R & R

This year was a particularly successful year for Collaroy R&R with some fantastic results across the board for all teams. Before I go into these results, there are firstly a few people that must be thanked. To all the coaches; Paul de Kort,Jacqui de Kort, Paul Ducker, Brooke Perry, Nicole Bridges, Jake de Kort, Jesse Bowyer and Paul ‘Porky’ Edwards your dedication and commitment to our teams is second to none, and I truly appreciate all the time and effort that goes into getting all of the teams ready for competition. To Angus Fitzpatrick who joined us from Ocean Grove SLSC inVictoriaso we could field a 6man team, you did a fantastic job all year and we are so grateful to have had you. ToPaul Duckerand Chris Harrison who towed our trailer up and down the coast, we couldn’t have competed without you. To all the parents and friends who turn up to support us at every carnival, our tent is always overflowing with people and usually the busiest one on the beach, thank you.

 Collaroy again this year took home the trophy for being Overall R&R Champions of New South Wales for the fourth year in a row. Our Nippers team absolutely dominated at Kingscliff, winning 5 out of 7 medals, and opening up what proved to be an unassailable lead in the point score. What an absolutely fantastic effort.

 Undoubtedly the team of the year, and recipients of the Stan Twight R&R Team of the Year, is our U15/Nippers team of Jake de Kort, Jesse Bowyer, Jordan Sole, Millie Suters and Annabelle Loone. This team dominated all the competition before them this year competing in both the Nippers age group and in the u/15 age group in Opens as well. They won Nippers Branch, u/15’s Branch, Nipper’s state, U/15’s state before heading up to Kurrawa and taking out the Australian U/15’s title as well. That is an absolutely phenomenal effort, and one unlikely to be repeated for some time. Trained by Paul de Kort, you know that every time this team marches on they’re going to be hard to beat, and these results are a testament to the hard work and dedication of each of them and their coach and are thoroughly deserved.

Our Ray Barker Memorial Trophy for Most Outstanding R&R Person of the year this year goes to a member of that team, Jake de Kort. Jake’s pedigree in R&R is obvious but this year, he really went above and beyond, coming home with 3 medals from Nipper titles, including 2 as coach, as well as open state and Australian golds. Jake, along with his team mate Jesse Bowyer coached a Nippers 5 man team that consisted of Jackson Arico, Nicholas Arico, Abby Baker, Georgie Bathie and Jacob Scott who walked away from both Branch and State with a bronze medal. This is a wonderful effort for a first year team that competes against their coaches. Jake also coached a 2 man team of Jackson and Nicholas Arico who came away from state titles with a bronze medal. This is fantastic result for Jackson and Nicholas who worked hard all season. It was an incredible season from Jake, both as competitor and coach. His commitment and dedication could never be questioned and it is all the more impressive coming from a 14 year old high school student. There is no one more deserving of this award, so well done Jake.

Collaroy really dominated the nipper competition at state. Paul de Kort coached Rayna Shimakage and Ella Johnstone to the gold medal at States this year, which is a just reward for the hard work these girls put in and they truly deserve to be state title holders. It is wonderful to see them improve on their silver last year as well. Abby Baker and Georgie Bathie, were coached by Brooke Perry and came away from states with a silver medal. This is a huge improvement from last year and I know their coach was very proud of this result. The girls worked really hard all season to lower their points and do better than last year, and silver is a fantastic result.

In the 5 man event Collaroy had 3 teams in the final, which makes up half the places in an R&R final which is an awesome achievement in itself. I’ve already touched on the gold and bronze medals, but our third team in the final was the team of Nina Bowyer, Tara Bowyer, Abby Gardner, Tara Ellevsen and Abby Pinney coached byJacqui de Kort. This was their first season as a 5man team and a 6^th place at final is a wonderful result and A debut season is never easy to do well in, it takes half the season for everybody to learn their positions before the work on lowering points begins so to make the final is something to be proud of.  I hope to see you all back next and I’m sure we will see you on the dais.

It is such a reflection of the work put in by the competitors and coaches of Collaroy R&R that our Nippers were able to put on such a dominant display at titles.  

Our Opens season was also very successful. It was unfortunate that we were not able to field a 19s team at titles this year after Jacqui tried so hard to put one together. The girls, Brooke Coulcher, Eleanor Lamb, Matilda Lamb, Georgie Butterworth and Jemma Gledhill competed at Branch and put in a very solid effort and it would have been great to see them at titles. I hope that all you girls are getting to all your patrols now and make sure you’re all proficient and attending patrols next season so there is nothing standing in your way.

 Our 17’s team consisted of Jodie Trim, Isabel Marynissen, Claudia Attansio, Morgan Reid and Ali Naylor. Coached byPaul Duckerthe girls trained hard all year and consistently drilled low points on the beach. Unfortunately the results didn’t quite go the way they had hoped this year, but as I said on Sunday Night at Aussies, it’s one thing to swim out to the cans, but it’s another thing entirely to do it in challenging conditions, swimming against much bigger and stronger male opposition and in a belt and I have to commend Morgan for the effort she put in on each swim she did. This is a much better team than the results give them credit for, and with a lot to prove next year I’m sure the big results are a lot closer.

 The Open Women’s team this year was Brooke Perry, Kelly Trim, Caitlan Neeson,Jacqui de Kortand I. A huge thank you to Jacqui for helping us in our hour of need and putting in a celebrity season, learning a position she had never competed in before, we couldn’t have done it without you. Also thank you to Caitlan, who had previously competed in R&R for Bronte, who came on board this year in a different position as well, you did a fantastic job all season. It was always going to be a tough season to do well in with two new linesmen but having been part of this team for a few years, I was so impressed with the attitude and dedication shown by my team mates throughout the season. At Aussies, 1^st place in our heat, and sitting in 3^rd overall shows that there is a huge amount of potential for us to do well next year. It was a pleasure being a part of a team with you girls this year.

 Our Open Mixed team of Paul de Kort, Paul Ducker, Pete McDermott, Todd Ware and Isy Marynissen kept the ball rolling with another dominant season with gold at states and Aussies. This team is yet to let another club taste gold in the Aussie Mixed event, and if their form this year was anything to go, I can’t see another team getting close to them for a while. They train very hard to ensure they maintain such a high standard and are very deserving title holders. Special congratulations to Isy, who was competing up from the 17s and became a member of the coveted donut club, well done.

Our 6 man team with Paul, Paul, Pete, Todd, Angus and Brooke put in another season of fantastic efforts and every time this team marches onto the beach you know they’ll going to drill low points and threaten for the title. They are such a well drilled team and I know silver from both state and Aussies wasn’t what you were after, it is still a very successful season and one to proud of. You are way too good of a team not to get the gold medal very soon.

My first year as R&R captain has been a huge learning experience and a challenge, but one that I have very much enjoyed and I couldn’t have done it without the help of so many people around the club, and particularly Paul and Paul. You both have such a wealth of knowledge and I’m very lucky to be able to have such committed people to help me out. I am very proud of our results

Emily Mickan

R & R Captain