Costa Rica Takes Day of Practice Today at World Games; Press Conference Tomorrow
July 30th, 2009 | by admin |
In less than 48 hours when the first-ever World Games of any sport is realized in our country, the Federacion de Surf de Costa Rica (FSC) gets ready tomorrow to announce the final 8 surfers who will compete in the Billabong International Surfing Association (ISA) World Surfing Games Costa Rica 2009. The World Surfing Games will take place in Playa Hermosa de Jacó beginning Friday and running through August 7.During the press conference, which will be located at Hotel Enchanted Bay–a Day Star project–in Jacó at 4:00 p.m., José Ureña, President of the FSC and Technical Director of the Costa Rica Team, will announce the 4 surfers in the Open Category, 2 in the Women and 2 in Longboard.
This morning was the last official training for Costa Rica in front of Terrazas del Pacifico Podium 1, where with the endorsement of Ureña, the group worked on tactical points and a defensive game, manifested by the first good maneuver by route.
“The days and days of training that we have had with our boys and girls have served us well to know how to locate ourselves on the inside and to understand very well where is really the best place to wait for the waves. We trust that the errors would be something very atypical from us out there,” affirmed Alex Valverde, a member of Costa Rica’s tricolor Technical Team and an ISA International Judge.
It was also decided that this day of proven training would be another test, due to the incursion of tens of surfers of all nationalities who invaded Terrazas del Pacifico to study the waves’ behaviors. Playa Hermosa’s atmosphere is now international, with almost 200 surfers from all parts of the world communicating in a myriad of languages, but with a single intention, the title in the World Surfing Games. Costa Rica is among the best already coming into these Games at #5 in the world.
There is a stone located to the right of Terrazas del Pacifico, called Piedra Terrazas, that is a fundamental point of reflection for the Costa Rican competitors. They sit, thinking of strategies and maneuvers that would set them apart enough allow them to be chosen to compete for their country. In addition, a great knowledge of the benefits to reap for the World Surfing Games are pronounced there: the absolute knowledge of the place and the behavior of the waves to come during the days of the championship.
The wave of the Terrazas del Pacifico is characterized by the constant change with the tides. Thus, in the morning hours today, in the water itself, there were Costa Rica’s Diego Naranjo, Gilbert Brown, Carlos Muñoz, Jair Pérez, Luis Vindas, Jason Torres and Juan Carlos Naranjo, the four best ones of these ultimately set to fight the most important contest for his country.
From the women, between Mariana Samudio, Natalie Bernold and Lisbeth Vindas, there will only be two who will complete the feminine category for the World Surfing Games.
Diego Naranjo in Longboard?
A Costa Rica Open national champion in 2006-2007, this 2007-2008 Longboard national champion has been spending his time competing with his peers Anthony Flores and Cristian Santamaría. If Naranjo is chosen as one of the 4 in the Open, than Flores and Santamaria would automatically become the Longboard competitors without any worries. However, he was a leader in the Longboard category in the Pan American Games and in the World Surfing Games in Portugal.
Naranjo says Longboard is not his main forte, but “in Costa Rica he’s stronger than many.”
Tomorrow, Costa Rica will train at Podium 2. The FSC predicts that surfers from at least 25 countries have arrived as of now, with more expected tomorrow, so the break will be crowded.
Australia, the current world champion, will arrive tomorrow for these Billabong ISA World Surfing Games Costa Rica 2009.
