17th Reef Wetsuits SA Grommet Surfing Games
Presented by Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism

Surfing South Africa
The Pipe, Pollock Beach Port Elizabeth
23 March 2008

Young surfers celebrate 17th Reef Wetsuits SA Grommet Surfing Games in style

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 24 March, 2008 : - - The 2008 Reef Wetsuits SA Grommet Games, presented by Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism and supported by funding from Sport and Recreation SA, was completed in fine surf and excellent weather at the Pipe, Pollock Beach in Port Elizabeth on Sunday (March 23).

Close on 150 girls and boys from seven provinces took part in the annual event which is Surfing South Africa's most significant and important entry level interprovincial tournament. Reef Wetsuits, Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism and Sport and Recreation South Africa all contributed to the success of the 17th Games, one of the highlights of the annual Splash Festival held in the Friendly City every Easter.

A wet start to the event was soon forgotten as the sun came out and the offshore began to blow. All aspects of the tournament were completed without a hitch and the surfers, who came from as far afield as the rural villages of Southern KZN and from all parts of the Eastern and Western Cape, took the opportunity to enjoy themselves.
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The SA Grommet Games is a tournament with a primary focus on transformation and development within the sport’s provincial structures are set strict criteria when it comes to selecting their teams for the four days of competition.

While the main focus of the event is on surfing, participation in events such as a paddle battle,  beach flags and tag team competition is also included in the activities with the most participative and successful team earning the right to the Best Team Trophy at the tournament. Border, who draw their surfers from East London and parts of Transkei, repeated their victory of 2007 and were unanimously awarded the Best Team trophy for 2008.

The Nelson Mandela Bay Trophy, which is awarded to the provincial team with the highest combination of scores from the individual surfing results as well as the results from the Tag Team, Paddle Battle and Beach Flags, went to Western Province for the third year in a row.

Hosts Eastern Province were second with 2007 runners up, Boland, in third place this time. The enthusiastic Southern KZN team were fourth, Border were fifth, Southern Cape came sixth and KZN were seventh. In the individual categories, Donovan Jacobs of Boland took honours in the Under 16 Boys Division with Gina Smith of Border winning the Under 16 Girls title.

Brandon Benjamin of Western Province won the Under 14 Boys final and Jordyn VanHoutte of Southern KZN came out on top in the Under 14 Girls Division. The Under 12 Boys winner was Jonah Paarman of Western Province, Courtenay Ellish of Southern KZN won the Under 12 Girls Division, Ethan Fletcher won the Under 10 title and fellow WP surfer Max Elkington took the Under 8 crown.

The Surfer of the Contest Trophy was awarded to talented Ethan Fletcher who won all his heats and posted a 9,1 ride in one of the rounds and Border Team manager Gary Mc Laren deservedly won the Sportsmanship Award. Western Province retained their Tag Team title ahead of Eastern Province with KZN and Boland ending third and fourth respectively.

In the Boys Beach Flags race Anele Maqaqa of Border took gold and Nikita Kekana of KZN won the Girls Beach Flags. The tough Paddle Battle was won by Boland's Chandre Bodenstein. The SA Grommet Games are also used to determine which surfers will join the South African Development Academy. This year the selectors inducted eleven surfers into the 2008 group.

They are Matthew McGillivary, Charl Tony ,Sandile Bakwe and Jessica Barnard (all Eastern Province), Brandon Benjamin, Wesley Swartz, Roger Vuanza and Zhandrey Sampson (all Western Province), Talente Mkhize (Southern KZN), Fika Ngubane (KZN), Levi Fraser (Southern Cape) and Donovan Jacobs (Boland).

Papi Makinyane (Western Province) is the Academy Team judge and Gary McLaren (Border) is the 2008 Academy Team Manager.

FULL RESULTS : 2009 REEF WETSUITS SA GROMMET SURFING GAMES

U16 BOYS
1. DONOVAN JACOBS – BOLAND
2. CHAD COULLIE – SKZN
3. ROGER VUANZA - WP
4. LEVI FRASER - SOUTHERN CAPE

U16 GIRLS
1. GINA SMITH - BORDER
2. NIKITA KEKANA - KZN
3. JESSICA BARNARD - EP
4. KERRI LEE VILJOEN - EP

U 14 BOYS
1. BRANDON BENJAMIN - WP
2. SEBASTIAN BARRETT - EP
3. MARCO LOUBSER- BOLAND
4. TALENTE MKHIZE - SKZN

U14 GIRLS
1. JORDYN VANHOUTTE- SKZN
2. ROXY GILES - SOUTHERN CAPE
3. AZRAA MOODALEY – EP
4. CAMDEN RAVENSCROFT – WP

U12 BOYS
1, JONAH PAARMAN - WP
2. MATTHEW MCGILLIVRAY - EP
3. JONNY HOLLIS - SOUTHERN CAPE
4. DYLAN WICHMAN - WP

U12 GIRLS
1. COURTENAY ELLISH - SKZN
2. INGA MCLAREN - BORDER
3. KIM VAN GREUNEN - EP
4. TOSCA WYNAND - BOLAND
5. AMY PERRINS – WP

U10
1. ETHAN FLETCHER – WP
2. DONOVAN WICHMAN – WP
3. ADIN MASENCAMP – BOLAND
4. DAVID CARTER – BORDER

U 8
1. MAX ELKINGTON – WP
2. DANE FLANAGAN – BORDER
3. BRETT ROBERTS - BOLAND
4. RYAN LIGHTFOOT - EP
5. PHILANE CELE - SKZN

TEAM RESULT
1. WESTERN PROVINCE- 19982
2. EASTERN PROVINCE – 17622
3. BOLAND - 17383
4. SOUTHERN KZN - 13971
5. BORDER - 12740
6. SOUTHERN CAPE - 12411
7. KWAZULU NATAL - 5761

BEST TEAM (TEAM SPIRIT AWARD)
BORDER

TAG TEAM
1. WP
2. EP
3. KZN
4. BOLAND

SURFER OF THE CONTEST
ETHAN FLETCHER - WP

SPORTSMANSHIP TROPHY
GARY MCLAREN - BORDER

BOYS FLAGS
1. ANELE MAQAQA- BORDER
2. LEVI FRASER - SOUTHERN CAPE
3. ISMAEEL ABRAHAMS - EP

GIRLS FLAGS
1. NIKITA KEKANA – KZN
2. CAMDEN RAVENSCROFT – WP

PADDLE BATTLE
1. CHANDRE BODENSTEIN - BOLAND
2. HUGO DU PREEZ - BOLAND
3. SEBASTIAN BARRET - EP
4. LANDON KRUGER - SOUTHERN CAPE

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