Wave of opportunity.
Local surfers prepare for Olympic qualifiers
THE JAMAICA Surfing Association has selected eight surfers to participate in a regional event in Barbados as they prepare for Olympic Qualifiers next year.
President of the association, Anthony ‘Billy’ Wilmot, said the event will expose the team to the competition they are expected to face in the qualifiers.
“The competition we are having in Barbados is one of the largest surfing events in the Caribbean, attracting professional surfers from around the region, Central America, and the United States. It is going to give our surfers the opportunity to go in the water and compete with people of the standard they are expecting to face at the qualification event next year,” he said.
Wilmot said the association will also be using the event to whittle down the squad to the three entrants who will be allowed to represent the country at the qualifiers.
“We have a squad of youth and experience, and the event will give the new comers their chance. We didn’t want it to seem as though we are just handpicking the team, so we will be using the event to narrow down the squad to six,”Wilmot said.
The association is also providing an elite coach for the squad in Ben Bourgeois from the United States.
“He is supposed to come down before the event and teach the surfers some elite techniques, but he is based on the east coast (in the States) and he is still cleaning up from Hurricane (Florence),” Wilmot said. “He is going to work on team strategy and use of priority because surfing has certain rules, and if you don’t know how to manage yourself in a heat, people can use that against you.”
Jamaica will have three opportunities to become one of the 20 teams who will get to compete in surfing at the Olympic Games for the first time. These are the International World Surfing Games 2019, The 2019 Pan American Games, and the World Surfing Games in 2020. Surfing has been named an Olympic event for the 2020 Games.
The qualifying event is scheduled to start on November 6.