The next time you’re down at the beach and find yourself needing help between the red and yellow flags – check to see if the life guard on duty coming to your rescue is your favourite Gold Coast SUNS player.

The GC SUNS first year players have joined their peers in becoming qualified life savers after completing their bronze medallion at Kurrawa Surf Club.

Over the last three years, every GC SUNS player has acquired their bronze medallion and in doing so have completed voluntary surf life saving.

On Saturday, in the face of testing conditions and scorching temperatures, GC SUNS rookie Andrew Boston and QLD zone-selection Clay Cameron were amongst the players to complete the surf safety course.

Boston, the former Broadbeach Cats star, handled the course much better than his fellow SUNS teammates and was the first player to cross the finish line.

“Having grown up in the water, the course probably suited me more than some of the other boys who aren’t yet accustomed to the surf.”

“I knew it would be tough but I probably got through it better than I thought I was going to… the course went for roughly six weeks, and involved us coming down here [Kurrawa] for training at least once a week.”

While Cameron successfully finished the course alongside the rest of his teammates, the Mt. Gravatt product will be the first to say his strengths are more suited towards dry mainland activities.

“You can tell from my pale skin that I haven’t seen too much of the water.”

“Although I found the course quite challenging at certain periods, I’ll certainly look to undertake the proficiency tests next year.”

Deputy President of Kurrawa Surf Club – Mark Hendriks, praised the GC SUNS efforts and the positive impact the players have had at Kurrawa.

“When the SUNS first started two years ago, they wanted to be a more community-based club and one of the ways they wanted to do that was to join the surf club.”

“Since the community partnership, we’ve had a number of players come down and do patrols, participate in water safety activities with the Sunday nippers, and even seen Gary Ablett and Karmichael Hunt come down and play basketball with the kids.”

“The SUNS have worked tirelessly in engaging with our internal and external patrons, and as a result have developed a strong relationship with not just Kurrawa but also the local fans and kids in the surrounding communities.”