Nine-year-old Tristan Martin was on the diving board of a swimming pool filled with his classmates when he sensed something was wrong.

His classmate, Cynarra Philips, was flailing about in the water - but in the crowded Brenda's Pool on South Shore in Warwick during that field trip in June of 2001 no one else had noticed.

“At first I thought she was playing games,” he said at Government House yesterday where he received a bravery award. “She's pretty playful.” Then he saw her sink to the bottom of the pool.

“She didn't know how to swim,” he said. “I thought I would go and help her.”

Tristan's quick-thinking was rewarded yesterday when he was among ten local heroes honoured at the annual Bermuda Bravery Awards ceremony at Government House.

Tristan, who is now an 11-year-old student at Spice Valley Middle School, leapt into the water and pulled Cynarra to the surface, tugging her on to the pool deck.

He then turned her over on to her stomach and began patting her back until the child vomited water. Tristan had never taken a swimming lesson and said no one had ever taught him what to do should he spot someone in trouble in the water. “I think it was just instinctual,” said his mother, Debbie Martin.

“I didn't believe him at first,” she added. “He kept saying, ‘Mommy, Mommy, I really did save someone today'. But then he started having bad dreams that night. That's when I knew it was serious.”

Since that dramatic day Tristan has had emotional support from his mother and had some closure on the event.

“He was really excited to tell me,” said Mrs. Martin. “He said the best part was that they were able to graduate together.”

Tristan, who is the godson of former Premier Jennifer Smith, is also his mother's hero. He wrote an essay which won his mother the Mother of the Year award two years ago, and was even on hand when she recently broke her foot one day walking around Hamilton. “He takes care of me now at home,” she said.

Tristan told his mother shortly after the incident: “I feel really great because I did something special and my friend is still here.”

And Mrs. Martin believes in rewarding her son. “Sometimes we're so busy raising them we forget to praise them,” she said.

Celebrating Bermuda's heroes:Page 10