GG Mitchell

Charlotte Mitchell has captained her Bondi surf-lifesaving patrol for six seasons, holds the club record for the swim leg, and has pulled more swimmers out of rips than she will ever mention at a barbecue. She works as a physiotherapist between patrols. At the board she does something almost nobody else does: rather than wait for the cube, she asks straight out to be doubled, as a genuine request, the way she would ask a training partner to push the pace. Backgammon started as clubhouse downtime and turned competitive within a fortnight, because everything she touches does. She backs herself on every position, reads the conditions, commits hard, and finds a tense cube decision very small stakes next to a real one in the water.