National Surf League | The Game

Jupiter Games

Red Bull Riders Cup Hits South Florida

By JASON LIESER, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

 

April 17, 2008: JUPITER, FL - They start with a coin flip, just like football.

They call 60-second timeouts, much like basketball.

They borrowed innings from baseball, and even fashioned something resembling dugouts.

But surfers in this week’s Red Bull Riders Cup at Carlin Park have taken yet another throughly unconventional step - they’re competing as teams. 

The format, known simply as The Game, was invented by pro surfing titan Brad Gerlach, the commissioner of the National Surf League who organized this week’s tournament and also brought in numerous big names to teach young surfers.

"This gives the surfers more freedom to enjoy what originally attracted them to the sport: surfing with their friends," Gerlach said. "We learned to do this with our friends, so this really isn’t strange.

"What feels strange is when you’re in an individual competition and you’re fighting with your friends over who gets to catch a particular wave."

 

In The Game, two teams each send four surfers into the water for three innings. Each inning lasts 12 minutes and the total scores determine the winning team.

 

Teams bear the names of local schools, but do not necessarily have any affiliation with their namesake and may draw surfers from outside the school. The team known as Martin County High School has surfers who attend Jensen Beach and South Fork.

 

In the semifinals Wednesday, Martin County High School lost to Cardinal Gibbons, 42.5 to 39.0. Jupiter High School posted the day’s highest score, knocking out Calvary Christian, 50.8 to 34.8. Jupiter will face Cardinal Gibbons today for a berth in this summer’s championship.

 

How teams are selected might be as confusing as how they’re named. The four teams picked for the South Florida portion of the Riders Cup, which has eight stops before the championship in June, were picked somewhat haphazardly.

 

"Everyone knows who surfs by word of mouth," said one official, who asked not to be mentioned by name. "You hear through the grapevine who is actually taking it seriously."

 

Thanks, brah. That might be the only selection process more puzzling than the BCS, but regardless, Gerlach has received a flood of compliments.

 

"I think it’s great," said junior Zac Kleinfeld, a surfer for Martin County who attends South Fork. "They’re trying to make surfing bigger, and it’s cool because it’s not like any other contest in our sport."

 

Jupiter sophomore Ryan Weiland, who propelled his team by capturing the day’s two highest individual scores at 8.0 and 8.5, is an accomplished surfer, but loved the thrill of competing along with his friends.

 

"It’s so much better," Weiland said. "Instead of just winning by yourself all the time, you get to celebrate as a team."

 

Aside from the celebration of this week’s event, Gerlach and fellow pros hope to improve the sport’s future. Pros like Ryan Helm, Peter Mendia, Baron Knowlton and C.T. Taylor are heroes to the young surfers they are coaching this week.

 

Gerlach compared it to a basketball camp led by Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James.

 

The tournament at Carlin Park is in its infancy, and Gerlach acknowledges its flaws. Still, seeing how it affects young surfers fuels him.

 

"Surfing saved me from who-knows-what, and that’s why I want to bring it to as many kids as possible," Gerlach said. "There has always been a desire to help the sport grow at this level, but there’s never really been a platform.

 

These guys are stoked to build relationships with this kids, and the kids want to learn."