On Tuesday 1st December, 2015 Surfing Victoria: The Play it Safe by the Water, Surfing for Girls Presented by Ghanda visited Lake Tyres beach to teach local girls surf skills.

Omeo District Health Youth Worker, Carla Hall and teachers Wayne Gaunt and Kate Bradbury from the Swifts Creek P-12 School with 13 fearless girls from Swifts Creek to joined this event.

The aim of the Surfing for Girls day is to use positive female role models and the professional surf coaches from Surfing Victoria to pass on their skills and knowledge to the next generation of female surfers.  Roles models for the 2015 program include the star of the film First Love Matilda McLellan.

Each participant received a water safety lesson which includes a basic board rescue to help prepare them for summer. They also received a surf lesson and the chance to surf with Matilda.

“We had an awesome group of girls today; the students from Swifts Creek come down every year for this event. It is a great way to kick off summer,” said Carla Hall, Omeo District Health, Youth Worker

The emphasis in this program is to help young surfers make decisions that will allow them to be safe in the surf on any given day.

During lunchtime all participants were given a Ghanda t-shirt and sponsor show bags and the chance to better get to know the Surfing Victoria team members.