That’s why the 15-year-old Mullaloo Surf Life Saving Club member nominated for the Ultimate Volunteer Reward, a volunteer search being run by the Department of Sport and Recreation with the help of the Times.
He and all other nominees are in the running for one of 10 behind-the-scenes looks at some of our major sporting events, including the Margaret River event.
The Woodvale Secondary College Year 11 student, who hopes to do engineering at the end of his schooling, has been volunteering and competing at Mullaloo for several years.
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READ NOWHis days patrolling the beach have included helping administer first aid ‘for things such as broken bones, dislocated joints, stings, spinal injuries, a snake bite and cuts’. The snake-bite victim had been ‘climbing around the dunes when bitten by a snake’.
Voluntary work, he said, was ‘really good’. ‘It’s fun going to the beach with your mates and looking after people in trouble.’
Being in need of medical attention is something Alex knows all about, having fractured his skull in a skateboard accident in Kallaroo, a couple of years ago.
‘I was going down a hill on a longboard when I fell off the back, hit my head and was put into a coma for three days,’ he said.
The injury has meant giving up football. But he has still been able to compete on the beach.