After Team Hawaii ran away with the gold medal at the International Surfing Association’s World Masters Surfing Championship in April, it’s now the juniors’ chance to back up their own 2012 championship with another top spot on the podium. The
After Team Hawaii ran away with the gold medal at the International Surfing Association’s World Masters Surfing Championship in April, it’s now the juniors’ chance to back up their own 2012 championship with another top spot on the podium.
The 2013 ISA World Junior Surfing Championship runs from June 8-16 at Jiquiste Beach in Tola, Nicaragua. The 12-member “Ambassadors of Aloha” will compete in the four designated divisions – Under 18 Boys, Under 18 Girls, Under 16 Boys, Under 16 Girls.
The Under 16 Girls is a new addition to the format, which has historically given the wahine only the Under 18 division in which to compete.
Last year’s Hawaii team carved its way to the gold medal at Playa Venao, Panama. Two members of that title-winning squad were Kauai’s Koa Smith and Tatiana Weston-Webb, who will both be back to provide their wave prowess and experience.
Smith, 18, is making his fourth appearance for Team Hawaii and returned with the bronze medal in 2010’s Under 16 division at Piha Beach in New Zealand.
Weston-Webb, 17, was last year’s ISA bronze medalist in the Girls Under 18 division and has certainly etched her name amongst the most talented young surfers in the world.
The rest of the team includes many of the usual suspects the state of Hawaii has come to know as its promising up-and-comers. Joining Smith in the Under 18 Boys Division will be Oahu’s Josh Moniz, 16, Maui’s Kain Daly, 18, and Molokai’s Kaoli Kahokuloa, 17, who has participated in a number of HSF Kauai contests in the past.
Weston-Webb hits the Girls Under 18 heats along with Oahu’s Bailey Nagy, 17. Nagy missed out on last year’s title trip, but is an ISA veteran.
The Boys Under 16 crew features Oahu’s Elijah Gates, 16, Oahu’s Kaulana Apo, 15, 2011 state champion Imaikalani Devault, 15, of Maui, and Oahu’s Seth Moniz, 15, the youngest of the Moniz clan.
The new Girls Under 16 division will certainly be a showcase for Team Hawaii, with the defending ISA Under 18 champion Dax McGill, 15, along with a national champion and 2012 finalist in Mahina Maeda, 15. McGill showed everyone that youth was not a hindrance as she claimed gold last year at the age of 14 and this pair from Oahu will be among everyone’s favorites heading into competition.
“Defending champion” is not a term the Team Hawaii juniors have been labeled all that much throughout the years, as last year’s gold was just its second since the event’s inception in 2003. (Prior to that, individual junior competitions existed but were part of the ISA World Surfing Games dating back to 1980.) Hawaii’s other team title came at Huntington Beach, Calif., in 2005, but it has been Team Australia typically leading the pack with six team titles, including five straight from 2006 to 2010.
Individual champions under the Hawaiian flag have included Kalani Robb (Under 18 Boys, 1994), Joel Centeio (Under 18 Boys, 2000), McGill (Under 18 Girls, 2012), Tonino Benson (Under 16 Boys, 2005), Keanu Asing (Under 16 Boys, 2009) and Kalani David (Under 16 Boys, 2012).
Coach Rainos Hayes is back to lead Team Hawaii’s eager group of young faces, some fresh and some seasoned, as it walks among the world’s best and into the Nicaraguan waters hoping to recapture what it accomplished in 2012. Hana hou!
• ‘My Thoughts Exactly’ appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays in The Garden Island. Email David Simon your comments or questions to dsimon@thegardenisland.com. Follow David on Twitter @SimonTGI
