GEORGE SPORT - The Eden Surf Riders (ESR) district team’s success at the Sea Harvest Grommet Games held at Muizenberg on 22 and 23 March bears testament to the power of sport.
Besides the obvious prestige of winning the overall team competition for the second time in three years, the true value lies in the heartfelt back stories of breaking through personal barriers and rising above adversity.
“This is humanity. This is our future. If more money is invested in children, without pushing our own agendas, we can achieve unity in our country,” said ESR secretary and Adopt-a-Surfer programme director Izelke Benecke.
She highlights how the life skills learnt through overcoming challenges in the ocean translates to other aspects of life and said time and again, it was a totally different child that comes back from events such as the Grom Games.
“The ocean is the great equaliser. People who don’t normally get along suddenly find common ground at backline, because they must. I’ve also seen the value of peer-to-peer learning in action, conveying messages to teenagers where adults can’t get through so easily,” said Benecke.
With development surfers from the Adopt-a-Surfer and Surfer Kids non-profit organisations making up the majority of the team for the last two years, Benecke said the team’s achievement is a sign of recent years’ investment in the development of the sport bearing fruit.
She is excited at what the future may hold and hopes to see an Olympic surfer from the Eden development pool in the next 15 years.
Earlier this year, Benecke, on behalf of Adopt-a-Surfer, received the Best Afterschool Sport and Recreation Programme Award at the Western Cape Provincial Sports Awards.
She hopes to use this award as a springboard to further develop the sport at grassroots level, especially among girls of colour who have very few role models that look like them in surf magazines and on the world stage.
Tasha Mentasti (WSL’s regional director) and Izelke Benecke (Eden Surf Riders and Adopt-a-Surfer) at the Western Cape Provincial Sport Awards earlier this year.
That is also why Benecke is so proud that all six Adopt-a-Surfer girls who had gone to the Grom Games made their respective finals and brought back two gold medals.
But smooth sailing never made a good sailor, and getting to the Grom Games presented its fair share of challenges.
“Funding to get the kids to the Grom Games was super tight,” said Benecke.
Fortunately, funds raised at artist Ingrid Nuss’ very successful art auction held on 22 March plugged some financial holes related to kit and travel.
Surfing South Africa, the sport’s governing body in the country, also made a vital contribution.
Final round results:
Girls
• Fabia Lourens, u.14, 1st
• Kiyara Farao, u.16, 1st
• Linomtha Yabo, u.16, 2nd
• Yushra Faraoh, u.10, 3rd
• Sivrihana le Fleur, u.12, 3rd
• Tiarra Martins, u.12, 4th
Boys
• Avethandwa Mosikare, u.12, 1st
• Aliliso Trom, u.12, 2nd
• Lithabo Mthetho, u.14, 2nd
• Azonwabe Matyeke, u.16, 2nd
• Maverick Schnetler, u.8, 4th
• Tebogo Serfontein, u.14, 4th
The Eden Surf Riders team with the team trophy they won at the Sea Harvest Grommet Games recently held at Muizenberg.
Previous articles:
- Wilderness art experience shares the stoke, changes lives
- The Surfer Kids members excel at Grommet Games
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