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Thursday, September 15, 2011

Surfing is not a "sport" by Junior Faria

I still believe this and I will continue putting the word sport in quotation marks. Now I have experienced some success in the world circuit, I feel that this statement has more ground and hope it can also be taken into account by friends who see the surf as "sport" and believe that a system of competition within the surf is able to point out the best surfer.
I would like above all to leave here recorded all my respect and admiration to fellow competitors surfing professional people who work honestly with saltwater in his veins. In particular my fellow Brazilians, true warriors.

When I think rationally about this subject is very clear to me that the professional competition in our "sport" is inefficient. I point the contents of that text to the fragility of today's competitive and ideology in vain trying to pinpoint a single individual as the winner in an activity so subjective.

Surfing is an activity that has no competitive features as its cornerstone, unlike legitimate sports such as athletics, swimming and football. Within the rules and equal conditions for all competitors, such activities are able to spot a champion. And even when they are practiced recreationally, make sense only when competition is present (Of course, sports also brings health benefits and are often practiced exclusively with the intention of improving the quality of life. On this view such arrangements are meaningless without competition).

But what I mean is that it's no fun playing football without a goal. Play tennis for the simple pleasure of hitting the ball loses the point in less than ten minutes and no one will care if you run at 100 km / h there is no other person willing to cross the finish line before you.

Ever heard of someone who left his girlfriend, or crossed the planet, or spent hours in traffic, or stuck in the bush to kick ball into goal with no one until dark? Now change the part "a goal kick the ball" with "surfing." It made sense?

Surfing is like music, is good for the soul even when no one understands what you mean.

Who's better Jimi Hendrix or Yo-Yo Ma? What more pleasing to the ear, Beethoven or Metallica? Nobody cares if the best guitarist in the world has never been elected. There is nobody on the planet that can be called "best drummer in the world" and we'll never agree that classical music is better than rock'n'roll. And just as in music, any surfer can be called best in the world. Because it simply does not exist.


In the surf there is:

An individual who managed to accumulate the most points in a given period of time, in the opinion of judges, which translates into numbers from zero to ten, his personal views on a performance presented by using a subjective criterion as a basis for benchmarking.

We can argue for hours about judging criteria, competition formats, scoring systems, cuts, rankings, etc. But nothing makes sense because everything depends on a phenomenon uncontrollable, unpredictable and unique: the waves. And even in the most perfect point-break waves there are two perfectly equal. Who will say the breaks that appear in the ASP calendar. And do not give me that bullshit, I'm 24 years old and competed for the first time at  the age ten, I can say from experience that even a battery with one hour, two surfers have the same presentation conditions. Not in the Mentawai.

Well, surfing is not "sport" or "presentation". But it can be any one of the two when it suits the boss at the circus. Who just falls in doping is chosen, a world champion can sniff cocaine provided you have the right and get sponsorship speech on receiving the trophy. And who surfs well, and even wins seat on a more restricted if it is famous enough.

And the truth we only hear once in a while rather hoarse, almost voiceless. Smothered by the media hostage to merchants selling a dream transvestite makeup and for those who can provide a small fortune in exchange for a piece of clothing with a compelling slogan. In our "sport" there is no journalism, news, champion athlete and not justice. There is only what is needed to show that you believe that the dream is, and can be parceled up to 3 months interest free card.
in, Siebert Surfboards                                                                                             by, Junior Faria

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