Surfing Australia News Autumn 2016 | Page 44

Wahu Surf Camps It was twenty stoked groms that left the Hurley Surfing Australia High Performance Centre (HPC) in March after two separate Wahu Surf Camps where they enjoyed fun waves and the best in coaching and advice. All the participants were winners of the Under 14 divisions during the Wahu Surfer Groms Comps held across Australia in summer and enjoyed an all-expenses paid training program at respective boys' and girls' camps at the HPC. During each camp, the aspiring young athletes have been put through their paces with a combination of surfing and video analysis, competition strategies and strength and gymnastic training. The surfers at the boys' camp included: Finn Hill, Lennox Chell, George Pittar, Josh Stanton, Xavier Huxtable, Jamie Thomson, Taj Stokes, Ethan Huxtable, Forrest Finlay and Harrison Green. Over the three day boys camp the group scored pumping waves only minutes from the HPC. Xavier Huxtable came out of the water frothing on the day we dropped by to check out how things were going. “It is so fun out there, I got heaps of barrels and all the boys are ripping,” he said. The girls' camp included: Cedar Leigh-Jones, Nyxie Ryan, Elle Clayton-Brown, Emma Catlin, Zahli Kelly, Charli Hurst, Raya Campbell, Arabella Wilson, Lily McDonald and Dimity Payne. George Pittar was judged most promising male surfer at the boys Wahu Surf Camp while Nyxie Ryan was judged most promising female surfer at the girls Wahu Surf Camp and took home a nice trophy for their efforts. Regarded as one of the major stepping stones in the development of young Australian surfers, the 10-event Wahu Surfer Groms Comps caters for surfers from Under 8 to Under 14 and was held in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania over summer. The Under 8 was a mixed division with parent assists, while competition was held in both boys and girls in the Under 10, Under 12 and Under 14 divisions. The Wahu Surfer Groms Comps have helped to launch the careers of many of Australia's most promising junior surfers with more than 800 children taking part in the 2015/16 event series. 42 Issue 13 / Autumn 2016