Surf Features

The English Sports Council, which is a distributor of Lottery funds to sport is set to provide a £94,000 boost that will see the funding of a new Regional Surf Development Coach within the South West. The move is in conjunction with the Newquay-based British Surfing Association.

It is estimated that there are 500,000 surfers in the UK and over 95 per cent of this number reside in the South West.

Whilst there are a number of successful, strong surf clubs currently in existence, in recent years this important part of the UK sporting structure has eroded and the new three year position will see a person who is dedicated to the redevelopment of this area and a continual building of the style and quality of surf coaching that is available for people of all ages throughout the region.

The South West Regional Sports Board is supporting the BSA with a Regional Development Coach, as it has also done for women’s rugby, netball and swimming, via Community Investment Funding.

The post will see the successful applicant working in consultation with the BSA National Director, to write and deliver an agreed strategic development programme to create and maintain an active surf club culture and network in the South West and to subsequently increase grass roots participation numbers in surfing. 

The application procedure for the post opens today and it is expected that the new officer will be in position by the end of the year. 

It is likely that the successful applicant will be educated to degree level or hold similar experience with a background in personal surfing and preferably knowledge of the competitive surfing scene.  Interested people should contact the BSA on info@britsurf.co.uk for a full job description and further details.  The closing date for applications is Friday 19 October.

Karen Walton, National Director of the BSA says, “The news that we had been given this invaluable grant is a major boost for the organisation and for British surfing.  It has been over ten years since the BSA received any significant form of government backing so this new funding is a great opportunity for us to begin to build and strengthen the current structure and take the standards of surf coaching to a new level. "