Lifeline Northern Beaches are excited to announce the Inaugural Lifeline High Schools Surf Challenge will be held at South Curl Curl Beach on Tuesday 18th September. High Schools from all over the Northern Beaches and North Shore will contest the tag team event with both Boys and Girls divisions being contested.

Competitive surfing is generally an individual sport, tag team surfing on the other hand is all about team work and supporting your mates which is what Lifeline is all about – support. Since 1963 Lifeline has been offering crisis support via phone counselling and in 2018 the organization offers a range of services that includes:

• 13 11 14 Crisis Support line
• Suicide call back service
• Low cost  clinical counselling
• Financial Counselling
• Gambling Counselling
• Group counselling support groups such as; -
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Grief and loss
• Suicide bereavement
• New mums

Sixteen-year-old Narrabeen Sports High student Ethan Raper is looking forward to representing his school. “It’s going to be an amazing experience competing against the best kids from each high school”, Raper said. “It’s not every day your able to surf for your school with your mates so it’s great that Lifeline are supporting the event and spreading the word that they are there to help teenagers and school kids”.

Ethan Raper (Bernadette McAlinden)

Raper will go into the event with plenty of confident after recently winning the Senior Boys Division at the Peninsula Community of Schools Surfing Titles. The Narrabeen Sports High Team will have no shortage of talent with Raper likely to be joined by his younger brother Emerson, Jamie Thomson, Jack Bannister, and Luke McManus in the five man team.

Lifeline Northern Beaches CEO David Thomas is thrilled that Lifeline is directly connecting with students from all over the Northern Beaches and North Shore. “The High Schools Surf Challenge presents a great opportunity for our schools community to join together not only to help raise the profile of mental health but to increase the awareness of Lifeline and it’s services to our youth so that they know who and how to respond in a crisis situation”, Thomas said.

With more than twenty teams expected to compete the standard of surfing will be top-notch at South Curl Curl Beach as well as the event offering a rare opportunity for students to represent their school in a tag team surfing event.

Follow Lifeline at:
https://www.facebook.com/lifelinenb

For more info on Lifeline, please go to:
https://www.lifelinenb.org.au/

For further information please contact:

Steve Harrison – Global Surftag
Phone: 0403 180 787
Email: [email protected]