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NZ Junior Surfing Development Programme gets off to a good start in Piha |
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Written by Tony Baker
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Tuesday, 06 November 2012 |
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| Under 16s on Sunday - Image Jason Ruddell |
Over the weekend of the 3rd & 4th November the 2013 Rip Curl New Zealand Junior Surfing Squad gathered at Piha for the first training camp of the year as part of a wider selection programme.
With an extended squad of 37 surfers across the four age groups (U16 Boys , U16
Girls, U18 Boys and U18 Girls) surfers were split into U18's on Saturday and
U16's on Sunday.
Small clean 1.0-1.5m waves greeted the Under 18 surfers on Saturday at North
Piha. Surfers were required to surf in a series of head-t- head heats and face
off against their rivals.
In the early heats Elliot Paerata - Reid
(Piha) was a standout surfer showing local knowledge by picking off the
best waves in his heats. Dune Kennings
(Whangamata) fresh back from France was also a stand-out showing his
progressive repertoire. 2012 Under 18 National Scholastic Champion Jules Craft (Gisborne) continued his
great form along with Levi Stewart
(Coromandel) and Sean Kettle
(Taranaki). In the Under 18 Girls Ella Williams (Whangamata) showed why she is a world class surfer
putting on a solid performance against 2012 NZ team mate Jayda Martin - Fitzharris (Gisborne).
Both surfers are at the top of the Under 18 Women's order and will be looking
to secure some solid results in the upcoming summer surfing series. Following the completion of the heats surfers
were split into three teams and took part in a Tag Team event, whereby each
team was allocated 60 minutes and each surfer was required to catch one wave
with each score contributing to the overall team points. Elliot Paerata - Reid (Piha) lead his
team to victory with a high scoring 7.0 ride, and fellow team mate Sean Kettle (Taranaki) secured and 8.5
out of 10.
Sunday was a completely different story for the Under 16 surfers with solid
4.0m waves closing out the entire South Piha area. Luckily the sun was out and
it was decided to wait out the tide and have the squad take part in some
fitness training. By mid-morning the tide had started to fill in and it was
decided to run a series of heats at "Old Mans" at North Piha. A small
reform right hander was breaking into the corner and the Under 16 surfers took
to it. Daniel Farr (Taranaki), Tane
Bowden (Whangamata), Kehu Butler (Mount Maunganui) and Harrison Whiteside (Christchurch)
were the strongest surfers in the testing conditions and all enjoyed victories
in the head to head format. In the Under 16 Girls it was Britt Kindred (Auckland) who dominated
the heats ahead of Dayna Storey
(Gisborne) and Jasmine Smith
(Gisborne). Smith put on an excellent performance surfing in the Under
18 Girls heats the day before. The Under 16 surfers then took part in a tag
team and it was Kehu Butler (Mount
Maunganui) who lead his team to victory.
The next stage in the selection process will take place during the 2013 Surfing
New Zealand National Championships being held at Piha from 13th-19th January
2013. After the completion of this event the squad will be reduced to 24
surfers and a number of further development camps will take place before the
final team of 12 surfers is named in late April. The team will travel to Nicaragua
to compete in the 2013 ISA World Junior Surfing Championship.
Thanks to Rip Curl and Skullcandy New
Zealand for their support of the first training camp at Piha. Also huge
thanks to past New Zealand Junior Team surfers Ryan Hawker and Mischa Davis for
their support of the NZ Juniors.
For more information about the 2013 New
Zealand Junior Surfing Development Programme or 2013 New Zealand Junior
Surfing Team please don't hesitate to get in contact.
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