As surfing begins one of the most exciting years in its recent history, Surfing England is pleased to announce the provisional Junior Development Squad for 2020.
The athletes that make up the squad will have access to a variety of industry experts and dedicated coaching and training as they prepare for an exciting programme of events in 2020, including; WSL Pro Junior events, the developing roster of domestic competitions, the ESF European Junior Championships (location and dates TBC) and the ISA World Junior Championships (location and dates TBC) with the ultimate aim of qualifying our athletes for surfing’s debut at the 2022 Youth Olympics in Senegal.
Selection for the 2020 English Junior Squad is based on the following criteria:
- Automatic squad selection (where applicable) for the athletes who represented England at the 2019 ISA Junior World Surfing Games in Huntington Beach, USA.
- U16 surfers who qualified for the 2019 World Grom Seach Finals.
- The U14, U16 & U18 English boys and girls who qualified for the finals at the English National Championships in 2019.
- The three highest ranked English surfers in the U14, U16 & U18 boys (top 6 if an athlete has double qualified) divisions based on the standings at the end of the UK Pro Tour 2020.
- Injury Wildcard Selection, an injury wildcard/s will be handed out to any U16 & U18 male or female surfer who was selected in the previous seasons squad but missed over 50% of the training due to injury or illness.
- Highest 3 ranked English surfers based on the WSL 2019 European Pro Junior Standings
- Wildcards (please see below for details)
In addition, as the English National Championships for the U18 category are early in 2020, those selected for the 2020 British Championships will also be eligible for selection (if not already selected).
Provisional 2020 English Junior Squad (In random order)
U18 Boys
- Willoughby Masterman
- Stanley Norman
- Noah Capps
- Lukas Skinner (also qualified for U14 & U 16 Categories)
U18 Girls
- Bonita Whitelock
- Maddie Cawood
- Iris Tanner
- Belle Betteridge (also qualified for U14 & U 16 Categories)
- Lauren Sandland (also qualified for U14 & U 16 Categories)
- Asha Sykes (also qualified for U14 & U 16 Categories)
U16 Boys
- Sam Hearn
- Alex Townsend
- Max Bennett
- Jowan Pegg
- Kieron Smith
U16 Girls
- Alys Barton
- Tegan Blackford (also qualified for U14 Category)
U14 Boys
- Fynn Gillespie
- Max Miller Cooley
- Arthur Randall
- Otis Perry
- Ishka Thres
U14 Girls
- Megan Webb
- Sofia Louisa Gooding
- Rosie Thomas
Junior Longboarders (TBA following details of competition structure from European Surfing Federation)
Junior Bodyboarders (TBA following details of competition structure from European Surfing Federation)
Wildcard Entry
Wildcard entries will close on the 28th February. To submit an entry, please send a short bio, details of your contest results, video footage/photos of you surfing & links to any social media accounts to juniorteam@surfingengland.org Oliver Hawksworth, English Junior Team Manager
Junior Development Squad: Training Day
To start the year, we would like to invite all athletes on the squad to attend a training and development day at The Wave on the 19th of February 2020.
>Download Training Day itinerary<
Places must be confirmed by the end of Saturday 15th Feb – email juniorteam@surfingengland.org