SLSCs that provide junior development programs ensure that the next generation learns valuable life skills and knowledge that one day might save their life, or even perhaps the life of another. Junior members are also an integral part of an SLSC’s pipeline to future active membership.
Junior members from the ages of 5–13 years participating in surf education awards or junior surf sports are traditionally referred to as Nippers. Building on the military background of many of the first surf brigade members in the early 1900s, junior members between the ages of 13–15 years are traditionally referred to as Cadets.