The ISA 2017 World Juniors will start on the 23rd September and run until the 1st October, this years event will take place at the superb break of Okuragahama beach in Hyuga City on Japan’s southern island of Kyushu.

Four years since Wales’s recognition by the International Surfing Association and the green light to compete under our nations flag. The Welsh Surfing Federation is delighted to announce it’s first team to compete at World Open level.

Dubbed the Olympics of surfing, over 50 countries will compete for medals over the weeklong competition held at Grande Plage, Biarritz, France during the 20th to 28th May. With surfing set to makes it’s Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020, this event will undoubtedly be the first step towards Olympic seeding and eventual qualification.
Whilst the Welsh Juniors have travelled to Ecuador, California and the Azores to compete at ISA World Junior competitions, the event in France this will be Wales’ first opportunity to compete against some of the biggest names in the sport. Performance expectations are realistic, yet the team is determined to show that despite Wales’s vastly inferior surfing conditions and lack of funding, that Welsh surfers are highly competitive and capable of creating upsets.
The team is made up of 2 women – Joanne Dennison and Emily Williams; and 4 men – Harry Cromwell, Alex Morris, Mark Vaughan and Rob Webster-Blythe; along with team manager Stuart Bentley, who had this to say.

“Despite a number of first team absentees and a slightly senior feel, the men’s team have great experience, which should ensure we offer a challenge to the full time pro’s our guys will compete against. Our ladies, Jo and Emily have been competing internationally for sometime, are highly capable athletes, are our current Welsh number one and two, who perhaps offer our best chance in the event. I’m very excited about the week ahead.”

With Wave pool technology such as that adopted by Surf Snowdonia, surfing’s reach is growing inland and towards major UK cities. It’s not out of the question that in years to come that a world surfing champion may just as likely hail from Wrexham as Hawaii.

The WSF would like to thank long-term sponsors MiPost and McLays as well as Billabong for their support.
We wish the team every success at the games.

Live coverage will be available on the ISA website here.
We will keep you updated with heat schedules when possible..

Since the WSF Surf School was established in the early 90’s, our National Coach at the time, Tim Jones, led our involvement in developing many forms of adaptive surfing.
Specific courses have been run for Visually and Hearing Impaired, as well as for aspiring surfers with many varied disabilities, all in conjunction with SportWales.
More recently Ben Clifford and Sam Moore, two of our current coaches, are leading the way in including young people with Autism and staff at Surf Snowdonia are helping develop equipment and courses for adaptive surfing.

Ben Clifford & Toby Williams from Surfability UK, will accompany Llywelyn as our representatives and we welcome them and his team on board.
We now look forward to hopefully developing a full team for the 2017 ISA World Championships.

We are immensely proud that Llywelyn, through his own dedication and drive to date has now reached a skill level where he can compete on a world stage….and under the Welsh Flag!

Stu Bentley – Secretary / Ysgrifenydd USC
On behalf of WSF
Welsh Surfing Federation / Undeb Syrffio Cymraeg

For more information on the ISA World Adaptive Surfing Championships, please visit the ISA Website here.