21st Annual East Coast Scholastic Surfing Championships Set to Begin in Florida March 26, 2007 The 21st Annual East Coast Scholastic Surfing Championships is under week away and final preparations are being done to make this event what it has become over the years. The top test of East Coast talent of scholastic age division athletes. With a line-up that includes virtually every top surfer from the East Coast in those divisions, another name was added to the entry list this week. Eric Taylor, ESA product and graduate of both the competition programs and Allstar team that he led until 2001, is now a full time student at St.Augustine's Flagler College and has entered the event that saw him crowned champion 5 times. ET is second only to Kelly Slater on the all-time list of East Coast (Easterns) champions too with 4 of those titles to his credit.

The event will be held at Bethune Park , New Smyrna Beach Florida and first heat hits the water at 7:30 a.m. on March 31st. It will come to a close on Monday, April 2nd with all finals running that day.

"I certainly am not abandoning my pro career but I know the importance of finishing my education as well and so with the support of my sponsors, I enrolled last fall in Flagler and I am super stoked to be returning to this event. The scholarship winnings over the years certainly added up and it will be good to return to New Smyrna for the contest", said Taylor .

ET, who capped his stellar ESA career with a 4th victory at this event in 2002, said at the time the Eastern Surfing Association is my home and helped me the most in my development years. This year in fact, he will be joining Competition Director Brian Broom's staff with the elite of the east coast, the All-star team as they travel to Australia and New Zealand once again this July. ET captained the team for 3 years of his 7 year tenure. "We have kept in almost monthly contact over the years since he graduated and with more of an emphasis then ever before in bringing the level of athlete -- and person -- up not only for the team but for the East Coast, I naturally turned to my best performer and there was no-one more a role model then ET. I am really looking forward to this event and the team trip this summer", said Broom.

The East Coast Scholastics Championships is presented by FEW-NZ this year and the event has awarded in excess of $50000. in scholarship funds to winning athletes over the years. The first team to win the event was led by ESA Icon Kelly Slater who was part of the Cocoa Beach High School team back then, at 14 years of age. The defending team is Ocean City High School of New Jersey and they will be returning to defend the title and the perpetual trophy. The team, led by current ESA All-stars Rob Kelly and Philip Goold will be hard pressed through every round with a full house of schools including Jupiter High, U. of North Carolina , Stephen Decatur High of Ocean City, MD, and Romey High School of Puerto Rico looking to take it away from them.

In the individual events, besides Taylor, the heats look like a whose who of East Coast athletes with participants from as far away as New York and Barbados as well as Puerto Rico and all over the Eastern Seaboard flying in for the contest. Balaram Stack of ESA-NY, Rob Kelly, defending Open Mens Champion and current Captain of the Allstars, Philip Goold, defending Juniors title holder and co-captain, and East coast Boys title holder, Nick Rupp of N. Carolina are only a few names in this event who covet the titles of Champion. Keenan Lineback, 3 year veteran of the Allstars will be looking for a victory here as well to add to her collection of titles.

The event is the first in a 5 event major post-season tour of the Competition programs of the ESA and is trial number 2 for the Allstar team selection for 2008. The other events are the three Regional Championships and Easterns, held in September at Cape Hatteras , NC , the official championship of the east coast of the United States .

More information on the FEW-NZ east coast Scholastics and the competition programs of the Eastern Surfing Association can be found by visiting the web site at http://www.surfesa.org/competition/

About the ESA

The Eastern Surfing Association (ESA), founded in 1967, a non-profit, IRS tax-exempt corporation, is the largest and most effective surfing organization in the world with more than 9,700 members. It is dedicated to the sport of surfing, to the operation of a program of competition for surfers of all ages and abilities, and to the establishment and preservation of public access to a clean shoreline and ocean environment. The association's activities are organized in a total of twenty- six districts, which extend along nearly 2,000 miles of coastline, stretching from Maine through the Gulf Coast of Florida and Alabama and also including the Great Lakes and Puerto Rico

The 2007 Championship Surfing Season is proudly sponsored by the ESA National Sponsors: TransWorld SURF, SoBe, FEW-New Zealand, Spy Optics, Seasoned Surfboards, Fortress FCS, Sharkinetics, Aquafluence, Surfco Hawaii , Chums, Liquid Vision and Morey/BZ

For more information on the ESA, please visit www.surfesa.org and the related links of www.surfesa.org/competition and www.surfesa.org/allstars

This is the tried and true method that Slater took to becoming the multi year worldwide champion. The Outdoor Life Network way is a lottery longshot at best. It takes years of surfing to become a top competitive surfer and the mentality not to lose by ones losses but to learn by them. To have a scholarship to college is some trophy too.

