Williamstown’s Jesse Coulson has been nominated for the Frank Wilkes Award for Lifesaving, in the upcoming 2022 Victorian Sport Awards.
The awards recognise and celebrate the achievements of home- grown sporting heroes at both a grassroots and high-performance level in the year of 2022.
Mr Coulson puts his nomination down to a buildup of many years of hard work which began as a young boy.
“I started lifesaving when I was a little kid , my parents thought it would be a good idea for me to learn how to be safe around water,” he said
“It progressed from there becoming every aspect of my life, the sport side, the work side, and the volunteering side.”
Mr Coulson began teaching kids 10 years ago and is now the Head Nipper Coach at Williamstown SLSC.
The teaching then progressed to life guarding at Williamstown Beach where he fell in love with the beach environment.
Mr Coulson said he has enjoyed taking on more responsibility in teaching others, where he has learnt to foster a training environment for seniors.
“I formed my own group that I trained with, inspiring others has been great to watch,” he said.
Mr Coulson said the sport side of lifesaving was a great way to push himself while allowing him to travel the country.
Some of his 2022 achievements that led to being nominated were, finishing first in the Open Male Board Race and Open Male Taplin Relay.
At the Victorian States, he earned gold medals in the Open Male Taplin, Open Male Rescue, Tube Rescue and Open Male Surf Teams, as well as silver in the Open Male Ski Relay on his way to being crowned Overall Male Point Scorer.
“Lifesaving is pretty small in Victoria so it would be really good for the sport if I won,” he said.
The awards will be held at Marvel Stadium in Docklands on Wednesday, June 7.
Tickets are now on sale and can be purchased through the Vicsport website or on (03) 9698 8100.
Details:vicsport.com.au/events/view/1469
Jennifer Pittorino
