The Rio Adventure
We are awaiting the boys return from Brazil this week, after what looked like an amazing trip.
The Scottish national team took one of the youngest teams we have ever taken to a surfing world championships, with our talented youngsters gaining valuable experience.
The best performance by a Scot was 17yr old Craig from Thurso, who got to the 3rd round (he is our current Scottish senior champion) which given the standard of world surfing is an amazing achievement. We also had success in the girls, with talented Broch surfer Lola Mitchell also making rep 2 in the girls U18 aged just 15yrs old.
Our local young duo, Ansel and Charlie where competitive in the early rounds and unlucky not to make the second rounds – both surfed well and where within one good wave of making the next round (Ansel for example scored 5.8 with 6.63 qualifying). Being two years young for their age groups both lads will have learned so much just being in the mix of such a high standard of world surfing at a junior level.
We’ve had a little feedback from 14yr old Ansel by phone who mentioned “surfing in board shorts is the best” while also stating he’d had a “brilliant time in Brazil escaping the Scottish winter”. He also mentioned that competitions can be both mentally and physically exhausting and there are a lot of strategies you can use to win. “Brazil is a very different country to home but its beautiful – there are people playing football everywhere which is amazing to watch!”
We are really stoked for these two young lads to have had such an amazing experience and are looking forward to hearing their stories. Thanks to everyone that supported the national team and helped the kids get to Brazil.
Sam Christopherson
Senior Instructor at Coast to Coast
