Is a broken face on the horizon? One false crack?
Surfing is the damndest dance. We each of us love it so and also each of us mostly want to do it alone. Oh how crowds in the water rankle! It’s a good thing we don’t run tourist boards/state economies etc. because everyone would go broke. Giant signs would be plastered outside of phenomenal breaks with the words “Go Home!”
Thankfully for its state’s coffers, the Hawaiian Tourism Authority don’t care ’bout nuthin’ but greenbacks/yen and are set to ride surfing’s inclusion into the Olympics toward riches! Let’s read about in the the Star-Advertiser!
Hawaii is trying to bring in more tourists by taking advantage of surfing’s elevation to Olympic sport status.
The Hawaii Tourism Authority usually spends most of its $9.1 million sports budget on land-based events, but will start to focus on surfing and water sports as the games approach, according to Leslie Dance, the agency’s vice president for marketing and product development.
The agency is working with New York-based Ascendent Sports Group to develop sports marketing for 2017-2018. Ascendent has a $200,000 contract with HTA.
HTA’s marketing contractor, Hawaii Tourism Japan, will also ask Japan’s Olympic Committee to allow surfing to be highlighted in the opening ceremony.
“It would be a great honor to bring all the surfers from all the teams together to celebrate the first time that surfing has been involved in the Olympics,” said Eric Takahata, managing director for HTJ. “We also want the members of the U.S. team, whoever they may be, to carry the message that surfing was born in Hawaii. We don’t know who will be on the U.S. surfing team, but we’re hoping that it will have a Hawaii presence either through the coach or a team member.”
HTA wanted Hawaii to host the Olympic surfing trials, but the team members might be selected by a point system instead, Dance said.
And wait just a second… does that last line…
“We also want the members of the U.S. team, whoever they may be, to carry the message that surfing was born in Hawaii. We don’t know who will be on the U.S. surfing team, but we’re hoping that it will have a Hawaii presence either through the coach or a team member.”
…sound a little like a threat? Or a lot like a threat? If there is no Hawaiian surfer on team USA will there be a broken face somewhere?
Does John John count as Hawaiian?