Queen’s Birthday honours list 2019: Donald van Keimpema
Donald van Keimpema joined Shelly Beach SLSC when his kids started Nippers. Never in his wildest dreams did he envision the sport would take him around the world.
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Donald van Keimpema joined Shelly Beach Surf Club in 1992 when his kids started Nippers.
Never in his wildest dreams did he envision Surf Life Saving would take him around Australia, let alone overseas.
The 59-year-old’s countless hours of volunteering over the past 27 years has now seen him awarded with the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM).
“It’s definitely nice to be recognised,” he said.
“I never thought it would be on my radar ... it’s starting to hit home. I’m a very, very proud man.”
Among Mr van Keimpema’s achievements are back-to-back National Official of the Year and State Official of the year in 2012-13 and an Australian Sports Medal in 2000.
The Surf Life Saving NSW life member since 2017 is currently the state director of Surf Sports and deputy referee of Masters and Open Championships.
He has also been an official advisor, Coolangatta Gold referee and Shelly Beach SLSC president from 2002-07.
The construction manager, whose daughter’s two children are now at Wamberal SLSC, said his highlights included training officials overseas and the lifelong friends he has made over the years.
“I think that I have been fortunate to go to Malaysia and Sri Lanka to help their training courses and help them with their competitions,” he said.
“They’re definitely part of the international life saving community. They’ve been around for 10-15 years, whereas we’ve been around for 100 years, so we’ve got that experience. They still have a lot to learn.”
After all these years Mr van Keimpema said the fire still burned.
“I just think it’s great being part of that life saving community,” he said.
“There’s some really good friends that we meet up with at the different competitions and meeting new people.”
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