By Gary Curreri

Pompano Beach’s Shannon Snell is doing quite well down underafter competing in the 2018 Queensland Surf Life Saving Senior State Championships in Maroochydore, Australia.

The 20-year-old Snell, a 2016 graduate of Cardinal Gibbons High School, recently placed fifth in the Open Women Beach Flags Final and seventh in the Open Women Beach Sprint despite a tight quad muscle. She was representing the Kurrawa Surf Life Saving Club.

Snell, who represented the U.S.A. Open Team in the DHL International Surf Rescue Challenge in New Zealand that was held from Nov. 30-Dec. 4, extended her stay in Australia to become even more proficient in her lifesaving skills.

“I’m currently in Australia training in the surf-lifesaving sport,” said Snell, who placed second in the sprint and fourth in the surf ski events during the DHL in Mount Monguani, New Zealand.

“Since they are 50 years ahead of the U.S.A., there are actually clubs to train with that you can get the proper technique and training sessions to excel when racing internationally and for the U.S.A. (United States Lifesaving Association) Nationals. I was beyond thrilled to be selected for the U.S.A. team.”

The DHL challenge has been held since 1999 and attracted seven countries from around the world to compete head-to-head in New Zealand for the title of International Surf Rescue Champions. Snell helped the United States finish third in the competition.

Snell has been pleased with her progress so far. In January, she also took second in the Open Beach Sprint Final at Ocean 6 Series and ninth place in Open Women Beach Flags Final in North Cronulla Beach.

“To be able to race with the top athletes in the U.S.A. is always a very humbling feeling and knowing that the work you put in doesn’t go without being noticed,” she said. “I was very pleased too to place as well as I did with coming out of our winter training into everyone’s else’s summer since the seasons are different.

“The goal for Australia is to learn as much knowledge as I can in this sport and take that home with me and become a better athlete,” Snell continued, “and to help the next generation in the states and in Florida to be able to see the sport continue to grow.”

Snell has been an Ocean lifeguard since 2016 on both the east and west coast of the United States, and, prior to that, was a Pompano Beach Junior lifeguard since the age of 9. During that time, she was selected to represent the United States Youth National Team in France in 2014. She also travelled to Japan and Australia the following two years.

Snell earned her fourth invitation to represent her country based on her performance at the United States Lifesaving Association Nationals in Daytona Beach this past summer.

By Gary Curreri

Pompano Beach’s Shannon Snell has not only made her mark locally as a junior lifeguard – she has competed at the highest levels.

At the end of month, the 20-year-old Snell and 2016 graduate of Cardinal Gibbons High School will represent the USA Open Team in the upcoming International Surf Rescue Challenge in New Zealand from Nov. 30 — Dec. 4.

Snell has been an Ocean lifeguard since 2016 on both the east and west coast of the United States, and prior to that was a Pompano Beach Junior lifeguard since the age of 9. During that time, she was selected to represent the United States Youth National Team in France in 2014. She also travelled to Japan and Australia the following two years.

Based on her performance at the United States Lifeguarding Association Nationals in Daytona Beach this summer, Snell earned her fourth invitation to represent her country.

“When I was younger, I just did junior lifeguarding for fun, I didn’t think it would turn into a professional level,” said Snell, who is lifeguard for both the city of Ft Lauderdale Ocean Rescue and Miami Beach Ocean Rescue. “Back then it was a killer workout for the summer and now it is more mental, physical, more intense and more professional.”

“I am super honored with all of the opportunities it has opened up for me in the sport. I have gotten to travel the world and meet people that I am still friends with today. It is just something that I never experienced and never thought would be such a big part of my life.”

Snell, currently ranked seventh in the Nation for Open Women, is self-trained and does distance running, swimming, weight training, yoga, stretching and concentrates on her nutrition to be a top flight athlete.

She also works 10 hours a day as a first responder, Ocean Rescue. At the nationals in the summer, she competed in 10 events and had 40-plus races during a three-day span that featured more than 1,000 lifeguards. She was fifth in Beach Flags and earned her overall ranking based on individual points through prelims, semifinals and finals.

Competitions involve everything from sprinting out of the water in the sand to paddling in overhead surf pounding your body; to simulated surf rescue races involving more than one person to surfsking a ski threw heavy surf.

Pool events also take place at the World Championship every two years, apart from swimming and rescuing an unconscious person (simulated as a mannequin) you have to pull to safety.

