ESA and TGSA Announce 2010 East Coast Scholastic Surfing Championships

December 28, 2009 by J!-ENT 

It’s back, it’s on and it’s bigger than ever. Eastern Surfing Association ®, the 10,000 member governing body of amateur surfing for the East Coast of the United States founded in 1967, and Texas Gulf Surfing Association , the official member-based governing body of Texas surfing founded in 1988, today announced a joint partnership in holding the 2010 East Coast Scholastic Surfing Championships . Being held in New Smyrna Beach, Fla., from March 26-28, 2010, the event will feature surfers from the entire East Coast and Texas competing for scholarship money for their college educations, and will feature a $5,000 prize purse for the Open Shortboard division and Open Longboard division. All interested surf teams may print the personal entry form at (http://www.surfesa.org/docs/2010scholastics_personalentryform.pdf) and tag team entry form at (http://www.surfesa.org/docs/2010scholastics_teamentryform.pdf).

“In addition to giving away an unprecedented amount of money for college scholarships to winning teams and individuals, we’ve upped the ante by providing pro-am events totaling $5,000 in prize money for the East Coast’s and Texas’ best surfers,” stated Debbie Hodges, executive director of the Eastern Surfing Association (ESA). “Holding an event of this caliber, and offering the amount of prize money we are, wouldn’t be possible without the participation of TGSA and I’m proud we could come together for the best interests of the surfers in our shared geographical regions.”

Open to members and non-members of both organizations from Texas to the Great Lakes, the contest hopes to build upon the foundation of past Scholastic events with champions including the Hobgoods, four-time world champ Lisa Anderson and nine-time world champ Kelly Slater.

“Member organizations, such as ESA and TGSA, understand the importance of giving back to their community and contributing to the future of the people who shape, and will shape, our organizations for years to come. It is the best possible thing we can do,” stated Julie Doyle, president of the Texas Gulf Surfing Association (TGSA). “This is going to be the biggest, best and most widely talked about event Texas has ever produced and participated in, and holding it at a location renown for high-performance surfing and 300-plus days of contestable surf a year will guarantee a great event for everyone. Plus, nothing raises the bar of competition like scholarships and prize money. When ESA called up, TGSA jumped at the chance to be part of this new, exciting format.”

Featuring four-man computerized-scoring heats, a concert on March 26th with a free banquet bash for contestants, and an awards presentation followed by an after-party, this contest will set the benchmark for all other scholastic contests nationwide. Entrants are encouraged to sign up as soon as possible and continuously check the ESA Web site and the TGSA Web site for preferred hotel accommodations.

ABOUT EASTERN SURFING ASSOCIATION
Eastern Surfing Association (ESA), the largest amateur surfing association in the world and established in 1967, is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization, dedicated to promoting and preserving the spirit of surfing through their regional programs and through the support of 26 districts on the East Coast, Gulf Coast, Great Lakes and Puerto Rico. For more information about the ESA, please visit www.surfesa.org