Ugu Surfriders show spirit at SA Champs
It was an exciting time for the young surfers.
The Ugu surfing team may not have won the South African Junior Surfing Championships which took place at Jeffrey’s Bay Lower Point beach last week, but there’s no doubt they made an impression.
Things are happening in our junior surfing circles, good things, so it was no surprise that they were awarded with the Skull Candy Spirit trophy for outstanding team support and spirit.
That’s special. The results in terms of individual trophies may not be there just yet, but with this great attitude, they’re sure to come.
Ugu as a team finished one place better than the previous two years, nudging up a spot to sixth place.
“For a small district with a very young team we are extremely proud of our surfers,” said Dudley Powell, vice-chairman of Ugu Surfriders.
The event was sponsored by Billabong, along with BOS Ice Tea.
It’s the most prestigious annual surfing event for junior surfers in the country, and to have it taking place at iconic J-Bay is always exciting.
J-Bay’s Lower Point stood up to its name and offered very contestable waves throughout the week’s competition, which allowed the surfers to showcase their talents.
Ugu Surfriders sent a 20-person strong team to represent the district, with 11 taking part in the champs for the first time,
“We were also very proud to have a strong development team among our surfers, as well as former world tour surfer Heather Clark as coach,” said Dudley.
The following juniors represented Ugu in their various age groups:
Girls – Kira Attfield (U12), Jesse Powell (U14), Chalize Coetzee, Maya Attfield and Claire Haskins (all U16), Jenna Unsworth (U18).
Boys – Evan Peyios and Luc Lepront (U12), Jordan Boshoff, Lwando Dlezi, Ayanda Mpisane and Landon Windvogel (U14), Caden Coetsee, Sean Ruggeri, Sanele Mbewane and Ziggy Borstlapp (U16), Drikus Lubbe, David Jacobsen, Tyler May and Senzo Shange (all U18).
Jenna and Caden were the elected captains for the event.
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There were some standout performances.
Jenna, Chalize, Claire and Jordan all reached the quarter-finals but unfortunately got knocked out at that stage.
The youngest member of the team, Kira, surfed in very testing conditions and finished fifth in her age group, just missing out on the chance to surf in the finals.
Jesse made it to the semi-finals and had some seriously hard heats to surf.
She fell short in the last two minutes of what had been a mighty battle, and so had to settle for fifth place overall in her age group.
Jesse has enjoyed her rookie season competing on the Surfing South Africa Junior Pro series, where she surfed 10 events held throughout the year all over South Africa.
She made five podium finishes and ended fifth in South Africa in her age group.
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