“Looking back, I never pictured myself being where I am today,” Snell said. “With the help of my parents making sure I did the right things as far as training, I am very proud to be where I am and I couldn’t have done it without them helping me get through all of the tough obstacles.”

Snell said there are lifeguards who still compete at the age of 50. She sees herself doing this a couple of more years and then enlisting in the Coast Guard.

“It has become a very mental and physical challenge because now you know what is important and the sacrifices you have to make in order to compete at this level,” Snell said. “I just want to race my heart out and make some memorable friends and meet up with some old friends who are going from other countries. I just want to have a really good time because New Zealand is someplace that I have not been, so I want to explore and see how their culture is.”

Snell has set up a GoFundMe page to help defray the cost of the trip since the United States Lifeguard Association covers nothing. For more information, go to www.gofundme.com/shannonsnell.

Ranse Classic this weekend

The Ranse Volleyball Classic Pro Am 2-man volleyball tournament is headed to Deerfield Beach this weekend (Nov. 4-5).

Last year’s tournament raised nearly $40,000 and the event is a blind draw grab bag event, with King of the Beach style of “pool play.” You will sign up as an individual, and then players are “picked” during the Friday night player’s party to determine what court they will be playing on to determine their division level (Open/AAA – OR – AA/A).

The cost is $53 for adults and $31.80 for juniors, and the registration is open until 6 p.m. Nov. 2. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/RanseVolleyballClassic or www.facebook.com/DigtheBeach.

By Gary Curreri

More than 400 junior lifeguards competed in the 5th annual Junior Lifeguard State Championships recently on Ft. Lauderdale Beach.

Pompano Beach led the way with 60 competitors, while Deerfield Beach brought 27 junior lifeguards.

There were three primary age divisions in the state event including A Division (ages-14-17); B Division (ages 12-13); and C Division (ages 9-11) and an introductory Grommets Program (for 7-8 year-olds who are not yet qualified to join the Junior Lifeguard Team).

Pompano Beach’ Shannon Snell, 17, a senior at Cardinal Gibbons High School, is no stranger to the competition and turned in a stellar performance winning the Girls A Division of the beach flags event in addition to the surf swim and the run-swim-run.

Snell, who has been a junior lifeguard for nearly eight years, competed in last year’s World Championships in France last year where she placed 10th in beach flags; 6th in the 100-meter dash and 10th in the paddle.

“It was really epic to represent our country,” said Snell, who competed for the Pompano Beach junior lifeguard competition. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

Admittedly, there is a lot of pressure being at a world level and in a high performance competition she said, “you need to know what you are doing.”

“I am going to remember everyone I competed with and the teamwork,” she added. “Just the part of racing with each other and working together… and making friends for life … We know each other and learn new tricks every year from each other.”

Deerfield Beach’s junior lifeguards was led by Daniel Padron, who won the B Division of the beach flags event, while Pompano Beach also got a strong performance from Summer Schulte, who won the B Division in the paddle, run-swim-run and surf swim. There were seven events – beach flags, paddle, run relay, run-swim-run, paddle relay, surf swim, and the ironguard.

Local winners in the beach flags were Shannon Snell (Pompano Beach, Girls A Division); Daniel Padron (Deerfield Beach, Boys B Division); Christian Quinones (Pompano Beach, Boys C Division).

Winners in the paddle were Andre Bacic (Deerfield Beach, Boys A Division); Nicholas Calice (Pompano Beach, Boys B Division); Summer Schulte (Pompano Beach, B Girls Division); Jake Schulte (Pompano Beach, Boys C Division); Tamara Backers (Deerfield Beach, Girls C Division); Reef Coote (Pompano Beach, Boys D Division) and Victoria Vanacore (Pompano Beach, Girls D Division).

Winners in the Run-Swim- Run competition were Race Wilhoit (Pompano Beach, Boys A Division); Shannon Snell (Pompano Beach, Girls A Division); Christian Henderson (Pompano Beach, Boys B Division); Summer Schulte (Pompano Beach, Girls B Division); Jake Schulte (Pompano Beach, Boys C Division).

Winners in the Surf Swim competition included Shannon Snell (Pompano Beach, Girls A Division); Christian Henderson (Pompano Beach, Boys B Division); Summer Schulte (Pompano Beach, Girls B Division) and Samantha Escobar (Pompano Beach, Girls D Division).

The state championships were a precursor to the United States Lifesaving Association (USLA) regional competition recently in Daytona Beach. The national USLA competition will also be held in Daytona Beach on August 5.