QUIKSILVER/ROXY ISA WORLD JUNIOR SURFING CHAMPIONSHIPS
For the first time, France is set to host the Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championships, organised by the French Surfing Federation (FFS), the International Surfing Association (ISA), and the support of the French Ministry of Sport. The ISA is recognised by the International Olympic Committee. It will be in an Olympic spirit that more than 250 athletes, from the world's top surfing coun- tries and some less usually associated with the sport, will come together on the world famous beaches of Seignosse, Hossegor and Capbreton in the South West of France to compete for both individual and team World Junior Champion titles.
Unlike standard professional events, the surfers will compete in national team format. This format is unique in world surfing. The surfers will be competing solely for the honour of receiv- ing a gold, silver, bronze or copper medal and representing their nation.
With just a few months to go until Beijing 2008, Olympic fever is set to grip the world of surfing, which hopes soon to become one of the official sports at the Summer Games and Summer Youth Olympic Games. live webcast and news on www.isaworldchamp.com ISA World Junior Surfing Championships 24 May to 1 June 2008 Hossegor – Seignosse Capbreton (Landes, France) 2 THE OLYMPIC TOUCH The Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championships maintains a very prestigious reputation within the echelons of world elite surfing competitions.
- The Universal Surfing Event. The event will see junior athletes, both girls and boys, under the age of 18 coming from every continent on the planet. More than 30 countries will be represented this year in France. Among them there will be the power brokers such as Australia, USA, South Africa, and Hawaii along side emerging nations as the likes of Israel, Morocco, Costa Rica and many Latin American nations.
- A Different Concept Contrary to professional events where surfers compete for individual titles and money, surfers competing in the Quiiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championships do so as part of their National Surfing Teams, for the privilege of representing the colours of their country and to win an ISA World Champion Gold, Silver, Bronze or Copper medal.
- The ISA The International Olympic Committee recognises the ISA as the world governing authority for surfing, bodyboarding and surfriding. Originally established in 1964 as the Inter- national Surfing Federation, the ISA (as it has been known since 1976) has been organising World Surfing Champi- onships for over 40 years. In 1980, it organised the first World Junior Championships. During his fourteen years as ISA President, Fernando Aguerre has tirelessly worked to have surfing officially recognised by the IOC and subsequently accepted into the Olympic Games. This year in France, land of the modern Olympics and only a few weeks before the Beijing Games, the ISA hope to reconfirm the values, culture and identity of the movement are enough to integrate into the Olympic Games Program.
- The ISA Opening Ceremony: An olympic spirit Traditionally all ISA World Surfing Championships begin with a Parade of Nations. During the procession, surfers, coaches and managers march as one under their national colors through the streets of the host town. Even though there is a strong chance that the event will take place on the beaches of Seignosse, the 2008 ISA World Junior Surfing Cham- pionships opening ceremony will roll under the fanfare of music along the streets of Hossegor. At Parade's end, all teams congregate before officials, VIP's and guests to participate in the Sands of the World. This ceremony, under the signs of peace and fraternity, is a cousin of the ho'kupo (mixing of the waters), which consists of mixing of sands from each participat- ing delegation.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ISA WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
The junior division of the ISA-organised World Surfing Games was created in Biarritz (France) in 1980 which was ultimately won by three times professional surfing world champion Tom Curren. In 2002, the ISA decided to make the juniors an event in its own right, and the inaugural ISA World Junior Surf- ing Championships were held in Durban (South Africa) in 2003. They have since travelled to Papeete (Tahiti) in 2004, Huntington (Ca, USA) in 2005 and Maresias (Brazil), whilst Portugal hosted the 2007 edition, which saw record partici- pation with 257 competitors involved. The 2008 edition: a record With over 300 surfers from 30 countries, the 2008 World Junior Championships will create a record event in its own right. The World Junior Championship categories are: Boys under 18 Boys under 16 years Girls under 18 years The countries competing in the 2008 EDITION: South Africa - Germany Argentina - Australia Barbados - Brazil Canada - Chile Costa Rica - Equador Spain - France Great Britain - Guatemala Hawaii - Ireland Israel - Italy Jamaica - Japan Morocco - Mexico New Zealand - Peru Puerto Rico - Portugal Tahiti - USA - Venezuela In 2007 it was the Australian, Gareth Parkes who won the under 16 boys division and Jadson Andre from Brazil who won gold in the under 18 boys. Sally Fitzgibbons from Australia was a brilliant winner of the under 18 girls. She has since gone on to confirm her status as a rising star in the surfing world with victories at the World Pro Junior titles and the WQS Roxy Surf Festival at Philip Island in Victoria
TOBY DONACHIE
Toby is one of the rising stars of the Brit- ish Surfing scene. This blonde surfer from St Merryns in Cornwall was born to a surfing family. With a famous surf- er/shaper father (Adrian Phillips), the young Brit has the technical baggage to surf well on all types of equipment. In 2006 Toby made a sensational debut to his competitive career in defeating all of the established surfers his age. After an honorable 4th place in the European Championships he won the English ver- sion of the King of the Groms and quali- fied for the world finals in Capbreton where he terminated in the top 16, the best result for a British surfer to date. BIO EXPRESS PALMARES 2007 14th of the KOTG World final Capbreton Nationality: English DOB: 18/07 1992 Cornwall, England Sponsors: Quiksilver, Nike 6.0, Fluid Juice Surfboards, Surfs Up! Company ,Lok Box. Hobbies: surf, golf and skateboarding. Favorite Spots: Rocky Point (Hawaii), Snapper Rocks (Australia) Favorite Surfers: Taylor Knox, Mick Faming, Joel Parkinson
The French Surf Federation and its Ecosurf Commission have decided to make the French World championships a real symbol of the environmental respect and in doing so, will minimize the impact such an event can have on the fragile beaches of Hossegor, of Seignosse and Capbreton. With Ecosurf Commission's initiative and Nicolas Hulot Foun- dation's backing, these 2008 Junior World Championships will integrate the ecological dimension in all steps of the organisa- tion.
Ecosurf will of course not stop right there during the championships. The commission is going to propose to 16 elementary school classes of the Landes department (CM1 and CM2) and to the general public, a number of educational and awareness programs. Surf presented to the Public The world championships are a fantastic vehicle to discover the sport. They will provide the perfect platform to make the public aware of the eco-citizen attitude and to punctuate the first steps of a long-term environmental plan. During the contest, over 100 children from schools in the South West will be welcomed each day on the competition site by the surf coaches from the French Surfing Federation Elite Training Centre. Several workshops will be organised to learn about the differ- ent aspects of the sport, its organization, its grass roots programs and an initiation to the environment since Nature is where most sports occur: the ocean, the beach, the dunes, and the forest. Moreover, the French Surfing Federation Social Cohesion com- mission and the Surf Insertion association will offer the oppor- tunity to children from both rural and urban areas that under normal circumstances would never access the ocean, discover the activity of surfing, usually kept for a certain kind of public. Through workshops, they will discover what High Level surfing is, the pathways to excellence, hard work and models of achiev- ing pre-set goals.
These 10 days will also be the occasion to organise a "Special 2008 Championships cigarette butt pick up" though which 500 little ashtrays will be offered on and around the beach. They will also recuperating the rubbish left behind in the parking lots, the forest, the dunes and the beaches.
