SA junior team all set for EL Salvador
The 2022 South African Junior Team set off on May 24 for the ISA World Junior Surfing Championships in El Salvador.
Five of the six girls in the team, all six boys, a manager and a coach left SA on Tuesday for the annual event which will get under way with the Parade of Nations and Sands of the World Ceremony on Saturday and end with the Final rounds on Sunday June 5.
Having qualified for the World Surf League Challenger Series, Sarah Scott of Kommetjie, has been competing in Australia for the last month and will fly from Australia to join the team in El Salvador today (Thursday).
ISA World Junior Championships 2019 semifinalist Daniel Emslie, of East London, has been appointed team captain and will be the flag bearer during the Sands of the World ceremony.
Indiphile Osinachi, of Durban, will distribute the sand from SA’s beaches at the traditional Sands of the World Ceremony
The Under 18 Boys in the team are Connor Slijpen (Llandudno, Western Cape), Daniel, and Luke Thompson (Durban, KZN) and the U18 Girls are Adriel Wolmarans and Aimee du Preez (both East London) and Indiphile.
Nate Colby, Ntokozo Maphumulo (both Durban) and Luc Lepront (Scottburgh, KZN) make up the U16 Boys group with Sarah Scott, Gemma Hanafey (East London) and Zia Hendricks (Jeffreys Bay) competing in the U16 Girls section of the tournament.
All the team members have been training hard for this event and have had the benefit of being able to compete in the Sea Harvest Nahoon Open presented by SMTH Shapes in East London, the Rip Curl Gromsearch in Victoria Bay, the Sea Harvest Port Alfred Gromsurf and the Sea Harvest KZN Junior Open presented by O’Neill and SMTH Shapes in Ballito over the last few months.
Just 10 days after they return to SA, most of the team members will be in action in the 2022 Plakkie Classic which will take place at Victoria Bay over the Youth Day weekend.
The team’s manager is SSA operations manager Rezar de Nicker and the vastly experienced Tasha Mentasti is their team coach.
Surfing SA is the national governing body for the sport in SA.
SSA is a member of the South African Sports Commission and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) and the International Surfing Association (ISA).