Shaun Backs Adaptive Team
Friday 4 November 2016 Shaun Tomson has thrown his weight behind the SA adaptive surfing team, who have launched a campaign to raise funds for their trip to California for the world champs.
MEDALLISTS: All the medal winners from the first SA championships. Photo Sandy Coffey
Adaptive Surfing South Africa are excited to report that former world champ Shaun Tomson called from California to say that he wants to get involved with fundraising to get the South African team to La Jolla for the Stance ISA World Adaptive Surfing Championship from 8 to 11 December.
Tomson spent time with the SA Team last year and says he will be down again to watch and be part of the champs this year. Not only that, but he wants to support the team by endorsing a crowdfunding bid for Team SA HERE (please go and support).
The world champs have spurred a worldwide development in adaptive surfing. France, Australia, Chile, Brazil, USA, Hawaii and South Africa are among those that have held National Champs to field teams to compete in California.
South Africa held their first Adaptive Surfing National Championship in October and have selected their team to compete at the World Champs. Members of Team South Africa at the 2015 ISA World Adaptive Surfing Championship, Antony Smyth, who won the Silver Medal in the Stand Division, JP Veaudry and Dries Millard will return to represent their nation again in 2016 along with four new competitors, including Caleb Swanepoel, who only recently took up Adaptive Surfing after a shark attack nearly took his life in June of 2015 and resulted in the loss of his right leg.
COMRADES: Surfers and volunteers after the first Adaptive Surf Champs.
For Australia, their first Adaptive Surfing National Championship was held in June and more recently a High Performance Adaptive Surfing Camp was held. ISA Gold Medalist in 2015 Mark ‘Mono’ Stewart, who lost his leg due to bone cancer when he was 14, took first place and will represent Australia again in 2016 in the AS-2 Division.
The USA held their Adaptive Surfing National Championship which featured 30 athletes, growing from 9 competitors in 2015. Dani Burt, who lost her right leg above the knee in a motorcycle accident 12 years ago, was crowned champion of the AS-2 Division and will represent the USA in December, filling their woman’s slot.
The inaugural 2015 ISA World Adaptive Surfing Championship gathered the global Adaptive Surfing community to provide surfers with physical challenges with a platform to compete for their country and display their talent with the goal of growing and developing the sport. It was the biggest international Adaptive Surfing competition to date with 69 surfers from 18 countries.
The 2016 edition will feature new improvements as there will be team medals awarded and two new divisions have been added – a visually impaired division and a new standing division that will separate the standing and kneeling surfers into two divisions based on the level of their impairment.
EARLY ADAPTERS: Members of the SA Champs prepare to go surfing. Photo Spike
The divisions will be as follows:
Two athletes AS-1 (Surfers that ride in a standing or kneeling position)
Two athletes AS-2 (Surfers that ride in a standing or kneeling position)
One visually impaired athlete
One athlete Assist (Surfers who need assistance catching waves)
One athlete Prone (Surfers who ride lying down)
One athlete Upright (Surfers who ride a waveski and sit in an upright position on the board propelled by a paddle)
Additionally, each team will be required to field a female athlete in one of the aforementioned divisions, or their team will only be allowed to field seven athletes as opposed to eight.
The action will be streamed live on www.isaworlds.com