Scarborough Boardriders starts new mixed 10 and under division to foster competitive skills

By Emily Laurence on behalf of the Scarborough Boardriders

Sunday, 7 May, Stanwell Park

In cold weather but clean two foot surf conditions Scarborough Boardriders launched a new competition age category aimed at giving its young girl and boy members a chance to develop their competitive surfing skills.

Club Contest Director Ian Pepper says the new mixed 10 and under division, using Surfing Australia judging criteria via the Liveheats system, gives the club’s Micros a transitional period before they move to the 12 and under division.

“If the surfer gets the wave without the parent they get scored a little bit higher, if the parents push them in, they obviously get scored a little bit lower,” he said.

“It’s all about them getting in the water having fun, putting a rash shirt on and having a look online and seeing how they went afterwards.”

Micros Coordinators say the 10 and under division is a great addition to the club.

“It is invaluable to be able to see how judging works and allow the kid to assess their level of competitiveness and ability,” said coordinator and high-performance surfing coach Dave Hyslop.

“It’s providing a pathway for those kids that are competitive and would like to pursue competitive surfing.”

The new division is a progressive step, in light of Australian government research into surfing showing a national drop-off in club participation at round about the age of 9 to 11 years old, in particular girls (see Surfing State of Play Report 2019).

Sunday’s pointscore also welcomed several new members to the junior women’s division.