My name is Lukhangele Tabatha and l'm the Surfer Kids' junior coach. l teach the kids surfing and help them develop skills for their future and to achieve their goals. I'm writing this blog post because l want to let people know about the Surfer Kids and their progress in the SA Grommet Games during the last four years. Our kids started entering Groms in early 2017 and they have been training themselves harder, so that they can reach their dreams of winning competitions one day.
The Grommet Games 2022 competition was held at Muizenburg Beach in Cape Town. We lived at Fish Hoek Seaside Cottages for the whole weekend of the competition. This year there were many districts competing in what is effectively the Western Cape, which included surfers from, Cape Town Surf Riders,and Eden Surf Riders. The Surfer Kids had Linomtha Yabo, Sibulele Ntosho and Renaldo Flores competing in the competition, as part of Eden Surf Riders.
I trained them hard to get to the trials first and to get selected for the provincials. All three of them were surfing in the u12 division, after qualifying through the Eden trials. Yes, it was tough, especially due to the high level of competition but they managed to surf and go through to the semi's and finals. Not all of them made it to the finals, it was just Sibulele Ntosho. Renaldo Flores and Linomtha Yabo made it to semifinals.
The Surfer Kids Non-Profit won its third Grommet Games Medal in four years. Sibulele on the right, Renaldo in the middle, and Linomtha on the left.
Sibulele Ntosho, who joined The Surfer Kids in early 2018 and was selected to represent Eden Surf Riders in the u12 division, qualified for the closely contested under 12 final and surfed his way into 4th place, earning valuable points for his team. This was The Surfer Kids’ third medal in four years at the South African Grommet Games, wich was won by Sibulele Ntosho on the right.
During the competition there were many interesting things happening like the heats going really fast and kids enjoying surfing as much as they can. We were supporting each other through all the events and the team was so impressed to win the cup. it was the first time our team EDEN Surf Riders won the trophy.
Everyone did very well and the best experience for everyone in the competition was to learn how things work, from starting in small competitions and later move to bigger competitions like World Surf League. It was very exciting and the coaches were able to help surfers between heats to help them make corrections where necessary.
As the Surfer Kid's junior coaches, we are planning to improve our kids’ surfing skills for the upcoming competitions and we are working on training daily for next year's Grommet Games (nationals).
We have already started training towards our new goals as our kids will be competing due divisions as much as possible. Our focus will be on new skills and endurance, and we will use the available time as best as possible.
The biggest goal for us as the Coaches will be to follow up and train these kids, and we hope to play a big role and do better for the upcoming contest. I'm sure we can become better and we will even get a gold medal this time! Supporting each other and sticking to the plan will help us to move to the next level. -
The 2022 Sea Harvest South African Grommet Games was presented and ran by Surfing South Africa. And Surfing South Africa (SSA) is The biggest recorgnised governing body for the Sport of Surfing in South Africa and is a member of the SA Sports confederation and the international Surfing Association (ISA).
some full list of results are avaiable at: https:www.liveheats.com/events/8238
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