COSTA RICA NATIONAL JUNIOR SURF TEAM HAVE DIFFICULT DAY AT

ISA WORLD JUNIOR SURFING GAMES ECUADOR 2009

ANTHONY FILLINGAM ADVANCES TWO DIFFICULT ROUNDS OF REPERCHARGE

by: Ellen Zoe Golden and Carlos Brenes

Salinas, ECUADOR  April 2, 2009 – The fifth day of competition at the International Surfing Association World Junior Surfing Games (WJSG) Ecuador 2009, was one of understated emotion for the Costa Rica National Junior Surf Team when four more of the nine athletes competiting for their country fell out of the contest.

The most unexpected loss today came from Nataly Bernold of Jaco, who had first advanced from 2nd place in her Round 2 Repercharge Heat this morning, only to come finish 3rd in the next Round. Bernold’s defeat came as a particular surprise since Bernold dominated her Heat for the first 19 ½ minutes, staying in 2nd place the whole time with two high scoring waves. Only as the final seconds ticked down, did New Zealand’s Alexis Poulter score a wave high enough to jump over her to advance.

Elisa Bonomelli (Jaco)  Anastasia Bissinger (Limon), Noé Mar McGonagle (Pavones), and Danny Bishko (Esterillos) complete the list of Ticos who, today, fell out of the World Junior Surfing Games for good.

Nevertheless, the National Selection of Costa Rica still have high hopes riding on two surfers who are still competing in the main event of the Under 16 category—Carlos Muñoz of Esterilos and Jordan Hernandez of Limon. Muñoz, however, competed today in the Under 18 division trying to put something together in the main event Round 4, but fell to 4th place and will now finish the tournament in repercharge.

Although he is not surfing in the main event, Anthony Fillingam of Malpais continues to demonstrate his elevated skills as one of the best Under 16 surfers at the World Junior Surfing Games and scoring for Costa Rica. His work in repercharge is giving valuable points to the Tico Team and he’s 50 percent of the way through the second-chance Rounds, hoping to return to the main show. He  has passed both Round 2 in 1st place and Round 3 in 2nd place. Filligam is motivated and focused when surfing his Heats, offering diverse maneuvers, taking them to successful conclusions in the last sections of the waves.

“Today, something inevitable that happens in the World Junior Surfing Games happened, and that is that some of our athletes took leave of the competition. Nevertheless, we are in a fight to put our team inside of the Top 10 in the world. Tomorrow will be a vital day,” said José Ureña, Technical Director of the Costa Rica National Junior Surf Team and President of the Federacion de Surf de Costa Rica.

Today has been an added challenge for the technical body of the Costa Rica Team, since the location of both Podiums was extended to more than 600 meters between them. Ureña has alternated his coaching strategists, Randall Chávez and Christophe Commarieu, to the entrance points of both spots for the competitors.

With the completion of the fifth day of competition, Costa Rica is the only Latin American country with surfers in the main Rounds.

To view the Costa Rica National Junior Surf Team in live in action, go to http://isaworldjuniors.com/2009/Home.php?lang=es