Let's get hypothetical. I have always wanted to climb K2 the worlds most dangerous mountain peak. Perhaps if I was cast in a reality television show then I too with just climbing on roof, in fire experiences could get to the top of killer K2? Hey I'd be surrounded by climbers who trained for years and who have experiences like Everest under their belt.


Back to reality competitive surfing that gives young surfers a shot at more than a trophy.


A fat scholarship isn't something to be looked down upon but it's earned and not handed out. A surfer has to earn that scholarship by his surfing.


Since there are no ESA Great Lakes District competitors in the East Coast Scholastic Surfing Championships and since I'm a New Yorker than I'm cheering for Balaram Stack. He's legit.

So too are all the many other competitive surfers who work for the dream or a college education.

Matt if you are reading this. Keep climbing that university ladder.

Press Release:

"March 5, 2007

From Corporate Drone to Professional Surfer, Follow a Toronto Native’s Incredible Journey on Breakbound, March 25 on OLN


Toronto-based business-owner Jeff Karram seems to have the perfect life. He owns a thriving company, a beautiful home and has a devoted girlfriend – but something is missing. Since childhood, Karram has dreamed of being a professional surfer, so with his best friend in tow he gives up his picture-perfect life and takes off on a two-year quest to make his life-long dream come true. Follow Karram to Ecuador on the trip of a lifetime, when the original two-hour special Breakbound premieres Sun., March 25 at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT on OLN.

**Media Note** Download photos for Breakbound at www.ctvmedia.ca/oln.

When they land in Ecuador, Karram meets Randy Hood, an American surf hostel owner, who takes Karram under his wing. But after only two weeks of training, he takes a nasty wipeout resulting in an ear injury that threatens to put an end to his dream. To make things worse, his long-distance relationship with girlfriend Fiona ends and Karram realizes that chasing this dream has come with a high price.

It doesn’t take long for Karram to realize that it is going to take intense training and dedication to become a pro surfer. Then one day, Karram meets Ecuadorian TV presenter and supermodel, Maria-Teresa Guerrero. Within months, the two are married. But it soon problems with his ear recur and he is forced to undergo surgery that keeps him out of the water for months. When he finally returns to the water, he begins training with a coach and finally earns a spot in a professional competition.

OLN is Canada's destination for adventurous entertainment. Going beyond the comforts of home, OLN's experience-based programming reveals the insatiable human drive for adventure. Riveting and rugged, OLN's fearless line-up pushes the limits with series like Survivorman, Mantracker, Beyond Boundaries, The Amazing Race and Extreme Survival; and covering internationally-renowned events including the Tour De France, Iditarod, Dakar Rally and Professional Bull Riding. Visit OLN on the web at www.tsn.ca/oln. CTV Inc. is the managing partner of OLN.

-END-

For More Information:
Alexis Hood - OLN, ahood@discovery.ca or 416.332.5076"


Magilla Schaus:

I probably have surfed with Jeff and hope that he gets to live his dream and grab the brass ring.

There are other surfers in this area who also have the dream. If this is your dream than I suggest that you go the tried and true way of advancing and becoming a pro.

My remarks above were to point out the fact at how unlikely most professional surfers are to start their competitive surfing careers via a television show.

I don't know Jeff well enough to speak about his competitive surfing experience but once upon a time I knew this young grom back in the time when Gutenburg invented the printing press. Way back then we didn't have successful business's and careers. We loved surfing and dreamed about being in surf competitions but didn't have much more than bus fare. I mean coach fare.

Professional surfing means surfing in competitive surf contests. The Eastern Surfing Association offers a program of amateur surfing competitions that has produced many world champs.

Never allow any Great Lakes surfer to diminish your dream that you cannot be a professional surfer. That is the first step to the climb up the ladder. Pay attention to your surfing.

First rung: the ESA Great Lakes District contests.

Second rung: the ESA Northeast Regional.

Third rung: the ESA (Fall) Eastern Championships.

Any ESA East Coast, Great Lakes, or Puerto Rico District surfer who makes it through this asscending competitive challenge and places in the top six at the end knows that he is in the company of some of the best amateur surfers in the world. There is a lot more than trophies at stake. It's about a dream and learning what it means to be an ESA champion.

Hat's off to Jeff I hope he goes all the way. As for the rest of the dreamers it's about perfect practice making perfect perfection and a little luck from time to time.

Great Lakes surfer did you try or did you just dream?