Mike Begg — much work in a short time

Press, 18 February 1983, Page 19

Mike Begg — much work in a short time

By

RAY CAIRNS

There were mutterings of “Mike who?’’ when, on Sunday at Taylors Mistake, the name of the fifth winner of the Shipping Corporation "patroller of the year” contest was announced. But the Spencer Park con-

tingent at the Jim Beam surf lifesaving carnival knew just who was Mike Begg, and they were equally in no doubt that their club had provided a worthy second winner of the valued award. For in three short years, Begg has accomplished a

remarkable amount for the friendly little Spencer Park club, and his activities have branched out to include service for the Canterbury association. He is a patrol efficiency inspector, would like to earn his examiners’ award, and has a hankering to in the future serve on the association.

All that looks very likely, for Mike Begg is an efficient fellow. Though his father — who died when he was only six months old — was a South Brighton member, and in winning national junior six-man teams, Begg did not get involved in the sport until he was 24.

That was three years ago, when he casually mentioned to a work-mate at the Riccarton Borough Council, Dave Thompson, that he “wouldn’t mind” trying surf lifesaving. He struck a stalwart of Spencer Park there, and the pair were off at lunchtimes to the Wharenui pool to do something about Begg's self-con-fessed mediocre swimming ability. “I could only swim to save myself,"says Begg now, but a month's intensive work, with further encouragement from another Spencer Park man, Greg Link, had him swimming fast enough to pass his surf award. Within months he was his club's chief instructor, with Brian Hays pulling out to concentrate on his rugby coaching work with University. and putting six new lifeguards through their awards brought Begg an instructors' award.

Then, at the beginning of this season, he turned his attention to the younger breed, and for the first time this season, Spencer Park has been represented on the beach in cadet carnivals. It was helped along that Begg coaches the carnival swimmers at the Belfast pool, so he had a reasonable batch of swimmers for them to tackle the 200 m target of 4min 30s.

“I just had to teach them the R and R drill, and next thing we had four girls and three boys qualified as cadets,” he says with a touch of modesty. There were, in fact, more interested than he could handle.

The performances of Lisa Smith, Bernice Cassidy, Selina McLaughlan, Kim McCrorie, Shane Chilton, and the twins. Ken and Bruce Blackburn, have brought notable credit to Spencer Park this season, and to Mike Begg, and he is looking to all of them to graduate to open ranks next season. Then he will concentrate on a younger group, while at the same time playing a leading part in getting his club serious about fielding a six-man team.

"Nancy Honeybone has agreed to coach us, and I think that will, add a . new dimension to the club. We're trying to build the club up, arid while we can't seem to get any help to put in power to our'club-house, things are much more comfortable there, now. I got them on to solar heating, so we have hot showers after canoe training: we've got gas for heating the

water and batteries for our shark alarms: all told, not too bad." Mike Begg is one of these try-anything people. After a long background of rugby and skin-diving, last year he turned his attentions to hockey and played — for the first time, at 26! — in the second grade for Old Boys. He is no individual cham-

pion, he points out, but he'll gladly swim a surf race, run a beach sprint, try his hand in the beach flags, even paddle a surf canoe and help Spencer Park to second place in the Canterbury championship this year. “Mike who?” has become a respected and valued member of the sport and of his club.