”Had I not chosen to play sport, my life would have been fine, satisfying but average. And I wanted it to be extraordinary! Sport is the way I have chosen to achieve this.”

Jade Antunes was born into a family with a proud sporting history: “Both my father and grandmother were athletes,” she says. “My gran was actually a top junior runner during the apartheid years and my father was a professional soccer player and coach in Gauteng. We are also huge supporters of sport - especially our local teams!”

She has always loved the water and took every opportunity she could to be in it. At the tender age of 10 she decided to be a nipper (junior lifesaver) and joined a local swimming club where her talent was recognised and nurtured. She temporarily put aside her lifesaving dreams, representing South Africa as a junior swimmer and winning several international medals when barely 12 years old.

A few years later she rediscovered her passion for life saving and received her first full Protea colours for the sport within a year. In the last 5 years she has represented South Africa eight times.

“No matter how I’m feeling, I can always rely on a good training set to put things back into perspective, allowing me to use my frustrations positively. And because I am part of a training squad, there is a bond that we all form and share, and every set is full of laughter and good times.”

Jade Antunes, South African lifesaver.