Competition Strategy: What works, what sucks?

[southpeakbrad]

To open this thread please refer to Albert's post in the "Tahitian Worlds - Team USA" elsewhere in the Contest Forum. It's at the bottom of page 14. Thank you Albert for sharing your insights and experiences. I hope they serve as an example to kneelos Everywhere who have a desire to compete.

In my first contest in over 20 years, the 2004 Surfer Bowl, I had someone call me off the right who then went left in the final. I was a bit surprised but I did remember some of that went on in the NSSAs in the early 80s.
I talked to Jack about it and he was a bit surprised as well and suggested maybe we start a thread about this topic. The recent Worlds and Darcy's and Albert's post have no doubt raised interest in this topic so let's see where it goes.

What works (help me here, I don't speak from experience )
Being in superior shape
Mental toughness
"It's all about wave selection, getting the best waves" J.Beresford Feb,2004
Sound strategy
Being prepared-having pulled off that move in both 3' slop and 6' peelers helps
Being well rested, hydrated, and fed (not the mondo breakfast burrito 15min prior to your heat!)
Confident in your equipment, having the right board for the conditions
A good attitude

What sucks
Sitting on people to prevent them from getting in position
Saying you're going to catch it, and not
Saying you're going L or R, and going the other way
Teaming up on people with others to shut them out
Bad attitudes
Stink eye
Thinking better of yourself than you should, if it leads to impure competition
Thinking you're bigger that kneeriding

In the USSFs I did not make it out of my first heat (no repercharge either ), but that's OK. I got crappy waves. But I know that I can tuberide, do cool cutbacks, and hit the lip. I was hooting for EQ and Willy as they were doing well; it helped keep it fun for me.

Albert, I believe you are standing tall today because your performance in the Worlds was phenomenal, and was achieved by skill, conditioning, and mental toughness to name a few!

KSUSA: anything to add????

[albert]

Headwax...
Its that same attitude that got baden out of winning the age divisions in Tahiti. Ill explain.

The end of the Masters Final is nearing, Baden is slightly ahead of David Parkes and third and fourth are way behind them two. About 10 seconds left and this really nice right pops up on the far end of the contest site. David was on the inside and Baden paddled himself into the wave, but he thought that by getting up first, that the wave was his, even thought the wave was clearly a right and David was deeper.

In the end Baden got an interference because he tried to overpaddle david even though the wave they fought over was probably not good enough to get David the score he needed.

The moral is simple, greed sucks...

There was a fair bit more hassling in these worlds than what I have seen in recent comps, dont know if it was because of the venue or what, but it was definately there.

Ill tell you what works... I have had this happen in a few comps is when people actually take turns on sets. That way everyone not only has a better time in the comp but they leave the water feeling like the heat was as true a test of surfing ability and talent as possible. This is probably the main reason I still do as many comps as possible.

Hassling strategies were huge in the 80's in pro surfing. Whenever I meet a retired pro or someone who was really into that, they will agree that hassling cheapens the spirit of competition however it was an integral part of bringing home the bacon in those days. These days hassling is frowned upon and considered immature by the top surfers in the world. Kneeboarding hasnt quite caught up to that, but it will.

Thanks
Albert

[Nov]

below.

[hart]

go the nov....priceless.

and congratulations,

you've done a lot of people proud..not to mention your parents.

bruce.

[Nov]

I'm sorry if this post generated any negativity, that wasn't what I was trying to do. Everyone seemed to have a different view on the call and it was a hard call to make. I'm really sorry about any anger this post created, lets get back to the positive stuff and keep kneeboarding growing in the positive direction it is

[Jack Beresford]

Personally, I'm not into hassling but I'm sure as hell not going to give up any good set waves - if that means paddling by someone to get to the peak then so be it. I'm certainly not going to sit there politely to let the other guy get the wave of the day! I'm not aware of many sports where guys aren't doing everything possible within the rules to gain an advantage.

I didn't experience any hassling in Tahiti. I hear some of the Tahitians teamed up to hassle our people - I think that sucks.

