South African Surfing Legends have released details about their Future Legends Coaching Series, which forms part of the High Performance Surfing Academy (HPSA) that they’ve worked tirelessly on getting off the ground throughout 2015. Their aim is to see their hard work pay off, by assisting in the development of SA’s next world champ or title contender.

SA Junior Team ripper, Joshe Faulkner has proven the benefits of good surf coaching.

The first step is to identify the talent, and that’s what the Future Legends Coaching Series is all about. The three event series will kick-off at New Pier on 23/24 January 2016.

Read the press release below for all the details.

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The South African Surf Legends (SASL) through the High Performance Surfing Academy (HPSA) has a goal, and that is to identify, develop and nurture emerging junior talent in South Africa. To further this goal, they will be running a fun, informative and professional coaching series at the New Pier in Durban, as well as at Durban Surf Lifesaving Club.

Limited to a total of 32 participants, comprising boys and girls, the coaching series will only have two divisions: Under 13 and Under 16. These divisions have been decided on, as SASL believes these age groupings best serves the interest of the juniors surfers they would like to develop into contest winners over the next five years. The boys and girls will surf together to further enhance our girl surfer’s competitiveness.

The coaching series will focus on the four foundation pillars of surfing, being Physical, Mental, Equipment and Surf.

On the evening preceding each event, there will be talks and lessons at Durban Surf covering the following:

Wave selection, developing speed on waves, advanced turning techniques, correct body movement, equipment selection, ocean awareness, heat management and heat preparation.

The surfers will surf in 4-man heats during the coaching series, and will be evaluated and assessed by the HPSA coaches, assisted by recorded video. All waves will be videoed and made available for analysis after the heat and will also be copied to a memory stick for each competitor’s keepsake.

The dates for the coaching series events are set. They are:

23/24 January 2016
27/28 February 2016
19/20 March 2016.

The Prizes
The big news is that the prizes for this coaching series will see the HPSA really kick in.

The four finalists of each division will be invited to participate in a free two-week HPSA coaching course valued at R12k per participant, that will take place on a date yet to be determined in Durban.

Highly respected and skilled coaches and surfers Bruce Jackson and Jason Ribbink, along with other top tier coaches, will lead this HPSA course. This two-week course will utilize state of the art training methodology and techniques, including heat surfing, equipment edification, mental conditioning, nutritional analysis and sports psychology, to train and educate these selected juniors. Most surf coaching will take place to accommodate school commitments.

“We’re all really excited about this program,” said the High Performance Surfing Academy’s Jason Ribbink. “This will see the start of getting our young surfers trained and prepared for the world of professional surfing. We are aiming high, and want to find and nurture the most exciting talents amongst South Africa’s junior surfers and bring out the best in them.”

The cost of the initial coaching series is R1,000 per participant for the entire series. Applicants must be registered members of a recognized provincial or national surf body, have surfed for their province or SA national surf team. KZN Surfing will also run a trials event for wild cards. SASL selection is final.

All entries to be emailed to: futurelegends@southafricansurfinglegends.com
– motivating the entry with the achievements of the candidate participant. Entries will be accepted no later than 11 January, and successful candidates will be notified by 18 January. Payment needs to be in by 22 January, confirmed by EFT.

SASL is supported by SA Rugby Legends, Richmark, Firewire, Avis and Maverick Printing.