At the Beach | Border junior surfers ride wave of success with national selection

Of our 12-member junior national team set to participate in the September El Salvador 2026 ISA Junior World Surfing Championships, five surfers are from Border. That is one short of 50% of the whole surfing team comes from our little town and the rest is shared out by the rest of SA. Once again, it is a pretty large feather in our cap that excellence can and does come from KuGompo.

It is a joy to me to see our youngsters rise to the top, realise their full potential and take flight like arrows released from a quiver and pierce the bullseye of excellence. Before having children myself, I might barely have noticed but now as a parent, I can vicariously enjoy the success of my friends and their children. Also, from an older vantage point, I know what a struggle it is to get a grip on competition surfing, learn every surfing manoeuvre in every condition and put it all on display during the pressure of 20 minutes, three opponents and five judges.

There is the thrill of being in a team and it does not go higher than national representation and the joy of carrying our nation’s flag. I have a strong understanding of what our juniors are going through and it puts a smile in my heart to watch them succeed. Three boys, three girls U16 and three boys and three girls U18 again make up the 12-surfer team.

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The management team includes friend of Border Surfing, Penny Stemmet (Melkbosstrand) as assistant coach, head coach Liam Wood (Hout Bay) and manager Sisonke Ndum-Ndum (Durban). The team are U18 boys Rory Dace (Cape St Francis), Matt Canning (Durban) and Josh Malherbe (Border).

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