#PayingBackTheFaith

Lightey Learning: Chris Knutsen chats to the youngsters on the beach. Photo Pat Flanagan

The surfers stood up to the challenging training programme set up by the South African Surfing Legends team, which included comparative analysis of their performances and scores from the inaugural contest. Held in small windswell at Dairy Beach, the finals were moved to nearby New Pier. "Performances were up, generally, from all the competitors," said SASL's Barry Campbell.

Concepts and ideas initiated by coaches had various practical outcomes for the groms. Perhaps the best were the video appraisals, led by Head Judge Jono Hutchison. Utilising video playbacks in his presentation, Jono explained the difference between big moves and half moves. The improvements showed in various inspired performances in the water afterwards.

SASL's Simon Nicholson said the video "gave everyone, the competitors, the parents and even the coaches a really good look inside the minds of the judges and what they are looking for".

Standouts of the day included U16 Boys winner Koby Oberholzer from Warner Beach, Mitch Du Preez from East London, who won the U13 Boys division for the second time, and U16 Girls winner Kirsty McGillivray from JBay.

KOBY TOPS: Koby Oberholzer was on fire in the small, short period swell. Photo Dove

CEO and South African Surfing Legends Co-Founder Graham Cormac was happy with the progress.

"One positive that came out of the day was to have two video sessions just for the parents," said Cormac. "We wanted to make sure that the parents understood clearly how the judges were assessing their kids. We felt that this further education would have a positive knock-on effect of those parents being able to give the correct criticism to their kids going forward, and not misdirect their input. We need the surfers and the parents to both understand that they need structure to improve their surfing scores."

There is also much excitement about the slot available into the JBU Supertrial presented by RVCA. The series winner of the U16 Boys divison gets a wildcard slot into the JBU Supertrial, set to take place from 1-12 June at Supertubes.

The invite-only JBU Supertrial is arguably the most important local event on the calendar as it furnishes a wild-card into the World Championship Tour's event, the JBay Open. Why so important? In 1999 Australian surfer Joel Parkinson won the main event in JBay as a wildcard, and in 2006 Jordy Smith placed third in the same contest as a wildcard.

The third contest in the Future Legends Coaching Series will take place on the 19th March at New Pier in Durban.

Final results:

U16 Boys
Koby Oberholzer
Luke Slijpen
Calvin Goor
Angelo Faulkner

U16 Girls
Kirsty McGillivray
Anna Jellema Butler
Sophie Bell
Gabi Lailvaux

U13 Boys
Mitch Du Preez
Nathan Spalding
James Ribbink