In terms of the Baden/Parkes wave - I don't blame either guy. They're both fierce competitors doing everything possible to win within the rules. Baden made a tactical mistake - he was way up in that heat and didn't need the wave. It certainly made for an interesting final.

[Tom Linn]

With $5000 and the World Title on the line you have to expect guys to do everything within the rules to win. If hassling pervails then the rules need to change to reduce or eliminate it. I think its naive to think that people are going to be polite in a highly competitive situation.

However, local/fun/recreational contests are different. In that situation, I would expect people to be polite. At the recent US Champs in O'side every one was very cool and that is to be expected. The same is true of the AA and AAA events at the Santa Cruz event. However, this attitude may be naive in the late heats of the Open event.

In highly competitve events we should expect guys to act in a competitive manner. It is the contest director's responsibility to set-up formats that control and channel competitve drive in a positive manner. Ways to control hassling include:
1. Aggressive use of interference rules
2. Small heat sizes
3. Repercharge and second chance heats
4. Venues with good, consistent, long waves
5. Priority buoys

All of these methods assume there is no collusion among competitors. None of them can control two competitors ganging up on another competitor. That is just poor sportmanship and wrong.

[Tom Linn]

Here's a brainstorm, what do you guys think if:

We should begin a long term program to improve the performance of the US in the next World Titles comp which may be in Santa Cruz in Nov 2005 or 2006. Perhaps a few workshops with our best surfers (that's you Jack) sharing their competitive strategies. Perhaps we could even get a Cali Pro stand-up to attend and give us all some guidance.

I don't know about the rest of you but I'm tired of the Aussie's kicking our asses, making better boards(sometimes), drinking us under the table at the pub, etc, etc. Also, I know that becoming a better contest surfer also improves your overall surfing abilities.

[albert]

Here's another brainstorm...

As soon as I got back from Tahiti I was asked to kneeboard for the university of wollongong in the national university titles. Last night, at the presentation an interesting idea was put into action.

What they call the green and gold awards for each category was used. Basically this is awarded by the judges on solely the basis of surfing expertise, nothing to do with competitive surfing. In most cases these awards were not given to the winner of the category, but rather to the person whom they thought surfed the best, period. In one case they awarded the green and gold to a surfer that didnt even make the finals.

I think there is a lot of potential in this, in my opinion the best surfer of the Tahiti event did not win, but I would have loved to see him receive an award like that.

I remember times when I would be playing backgammon where one person would be winning on points, then the opponent would ask me to play one game for the recognition of who was the better player, regardless of what the dice say. Very similar concept.

Just a thought.
Albert

[tws]

Albert,
who would of won on the green and gold theory in your eyes ?

[albert]

In all honesty I would have to say it would be pretty close, but I think Kyle Bryant would have taken that one. I am not usually a super big fan of his surfing but throughout the event he was going above and beyond his usual surfing... I have never seen him throwing practically any spray till this event.

A very very close second would have to go to Matt gallagher, he was going so vertical and laying on soooo much commitment every time a good section would come around it was inspiring.

Thats about it I think,

Albert

[Xmas]

Albert - these two blokes have been consistently the most fluid and impressive surfers of all i have watched over the past 5 years at (numerous) pro comps - so your observations from Tahiti do not not surprise me.

But what I have also seen is that when it comes to competition surfing the most consistent man is Baden Smith - he is a freak. He has now told me 3 or 4 times in relation to surfing in heats "Remember Grant - its just a game of chess". Big Bad Man is kneeboard's grandmaster....

[DarcyM]

I've finished loading what amounts to the best of the pictures of Tahiti that I got while I was there. About ten pages worth in the Photo Gallery, under the Tahiti Worlds '04 folder. If you haven't seen 'em yet, check it out!

There's quite a few pics of Albert, Kyle, Baden, Matt Gallagher, and Jack, so you can compare yourself to see who was throwing the best spray. Lots of other folks are in there too. I have my personal favorite, but I ain't saying!

dm