Local swimmer Joel Keeble who saved his friend Ben Riebeseel’s life after he suffered two broken vertebrae in a training accident in February has been awarded a Gold Medallion at the 2017 Royal Life Saving WA Bravery Awards.
The 15-year-old said he was surprised and humbled to receive the accolade.
Joel was among 31 heroic individuals who were acknowledged at an award ceremony at Government House Ballroom on Wednesday night.
The awards are held annually and recognise outstanding acts of bravery.
West Australian Royal Life Saving Society chief executive officer Peter Leaversuch said each award recipient displayed exceptional courage, empathy and initiative by applying lifesaving skills in emergency situations and sometimes at risk to themselves.
Joel said while he was honoured to receive the award, he didn't believe being called heroic was necessary.
"To be honest I don't really like it, you just get given it I guess,” he said.
Joel’s mother Leanne said she, along with her husband David, were proud of their son.
“I think Joel likes to play in down and thinks that anyone would have done what he did,” she said.
“I guess you’d think that someone would, it’s just lucky that he was training.
“He’d done his bronze medallion. He was trained and knew what to do.
“It was a bad situation but he was in the right place and the right time.”
Joel was in a relay swim with his teammate Ben and others.
After finishing a his lap, Joel touched the pool wall and Ben dived over him to start his lap.
Ben hit his head on the floor of the pool upon diving in.
It took a few moments before spectators realised Ben was floating motionless, face down in the water.
"It was after a training session. We were practicing some relays,” Joel said.
“I'd dived off and swam the full 50 [metres] and touched the wall. Ben dived over.
“I looked around a bit. Then I looked back and saw him just... floating.
“At first I thought he was just playing a joke and then I realised.
“I saw him twitching in his arm, he was trying to move but he couldn't.
“That's when I kind of knew something was up, so I just kind of sprung to the occasion.”
Miraculously, Joel had completed his bronze medallion training just six weeks prior, and was the first to react, swimming to Ben’s aid after noticing something was wrong.
“I was quite scary when he started twitching and I'd seen he'd been floating there for a while and he wasn't moving,” he said.
“I was like 'ok he's going to be running out of air soon, so I've got to do something’.
“I was with some younger kids in the lane and I knew they weren't going to do anything. They were just standing there laughing, thinking it was a joke.
“It was boys versus girls and the girls were lagging behind. We thought he was playing a joke so the girls could catch up. It turned out he had broke his neck.”
Joel urged people to be more cautious around the water.
"I think they just need to be aware of what can happen. They need to be aware of all the dangers,” he said.
Ms Keeble said the incident was "very unexpected” given both boys were strong, confident swimmers.
"I think as a parent when your kids swim well and they're a member of a club and they're coming to a set training session, you never think that… that would happen,” she said.
"It's more something you expect when kids are mucking around in a pool and just playing, not at a particular training event when they're good swimmers.
"You think about it more in rivers and things like that. Where there can be branches and it can be very swallow... [with more] hazards.
“Here [at the pool] you don't think about that so much.
“It wasn't a mucking around event, it was just purely and accident. Where something went wrong.
“We’ve all got to be aware that accidents can happen.”
Joel said his teammate Ben has since recovered and is back into swimming.
“He's good. He's back in training,” he said.
After the incident Ben was taken out of the pool, put on a stretcher bed and rushed to Peel Health Campus, where he was then taken to Princess Margaret Hospital.
He spent 12 days in a hospital bed in Perth before being allowed to leave in a neck brace, which he will wear for three months in total.
Ben had to undergo a rehabilitation process to rebuild the strength in his neck and back.
Ms Keeble said it was very emotional when she took Joel to see Ben in hospital.
"That was the first time I'd met his parents even though both our boys were members of the club,” she said.
The Royal Life Saving Society WA accepts nominations for the Bravery Awards throughout the year, to identify and reward people in our community who have taken extraordinary actions to save another person’s life.
Finnely Regler, 6, from the Peel region was also acknowledged on the night.
Finnely received a gold star for rescuing his three-year-old brother Israel, who had fallen into their grandparent’s pool.
