USA Surfing Works to Clinch Another Gold
USA Surfing will get a chance to defend their ISA World Junior Title at home when the 2018 VISSLA International Surfing Association (ISA) World Junior Surfing Championship takes place in Huntington Beach, CA October 27 — November 4. The ISA announced the Title sponsor VISSLA and the site last week.
The World Junior Surfing Championship is the largest junior surfing competition in the world.
“We are excited to work with the ISA and Visit Huntington Beach to bring this prestigous event back to Surf City USA,” said USA Surfing CEO Greg Cruse, who worked closely with the city and the ISA to plan and bring the bid into budget.
The United States team won gold in 2017 in Hyuga, Japan, where 306 surfers competed from a record-breaking 41 nations across all continents of the globe.
The World Junior Championship will offer a preview of surfers who could represent their countries in competition when the sport of surfing makes its debut in the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and beyond.
After winning individual Gold in The Azores in 2016, Caroline Marks went on to become the youngest woman to make the World Surf League Championship Tour at 15 years old.
“There is no question USA Surfing has developed a strong pipeline of talent,” Cruse said. “Head coach Joey Buran is scouting and training standout performers from across the nation. These are the athletes that show great promise not just for the 2020 games, but 2024 in Paris and 2028 in Los Angeles.”
The 2018 event will be the first ISA competition to offer equal slots for boys and girls on each team. Each country will be able to field up to three boys and three girls in U-16 and U-18 Divisions — a maximum of twelve athletes per team.
The United States announced its 2018 national teams, following the June 15–20 USA Surfing Championships at San Onofre State Beach, Lower Trestles, where approximately 200 of the top surfers who qualified at regional events competed for national titles and a spot on the USA Surfing teams.
To celebrate surfing’s debut in the 2020 Olympic Games, Olympic athletes from multiple sports joined surfing’s Olympic hopefuls in the Lower Trestles line up for an exhibition heat.
“Having our Olympic hopefuls surf with some of the country’s greatest current and former Olympians was one of the most stoke-filled events in sports history,” said USA Surfing CEO Greg Cruse. “The love of country and sport was on full display.”
Stay tuned for more USA Surfing updates on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and www.usasurfing.org
USA Surfing is the National Governing Body for surfing in the United States, recognized by the International Surfing Association (ISA) and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC). USA Surfing’s mission is to promote and grow the sport of surfing and support United States athletes of all backgrounds to achieve sustained competitive excellence in Olympic, Paralympic, Pan American and Parapan American competition. USA Surfing will oversee and support America’s Olympic team as surfing makes its debut in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and surfing and stand-up paddleboarding athletes compete in the 2019 Pan American Games.
