ISA booted kneeboarding from the world titles - anyone care?

[Tom Linn]

Bud's concept is so right on. The North Shore provides a nexus of exposure from the media and serious surfers worldwide. If 3-4 of us were to step up, reside, commit and rip the North Shore, especially Pipe, Sunset and Rocky Point, they could accomplish more than 100 contests and websites, and have the time of thier life as well. I'd do it in a heartbeat if I was 25 years younger, didn't have the wife, kids, etc, etc.

Where are the young rippers ready to take on this challenge?

[crox]

This is exactly the point - there are very few good young kneeboarders about.
My guess is the average age of those contributing to this site is nearly 40!
That's where the websites & contests are so important - exposure & nurture.
They don't grow on trees - just surf on their knees!

[Dunc]

Yes exposure in Hawaii would be great for the sport but without the websites there would be no exposure.
Any comments that have been made replying to 'Kneeboarding being taken out of the World Surfing Games' so far have all been 100% valid because it is all these things that are progressing kneeboarding. If the young kneelo rippers were charging Pipe every day but no websites existed no-one would see the shots because the surf magazines would not run them. The websites provide us with the medium to expose our sport. It's through these that kneeboarding has been re-born and is growing fast. Possibly a key momment in the re-birth was the production of Simon Farrers videos. We now have a solid base on which to build and through building the sport we can then progress to having young rippers charging the North Shore and all the other key breaks around the world and getting coverage. Most the young footboarders who make the trip to Hawaii each year do so with corporate backing. Young kneelos don't have this they have to scrape a living and surf when they can. I am sure some of these kneelos would love to take on the North Shore and blow some minds and in time I am sure some will. I would have loved to go to the North Shore gathering this year and at 27 would qualify as young for a kneelo, but I had work commitments and a mortgage to pay so was unable to make it. Had I managed to go I am not suggesting by any stretch of the imagination I would have blown any minds. What I am trying to do is push my kneeboarding in my backyard everyday and other places when I can get there. As are many kneelos around the world as the websites are showing. We need some young Hawaiian kneelos they must be out there.
Dunc

[Jack Beresford]

OK - back to my original question: are we better off with our without Kneeboarding being in the ISA Worlds?

I think it's fruitless to debate the relative merits of 1) the Internet, 2) Gatherings like Bud's in Hawaii, 3) Kneelo-only contests and 4) Videos to promote the sport versus being included in ISA Worlds. Why make this an either/or proposition? All of these things can and should be happening! The reality is that putting a jersey on may not be for everyone. Others might have no interest in surfing the North Shore (or the Internet for that matter). To each his/her own. But, I think we should vigorously support any and all opportunities that bring kneelos together and promote the sport.

Putting mainstream promotion aside for a moment - think of the potential negative "trickle down" impact of the ISA's decision on competitive Kneeboarding around the world. National and regional associations may no longer see the need to include Kneeboarding as a division. That may not matter much to the guys in SoCal or Oz who have a lot going on but for others...think East Coast, overseas, etc. This might choke off whatever opportunities still exist. Will Albert still get a chance to surf the Pan American Cup (or whatever it's called)? Not if other international bodies follow the ISA's lead and ditch Kneeboarding.

We can beat up on "footboarder" contests as much as we want, but the reality is that without them competitive Kneeboarding wouldn't exist in the US. It would've died along with the CKA/CKF in the late '80s. I hope and believe we're back on the right track doing our own thing and I'm incredibly excited about the Pleasure Point event this November. Kneelo-only contests are our long-term competitive future. But until we've really got our act together, I think we should fight for whatever opportunities we've still got to compete and share good times with other kneelos from around the world.

[crox]

Well Jack - it's an interesting question!
Here in the UK our kneelo contests have for many years been run alongside the various other categories. We have seen a steadily diminishing number of entries for these, with a corresponding decline in interest from the surfing media in reporting the results. No media coverage = fewer entries - until we got down to just 3 last year for the British Nationals.
Since the removal of kneeboarding from the ISA Worlds it's galvanized us into action.
Yesterday Duncan Jones & myself had a meeting with Dave Reed [head of the British Surfing Association]. We found to our great surprise someone who was very sympathetic & willing to go to great lengths to run kneelo only contests at Fistral beach [making all the brand new facilities of the National Surfing Centre available to us] but to also help with the general promotion of the sport throughout our country.
So we now will have a far higher profile British Kneelo Championships [with a provisional slot of September/ October of this year] than we ever had before.
It seems to me that the whole ISA kneelo thing has been limping along for some years & although better than nothing, apathy had set in.
I am sure that people like Dave Reed are going to be influenced by some tangible evidence that kneelos are prepared to help themselves & the formation of new clubs & the enthusiasm of it's members are going to be a great part of this.
We are seeing far more interest here than we have done in the last 30 years.
It is a case of - if you don't ask you don't get.
So - to go back to your point - It has been good for us because we decided to do something about it.

To take up the point about those smaller countries no longer being represented - we have to think about the ways in which they can now be helped [to my understanding being booted out is a done deed - we now have to get on with things].
This now takes me back to the merits of the internet [I'm not an addict - indoor life is not for me!]
If we had not had the internet here, kneeboarding would now be pretty much dead.
People in those countries need to be able to contact each other through a forum such as this [perhaps a section could be set up] & get together - form a club - approach their own surfing associations with some kind of evidence that they can be taken seriously as a group. They might just be surprised & get a similar response to that which we have received from Dave Reed.

All things that promote kneeboarding are good!

It's always good to analyse where your strengths lie if you want to make the most of your promotional abilities.

We now have a solid platform to launch a team to the next ISA sanctioned kneelo world championships rather than the one participant of the past.