The war for Olympic Surf Gold begins!
The war for Olympic glory has begun! Just as the Australian Olympic surf team shuts the gate on six-days of exclusive training sessions at Kelly Slater’s Surf Ranch in Lemoore, the US Team announces it has partnered with BSR Cable Park in Waco, Texas.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkgPdjFA0m1/?taken-by=usasurfing
From US Surfing’s press release,
San Clemente, California – (June 26, 2018) USA Surfing announced that BSR Surf Resort’s Waco, Texas wave pool will be the official wave pool for training the 2018 World Junior Championship Surf Team and the team selected to compete at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, when surfing makes its Olympic debut.
USA Surfing CEO Greg Cruse said the wave pool is part of a comprehensive plan for optimal training that prepares athletes to take on the world’s best in beach break conditions. All three upcoming international competitions feature beach break conditions: the September 2018 ISA World Surfing Games in Tahara Japan, the October 2018 ISA World Junior Surfing Championships in Huntington Beach, and the Olympic Games 2020 at Tsurigasaki Beach in Chiba Japan.
“The technology allows repeat, made-to-order waves that are perfect for training,” Cruse said. “With the capacity to produce three waves per minute at 12-second intervals and different wave configuration at the push of a button from right point to left point to right point with a perfect air section, this wave offers USA Surf Teams the opportunity to train in an environment that closely mimics ocean conditions.”
USA Surfing head coach Joey Buran said his World Junior Championship Surf Team is beyond stoked to be training in Waco, where U.S. Olympic surfing hopefuls will be training. The world junior championship team will be defending its world title at the 2018 ISA World Junior Surfing Championship held in Huntington Beach Oct. 27 – Nov. 4. Many of these athletes are strong prospects for U.S. Olympic Teams in 2024, 2028 and beyond.
“BSR Surf Resort’s wave pool is ideal for honing maneuvers and aerial skills,” Buran said. “We are Team USA and our goal for this year’s 2018 ISA World Junior Surfing Championship Team is to have our best and be at our best when we compete against the world’s best in Huntington Beach in October and when surfing makes its 2020 debut in Tokyo.”
Did US Surfing not get the memo that, likely, the Olympic people and the ISA will see reason, yield, and run the surfing component of the Games in the new Chiba pool, which is a Surf Ranch and not an American Wave Machines tank?
Is all this lust for Olympic gold rather inhuman and undernourished?
Or just plain crazy and lots of fun?