Over 17 years, Tracey Hare-Boyd has spent most of her time as a volunteer lifesaver. She shares her experience managing Surf Life Saving Sydney Northern Beaches, Australia’s biggest club branch.
“I’ve always known that volunteering was something that you do for the sake of helping someone out,” says Tracey Hare-Boyd. With 17 years of service behind her, Tracey is the chief executive officer of Surf Life Saving Sydney Northern Beaches, a role she has managed to fulfil while continuing with her volunteering.
To her, volunteering has always been part of her life, starting as a justice of the peace (JP). “Volunteering is being able to help someone else. And (being a JP) was never a chore, and never something that was hard to do.”
That selfless spirit inspired her to try something new and get into the water ‘later in life’ as a journey to improve her swimming skills, spend time with her son and get the right tools to help others.
“My son joined nippers at the North Steyne Surf Life Saving Club (North Steyne SLSC). So, I started with water safety to assist my child’s age group. I was helping the community and helping my son grow through his nippers career.” Her progress even got her elected the first female president of the North Steyne SLSC in 2013.
To Tracey, the time shared with her son doing lifesaving activities has kept them close over the years.
“We do a lot of things together in relation to lifesaving. We are at the same club, we’re on the same patrol. We might not see each other for a long time during the week, given that he’s now 22. But we’ll always go back to the water. Lifesaving will always bring us back together.”
Image credit: SLS SNB website.
Her commitment to service and her passion gave her the strength to overcome her breast cancer diagnosis almost nine years ago, in 2015.
“I didn’t let it affect my life or my volunteering work. It was something that I had to get through and manage. And it just became part of my daily life. Nothing stopped, and I think it’s all about the attitude you carry through treatment and the support you get from family. The support that I got and the help I got allowed me to have nothing changed.”
But the most challenging time for Tracey was during COVID-19, while she was Surf Life Saving Sydney Northern Beaches branch acting president.
“Going through the pandemic was probably one of the hardest things I’ve had to face. Knowing that people were losing family members and couldn’t be with family was tough, but we overcame it. It was quite inspirational.”
During her career, Tracey has been recognised with several awards, including volunteer of the year, training officer of the year, and patrol captain of the year, among others. And in 2021, she received her Surf Life Saving Sydney Northern Beaches life membership, an honour which was ‘the most important thing’.
Although her most dear award was not a recognition to her, but to her son.
“In 2022, my son won state volunteer of the year. That showed me that he saw what I was doing and inspired him to follow a similar path. So, that meant more than me winning an award.” That is also a testimony of one of her life lessons: ‘Encourage family to be with you’.
Tracey Hare-Boyd and son Trae at the SNB Awards of Excellence, 2018. Tracey received the Patrol Captain of the Year, and Trae was named Young Lifesaver of the Year. Image credit: SLS SNB Facebook page.
“Show them how it’s done. Encourage them to spend that time to see what you can do. And if you can do it, they can also do it. Like with my son, there’s always going to be that time when we will catch up on the beach doing life savings. And we’ve got to cherish those moments while we can.”
Tracey Hare-Boyd and Kate MacDonald were elected the first women presidents of their respective clubs, North Steyne and Palm Beach, in 2013. Image credit: SLS SNB Facebook page.
And to her, challenges are not obstacles but inspiration to improve.
“Put a hurdle in front of me. I see how high I can jump. There is always something else. That’s the hurdle that I’ve jumped. What’s the next one?” she says with a big laugh.