King of the groms

JAMES bye
April 2008
I was watching TV today and i saw boardriders tv was on so i decided to watch it... The surfing in the episode was Quicksilver King of the Groms which for those who dont know, is like a little 3 event tour arround SA with two divisions under 16 and under 20... the under 16 division are competing for R3500 (i think) prize money each event and the winner of the series gets to go to france to compete in an international King of the Groms event... The under 20 guys are competing for R5000 prize money each event and the series winner gets a FULLY PAID TRIP WITH ACCOMADATION TO HAWAII FOR THE WINTER... How crazy is that.

Now to what im getting at..

Why cant there be an event like this for bodyboarding... its encouraging the groms to go out and enter contests and improve... it will also put bodyboarding on the map... encourage new people to get into the sport, along with many other advantages. Im shure boardriders tv would put the event on their show which would create alot of exposure for the sponsors and not only to the bodyboarding comunity but the whole "TV watching" population...

People will tell me that there are alot of comps already but none of these comps are offering huge prizes like the surfing comp above... People will also tell me that they wouldnt get enough sponsors... but there are already some big companies getting involved... Reef, Science, I even saw Lizzard sponsoring the next SABA comp at margate, Factory 7, ATD, Rossi, Wimpy just to name a few.

So we hav all the sponsors all that is needed is somone to organise it...

Bodyboarding 552 views

3 Replies

SAL
April 2008
James, I wish it was that simple - believe me we try
JAMES bye
April 2008
haha... i know it sounds rather simple the way i put it... but if you think about it... For the Quicksilver King of the Groms comp there has to be someone who sits down and organises it all... Why is there no one who is amped to do it for a boayboarding event
SmT
April 2008
That's the thing, there are people that organise our Contests.
Unfortunately, most of those people have full-time jobs and organise all the details in their own free-time whereas i'm sure there are guys who are employed just to organise the Quik Grom Contests. Most of the time there's not much praise for those who work behind the scenes at SABA Contests.
Think about it, there's most probably a Quiksilver House in Hawaii, accommodation sorted and then there will most probably be other things thrown in as well. For a bodyboarder, there are no sponsor houses (apart from Science), accommodation is super expensive and flights aren't cheap. It's a minimum of R20 000 for a season on the North Shore which to any of S.A's Bodyboarding Sponsors is a hefty price tag for 1 guy, there's no way they'll make a return on that from some grom.
I know it sounds like i'm being negative but we've got to take baby-steps. As always, support those that are willing to put something into SABA, enter the contests, trials and whatever else. By showing support in small areas it can only lead to bigger and better things.
Just keep pushing the sport in your own little way and for those tireless individuals who are putting all they can into the sport, thanks for your efforts!

Post a Reply

You must be logged in to reply to this topic.