The ISA World Junior Titles recently wrapped up in El Salvador, showcasing the importance of junior surfing for the pathway to the ‘CT and the Olympics. Two members of Surfing Australia’s Irukandjis found themselves on the podium – Willis Droomer taking gold in the under 16s mens, and Kobi Clements taking copper (4th) in the under 18 mens. The team was awarded a silver medal for their combined 2nd placing overall.
These surfers along with their 2022 Junior Irukandji teammates are the first crop of Aussie juniors to come through Surfing Australia’s new technology-driven aggregated national surfing pathway – a new innovative approach born out of a collaboration between Surfing Australia and Aussie tech company LiveHeats.
Historically, U18 & U16 Aussie surfers trying to reach the ISA World Juniors have had to qualify via a finals finish at the Australian Junior Surfing Titles, and via a gruelling selection camp.
In 2008 for example, Jack Freestone first burst onto the scene, by taking back-to-back wins in the Rusty (now Skullcandy Oz Grom Open) Gromfest and Occy’s Grom Comp. Flooded with incentives and new contracts – this set Jack’s path to eventual CT stardom. However, those landmark junior events on the annual calendar played no formal role in selecting the team that Surfing Australia took to the ISA World Junior titles.
This has now changed – Surfing Australia, through its partnership with LiveHeats, has changed the pathway with the new National Junior Rankings system, which was first piloted during the 2021 season.
The new national junior rankings system provides a method for all Australian junior surfing events to count towards a national ranking, giving athletes from all corners of the country a chance to climb the rankings and earn a spot on the ISA World Junior team.
LiveHeats provides the backend technology, any junior event run by state bodies, regional branches, and boardrider clubs can easily request to have their results added to the national ranking in a few clicks. The Surfing Australia team then applies criteria to determine the ‘level’ of the event, which determines the points that the athlete would win – ranging from 1000 points for a local event to 10,000 points for an event like the Woolworths Australian Junior Surfing Titles.
“This has been a game changer for Junior development and talent ID,” says Beau Brenchley, Head of Events at Surfing Australia. “We’re now able to get a holistic view of national surfing activity – for years there’s been prestigious events running in different corners of the country, and now we’re able to bring them onto the official national pathway.”
The national junior rankings are well and truly underway in their second year – with 36 events included so far in 2022 alone. At the time of writing, Lucy Brown is leading the 18 female division, and Ty Richardson is leading the 18 male division. For other divisions go to www.surfingaustralia.com/rankings
