SA surfing scoops top award
Waves For Change charity honoured by Laureus in Monaco
SURFING in South Africa was honoured at the highest levels of global sporting achievement this past Tuesday when Waves For Change, a Cape Town based charity, was awarded the prestigious ‘Sport For Good’ accolade at the 2017 Laureus Sports Awards.
The award recognises the organisation that has used the power of sport to overcome violence, discrimination or disadvantage and was presented by Princess Caroline of Monaco at the venue where former SA President Nelson Mandela famously coined the phrase “Sport has the power to change the world” back in 2000.
Waves for Change was founded in 2011 by Englishman Tim Conibear who, after visiting South Africa as a coach for a group of touring British surfers in 2010, saw the potential for teaching township children to surf and has subsequently expanded the project to create jobs and alleviate psychological challenges
“Surfing to these young people is everything,” said an elated Conibear who attended the ceremony along with Guyver Ngeyake, the assistant site manager at the project’s Monwabisi centre.
“It is an escape, a challenge and a chance for young people to learn and achieve something. In the past four years, we have seen young people with no hope and lacking in confidence return to education, build relationships, develop into talented surfers and become leaders in their own communities.”
Started in the Masiphumelele township in the Fish Hoek valley, Waves for Change now operates at three centres in Cape Town, has recently opened sites in Port Elizabeth and East London and is in the process of setting up its first international operation in Liberia.
Other surfers involved in the 2017 Laureus awards included reigning WSL champions John John Florence of Hawaii and Tyler Wright of Australia, both of whom were nominated for the ‘Action Sports’ award. Kelly Slater of America shares the all-time record of four Laureus awards with tennis legend Roger Federer. THE Durban beachfront will host world-class international surfing for the first time in a number of years when the inaugural Volkswagen South African Open of Surfing is run shortly before the Ballito Pro this year.
Featuring a R1-million QS3 000 rated event for men and QS1 000 rated women’s, junior boys and girls contests, the five-day event will run from June 14-18 and is likely to attract a host of top World Surf League (WSL) touring professionals. DURBAN’S Grant ‘Twiggy’ Baker, the current rankings leader on the 2016/2017 WSL Big Wave Tour (BWT), is on the cusp of clinching his second world title. Long range wave and weather forecasts for the Pacific Ocean are not showing any potential for large waves before February 28, the end of the season.
Baker won the first event of the season in Mexico last June, finished third in Hawaii in November and reached the semis in Portugal in December. He will join good friend Greg Long of America as the only two-time BWT champions.