people and all had different opinions on the Rip Curl Pro.

We came back on the Friday and we were once again allocated the same job. The questions ranged from the cost of accommodation and food in the surf coast shire, to what was the last Rip Curl product they purchased.

We came back again a few days later and continued to hand out the surveys and collect results for Rip Curl.

Bridgette Meaden

Throughout Term 1 the Aquatic Sports Development program undertook a pool bronze medallion training course, conducted at Victorian University Footscray park swimming pool and Life Saving Victoria.

The bronze medallion course has been around for over 80 years and the first course was conducted in1908 at Bondi beach New South Wales.

Throughout the course we undertook intense Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) training were we had the privilege to breathe and slobber all over plastic manikins for hours and gruelling swim training where we witnessed one of the greatest battles of all time, Dillon Savona aka ‘Choppa’ racing against the clock in the timed 50m patient tow narrowly beating it by under 10 seconds.

Overall it was a very successful course and everyone obtained there bronze medallion.

Brenton March