This year the National titles for U12 and U14 surfers will be held at The Wave on Thursday 29th October. We cannot wait to host England’s best juniors and give them an epic day of competition in conditions that allow them to showcase their best technical surfing.
We recognise there are tensions and different opinions on the use of the pool for events, so we wanted to be really transparent and share some of the key considerations in our decision making.
We’re not making a permanent change to the pool for our U12s and U14s, but this year we wanted to trial it based on a few areas we feel could be really positive for our juniors. Here are some the key factors we considered when making the decision:
- Ensuring the event runs. Last year was really hard with a number of postponements and cancellations due to unfavourable conditions. With the new changes utilising the Junior Surf Series for qualification, we are determined the nationals run for this age group and The Wave clearly gives us the best opportunity to make that happen.
- Balancing ocean and pool experience. We absolutely understand the importance of developing heat IQ, ocean awareness and all the challenges that come with surfing in the ocean. We felt comfortable to trial utilising the pool for u14/u12 nationals this year because the JSS events, Rip Curl GromSearch and an increased number of club events, are all running in the ocean, giving solid number of opportunities to develop those ocean skills.
- Better linking with competitive development pathways. Our focus for this age group is on developing technical fundamentals and The Wave is an excellent platform for developing and showcasing technical ability. Team England coaches will be utilising the opportunity to spot talent, with places in our development squad being fiercely competitive amongst the upcoming groms.
- Wave pools will be part of the future of competitive surfing. Whether you love or hate pools, they are undoubtably here to stay and likely to be the future Olympic option. We need to be reactive to this, and junior surfers who are going to be successful on the world stage need to have the skill set to surf competitively in fresh and salt water.
- The new settings at The Wave were tested by the Team England juniors earlier in the year with really positive feedback. We’re confident to deliver an exhilarating competition format with a great mix of wave options will give the juniors maximum opportunity to showcase their range of manoeuvrers and technical ability.
The juniors tend to be the group that love surfing the pool the most and we believe they will have an epic experience surfing the Nationals in Bristol this year. We hope, regardless of opinion, people can get behind the competition and give the juniors the best experience possible. Post competition we’ll review and reflect, welcoming input from those involved and pulling that experience into the planning for 2027 and beyond.
