Message From the President
Dear friends around the world,
The sport of surfing continues to grow in popularity around the world. Movies, TV shows, magazine and newspaper articles, all feature this great sport prominently, day after day.
In the last decade the sport of surfing has gone through a substantial growth, as seen by many indicators: Amount of participants in every country, amount of countries where the sport is practiced, amount of people interested in the sport, amount of people attracted to surfing lifestyle and culture, type of wave and equipment that we use...
New movies are full of surfing actions, from the James Bond movie, to Blue Crush, from Sheryl Crow videos, to cartoons in TV.
The recognition of the ISA by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1995 opened a decade of great events for the ISA and its affiliated National Federations. This was followed by recognition of many of them by their respective National Olympic Committees. In many cases this came along with National Olympic Committee and/or Government funding.
Many ISA members evolved from Associations to Federations, in the process becoming the true leading force behind the growth of surfing in their countries.
At the same time, the sport of surfing was included, for the first time in history, in multi sport events held under the Olympic Movement: The South Pacific Games (Tahiti), the Bolivarian Games (Ecuador). Last year surfing finally made it to the other very relevant sport event in the World, the X Games, held in California, and seen by millions of people around the world.
Surfers from all countries, religions, races, and cultures, do have a great time together enjoying the waves and beaches of our world.
The world's National Surfing Teams participation in the ISA events, have a very distinctive flavor, with surfers competing for the honor of representing their countries, in the true original Olympic Spirit.
The experience of one or two weeks participating in an ISA surfing events exceeds that of any other surfing contest in the world, as has been voiced many times by the top professional surfers of the world.
By traveling and reaching out to fellow surfers from our countries, we continue to prove that it is not only possible, but also very desirable to continue surfing and working for a better world.
Long live surfing!!!
Un fuerte abrazo,
Fernando Aguerre
President
International Surfing Association
Radical Surf Magazine interviews ISA President after the WSG 2004
