Surf coaching

The British Junior Surfing team, ended up in a respectable 11th place in the ISA world Junior Championships which was held in Piha, New Zealand over the 21st – 28th January.

The team, 9 of whom had never been to a world championships, put in solid performances and raised their game to end up 11th in the league table, beating Brazil, Indonesia and Spain, all of which have a strong surfing heritage

Jo Hillman, team manager told us “I am proud of the team, they went to Piha as underdogs, but all the team members rose to the challenge and surfed their best, to produce a very respectable result. The conditions at Piha were very tricky and changeable, but our 5 days training prior to the event really paid off”

Tassy Swallow, from St Ives, progressed the furthest, reaching the quarter finals of the qualifying rounds, being knocked out by the eventual winner Tyler Wright. Jobe Harris from Bude and Alex Baker, Croyde also showed some excellent, strategic competition surfing to progress the furthest for the under 16s and under 18s respectively.

Mike Young, Head Coach “we concentrated our training schedule whilst at Piha on heat strategy, and mental preparation, and this really paid off for some of our guys. They surfed intelligently and to the best of their ability, and I’m happy with 11th place, especially as this team was a young development team, many of which had never been to a world champs before”

Australia very nearly had a clean sweep, taking the team title, Aloha cup tag team and both the boys under 16s and girls under 18s title, however the highlight of the finals was the boys under 18s, with Brazilian Gabriel Medina blowing away his competitors with a near-perfect final, netting the highest individual wave score (10) and two-wave combined total (19.90) of the event. He used the final as a showcase of his exceptional talent of solid surfing style and high flying aerial moves

The GB team are now back in the UK to begin training for the upcoming competition season and hopefully a place in the team next year for the 2011 GB champs.

Our thanks go out to Calypso soft drinks, the Great Britain team sponsors, as well as New Zealand for putting on such an excellent World Championships

Great Britain Junior Surfing Team 2010

Under 18 Boys:

Alex Baker (Croyde)

Matt Chapman (Jersey)

Nathan Elms (Jersey)

Beau Bromham (Croyde)



Under 16 Boys

Harry Timson (Newquay)

Jobe Harris (Bude)

Luke Dillon (Newquay)

Miles Lee Hargreaves (Bournemouth)



Under 18s Girls

Tassy Swallow (St Ives)

Gabi Rowe (Looe)

Lucy Campbell (Croyde)

Laura Crane (Croyde)