BBC Developments
Steve Berriman

The British Bodyboard Club has come up with a new concept called The Union to push forward British bodyboarding.

Cornwall, Devon, Wales, South Coast, East Coast and Scotland will each be a hub for the BBC, with their own representative to sell membership, arrange events and so on.

Members will receive £5,000,000 public Civil Liability Insurance. Membership will be £10, with £5 going to the local hub for its own development and £5 to the BBC for the development of British bodyboarding as a whole.

Each area will be have its own colours - Cornwall BBC is black, Devon green, South Coast orange, East Coast yellow, Wales red and Scotland blue. Each area will be encouraged to run contests and events, eventually building up a BBC UK Tour.

ThreeSixty put a few questions to Steve Berriman:

What's the BBC's plan this year?
We are putting on events with a points system to give people an end of year ranking and running bodyboard judging courses. We are doing training days for UK juniors at the Rob Barber Bodyboarding School in Newquay.
We are helping to set up smaller local clubs through the BBC/BSA Club Affiliation Scheme. The first one is the North Cornwall bodyboard club, run by Alex Allen. We want area reps to sell membership, liaise with sponsors, local councils etc. We have devised a system for membership and areas and will be calling a meeting asap; email your details to steve@britsurf.co.uk and we will add you to an information email list.

Will competitors get points per event, is it like a grand prix series?
Yeah that's right. Each event you will be awarded points for the position you place in the event, for example 1st = 1000, 2nd = 800 and so on. At the end of all the events and the contest season you will have a tally of scores to give you a British ranking.

What's going on with sponsors?
We are always looking for financial sponsors to support the events and bodyboarding in general. Just looking at the entry to the Student Bodyboard Nationals this year, we had 45 entries and triple that in spectators. That is surely a great audience for the extreme sports brands or outside industry to promote their brand/company to. We have no problems getting product for prizes from bodyboarding companies and this is great as we can promote what they do with us; but to push the movement forward we need cash for prize money, payment of staff, hire of PA equipment and event infrastructure.
We have a deal with accountancy company Soloman Hare; they have recognised bodyboarding as a sport they want to be associated with and have come up with cash for the final event (the British Nationals). We're stoked to have them on board this year.

What about prizes?
Well, cash at the Nationals, boards, clothing, and the highest ranking riders will be put into a selection pool to represent Great Britain at the World Games.

Anything else that you'd like to say?
Cheers for everyone's support over the year and anyone interested in entering a comp, putting on an event, or being part of the BBC (press release writers, websites, photography, event staff) either contact myself, Rob Barber (01637 878074) or Sam Buckle (01637 876474).

Get in contact, get involved, and let's push things forward.