From 26-30 April 2025, the picturesque coastal town of Danang in Vietnam played host to an international lifesaving championship and exchange program, bringing together volunteers from six nations in a unified push for water safety and sport.

The five-day program welcomed lifesavers from the Philippines, Sabah (Malaysia), Myanmar, Singapore, Australia and Vietnam and was a joint effort of the Son Tra Eco-Tourism Sea Board, Surf Life Saving Vietnam (SLSV), South-East Asian Lifesaving (SEAL) Network, Surf Life Saving Australia (SLSA) through Cudgen Surf Life Saving Club, and the Singapore Life Saving Society (SLSS).

What began in 2014 as a grassroots lifesaving initiative led by David Field of Cudgen Headland SLSC, has evolved into a flagship event across the region. Field, who received the International Life Saving (ILS) Federation Citation of Merit in 2018, says its impact reaches far beyond competition.

“The growth of the competition and its associated activities has had positive outcomes in the local Danang community,” Field said.

“Since 2014, the number of adults swimming has grown substantially. Whereas people would formerly float or wade close to the shore, people are now swimming seriously for exercise. Swimming clubs, such as the Danang Oceanman have grown in size and Ocean Swimming is becoming very popular.

“Son Tra Eco-Tourism Sea Board supports water safety on Danang’s beaches and this is why we conduct the Lifeguard competition and support the community education initiatives of Surf Life Saving Vietnam,” he said.

Primary Objectives of the Program: 

• Foster regional lifesaving cooperation;
• Develop drowning prevention, water safety and lifesaving capabilities across Vietnam and Southeast Asia; and
• Introduce and promote lifesaving sport within Vietnam.

Local support has played a key role, with the Son Tra Eco-Tourism Sea Board backing education and beach safety initiatives. This year’s program included community CPR training, youth water safety activities, and support for open-water swims.

Key Activities over the five days included: 

• Training and Certification: Training, skills maintenance, assessment, and re-certification were conducted for local and regional lifeguards, trainers and assessors to Australian standards. Participating countries also shared their progress towards lifesaving goals in their respective countries.
• Lifesaving Sport Clinics: The clinics, led by national level coach Scott McCartney (Cudgen SLSC), Lifesaving World Champion Mariah Jones (Tweed Heads and Coolangatta SLSC) and NSW State Champion Chloe Jones (Cudgen SLSC), were very useful in developing lifesaving sport skills for Southeast Asian lifesavers. The immediate goals were to make sure all teams entered in the lifeguard competition were aware of the rules and each lifesaver could demonstrate the skills required in the competition.
• Community CPR: Led by SLSV President Thin Vu and assisted by the international lifesavers, CPR and Emergency Care instruction were provided to over 50 members of the local community. This became one of the most successful initiatives of the five days and was enjoyed by the visiting lifesavers who engaged with the local community and shared their resuscitation skills.
• Children’s Water Safety: Fun and engaging water safety activities were delivered to over 120 local children. This continues a tradition of providing free water safety education derived from Surf Life Saving Australia’s Nippers program. The skills taught during the session included a water safety talk delivered in Vietnamese, dry land rescue skills, “swim and survive” skills including floating and stroke correction. The highlight for the children was the surfing. Lifesavers would take the children out on surf boards and then surfed them back to shore on 2 foot waves.
• Event Safety Coverage: Local and regional lifesavers worked together to provide water safety coverage for over 250 swimmers in a community ocean swim. This event was created by SLSV and Son Tra Eco-Tourism Sea Board to promote swimming and water safety in Danang. The lifesavers learnt how to coordinate water safety surveillance over a 2.5 km course with over 250 swimmers in the water competing in 3 separate swim distances. The experience thus gained may enable the visiting lifesavers to run similar events in their own countries.
• International Competition: 15 teams competed in the Danang International Lifesaving Championship 2025, comprising 9 Vietnamese teams and 6 international teams. At the end of the competition, honours were shared among a number of teams. Singapore and Australia shared some of their team members with the smaller nations represented and as a result most teams received recognition at the presentation. Winning was acknowledged but of more importance to those involved was the sense of fellowship and involvement with the other teams.

Singapore’s lifesaving team added technical strength as co-organisers, bringing surf sports expertise and strong community focus.

The program has helped the SLSS in developing and delivering further initiatives such as volunteer beach patrols and water safety activities for youths with diverse abilities.

“The team went over to learn and share about lifesaving and water safety, but the key takeaway was SHARING what we learnt about water safety and giving back to the community in Singapore,” said SLSS Team Manager Pan Yong Zhi.

“We were part of the international team that taught CPR to the local community, ran water safety activities for the local kids and covered water safety for an ocean swim. This is why we love lifesaving. It is so much more than just a sport,” added Kangrui Pui, SLSS Sport Commission Chair co-organiser of the Danang 2025 program.

Effects of the program are being felt across the region. In the Philippines, Surf Life Saving Philippines (SLSP) earned recognition from Bacnotan’s local government after the Danang event, boosting support and exposure for SLSP’s drowning prevention and water safety initiatives.

The plan for the future of the event is, with the assistance of Singapore, to grow the competition and benefit more lifesaving groups within Southeast Asia for competition and lifesaving training. The SEAL Network links lifesavers from around the region and all are encouraged to participate in the Danang project. Two of the countries who participate, the hosts Vietnam and Myanmar are not ILS members but involvement in the SEAL network keeps these countries in touch with ILS and Australian training curricula. The future looks bright for the Danang Event and the SEAL network.

Photo Credits: Surf Life Saving Vietnam/Alex Vu, Singapore Life Saving Society/Jin Zhuang

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