Warilla leader gets ‘life’

JOEL RITCHIE

WARILLA-BARRACK Point Surf Club not only returned from the recent Country Titles with the overall championship – they had a new life member in tow.

Martin Smith, the architect of the club’s emergence as a competition powerhouse, was made a life member at a team dinner during the Port Macquarie carnival.

Smith started coaching the club’s athletes 15 years ago when eldest son David Smith started competing – and Warilla-Barrack Point hasn’t looked back.

This year the South Coast club has won the Country Championship, overall pointscore in the Sydney Water Series and a number of competitors shone during the NSW Surf Premiership.

Although he never won state or national titles as a competitor, Smith has mentored a number of champions as mentor of the Warilla-Barrack Point club.

Despite guiding the cream of the club’s surf athletes for more than a decade, Smith said he just “inherited” the role and it stuck.

Smith said it was the athlete’s hard work, as much as his tutelage, which has resulted in Warilla-Barrack Point’s imposing record.

“The kids work hard for me – athletes don’t get to the level these kids do unless they work hard,” he said.

“They don’t have to be superstars; if a kid wants to achieve I’ll be there to help them.”

Smith his ultimate goal before bowing out is to guide the club’s youngest athletes to keep the Warilla-Barrack Point dynasty going.

“I’d like to see Warilla become the most powerful surf club in Australia,” he said.

Although he could bow out in “four or five years” Smith said the effort the club’s athletes put in kept him enthusiastic about coaching.

“I feel as young as the kids – I am on the beach five afternoons a week and on weekends there are competitions and specialised training on weekends,” he said.

“Surf club is a huge thing in my life – it’s a family affair.”

Too true – Smith’s eldest son, David, was a national champion as his sister, Lauren. The youngest of the Smith clan, Scott, is set to make his national championship debut at this year’s titles.

Of course, there are other athletes – Jordan and Hayden White, Maddison and Ben Prior, Alistair Day and Jack Carberry, amongst others – that help make up Warilla’s current golden age.

“It’s all been a snowball effect,” Smith said.

“David was the catalyst – people saw the effort he put in and did too.

“They just seem to love achieving and being in a winning environment.”

Smith also said the dedication of parents to supporting their children’s training and competition commitments were pivotal to the club’s success.

The 51-year-old said he was “gob smacked” by the announcement that he was a life member of the club.

“They usually do that at the AGM in front of about a dozen people so for them to do it in the middle of the Country Titles with the nippers and all the parents there was a pretty emotional thing,” he said.

“I wouldn’t change it for anything – I’ll remember that forever.”

Smith is preparing his charges to add to the club’s countless state and national titles at the meets, held in Swansea Belmont and Perth.