ISA President Fernando Aguerre
TransWorld Business sat down with the International Surfing Association‘s (ISA) recently re-elected president, Fernando Aguerre, for an update on the sport of surfing on the international level.
Aguerre has been hard at work since his first term as president began in 1994. Most recently, as he eases into his eighth term, he has made several key hires at the organization and launched Friends of Olympic Surfing, a group of “influential surfers and businessmen who support the goal of surfing in the Olympics, and who will help guide and finance the ISA in its efforts to achieve that goal,” says ISA Director General Bob Mignogna, one of the aforementioned additions to the ISA staff brought on to accelerate the organization’s growth goals.
In this exclusive interview, Aguerre addresses why he believes surfing should be in the Olympics, how it would benefit the surf industry, and what the ISA is doing to make these Olympic ambitions a reality.
Why have you remained in office for so long? What is it about the position you enjoy?
I enjoy the multitude of cultures and languages. I feel like I am uniquely positioned for the job because I am from a very poor country [Argentina] where surfing was banned by the government, and then I moved to America where I worked in the surfing industry for many years. I understand the business side of the sport as well.
I feel like I’m a bridge-a bridge between the Latin world and the Anglo world here in the US…It’s a unique opportunity for me to serve as a bridge for the sport and connect the rich world and the poor world.
How has the organization evolved during your presidency?
The biggest change has been that when I arrived at the ISA, it was very small. It was very much like a brotherhood that ran an event every other year. It was very loosely organized-no hosting agreements, no insurance, et cetera.
I wanted to bring more structure and grow it-just like a business. At that time I was very busy running my own company [Reef] and I was the CEO, so I had to do a lot of things, but once Reef sold first in 2002, I started to get a little bit more free time, and then in 2005 when we finally sold the remainder of Reef, I really had much more time.
Currently our big events are the Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championships, which has been run since 1980 when it was won by Tom Curren. Then there is the Billabong ISA World Surfing Games, which is basically the Open division, which used to be the only ISA events for many years. The other event [we hold] is the Masters, the Masters division is there for those who want to compete from their cradle to their grave.
How is ISA funded?
We have a very low membership fee, which is $1,000 for the top 16 nations and $500 for the others. We also collect entry fees at our events, and we charge sanction fees for the events that we run. Aside from that, we run education programs that also create a fair amount of funding.
Ghana,Hungary, and Kiribati have recently become the 64th, 65th, and 66th member nations respectively.
It’s easy to become myopic about surfing when you live in the So-Cal surf industry hub. How does surfing look from an international perspective today?
We tend to look at surfing the way we look at it in America, but in reality we need to look at surfing the way people look at it around the world. That’s why we do what we do, and the best way we can do this is to be in sync with the Olympics.
Why is surfing a good fit for the Olympics?
If you look back at the beginning of last century to the 1910s and ’20s, there were two types of people that practiced sports-the very rich, and the very poor. The very rich were the only ones in the Olympics because they were amateurs and they did it for no money. As soon as they accepted money, they weren’t allowed to compete. But that all changed in 1980, and now the best athletes in the world compete in the Olympics-period.
In most countries today, practicing sports is seen as an absolute human right. In America, we don’t have a sports minister; funding for sports comes through the United States Olympic Committee due to a law that was passed in Congress a few years ago. But in most countries there is a sports minister, and they look at sports as a way to integrate different social and economic groups. They look at sports as a way to help you have a healthier life, teach the value of competition and the value of effort. It’s pretty amazing.
For the time being, the ocean is free. There are very few things left that are absolutely free. Anything you do, there’s a fee somewhere or you are taxed by someone. In that sense, surfing is a common denominator.
Is that something that the International Olympic Committee considers?
I think it’s something the Olympics like about the sport-there’s no need to build much. When it comes to giant soccer fields or tennis courts, you have to build those. So supporting surfing is a lot cheaper than supporting a sport like soccer.
How realistic is it for surfing to be in the Olympics? What needs to happen for this to become a reality?
It’s very realistic provided we execute in several areas. The sport is being closely looked at by senior Olympic officials, and they have chosen the ISA as the official governing body of the sport worldwide. We’re the only vehicle from the Olympic’s perspective structurally that can bring the sport to the Olympics.
The regulations for inclusion in the Olympic Games are not simple, but we are on the right path. What’s important is that when the time comes for surfing to be in the Olympics it’s going to be run by the ISA and it’s going to be an inclusive, embracive thing. We’re doing this for surfing, and nobody owns surfing-we are all stakeholders. That’s the beauty of our Olympic Surfing project.
What are the areas that need to be executed on?
The first is that there are some formal tests, which surfing passes all of; for example, you must prove the popularity of the sport, diversity of participants, the universality of those exposed to the sport, et cetera. The second part is that it has to be a sport that is visible and has appeal, whether that’s on TV or the web. I think we already have that as well. The third element is judging. As you know, in subjective judging sports, quality, credibility, consistency, and fairness of the judging process is paramount to the potential of the sport-not just in the Olympics, but to be credible.
What are some of the changes you’ve made to the judging process?
We moved from a five-judge panel to an eight-judge panel, and instead of having an overly powerful head judge, we’ve given more authority to the judges on the scores, while making those results very public for the world to see. If a judge were to sabotage or reward a competitor unfairly, then everybody will be aware. The head judge is more a mentor than an authority at ISA events. I mean, the vast majority of subjective sports don’t have head judges, but rather good judges.
We’ve also introduced instant replay for the judges, so when there’s more than one wave at a time they can still be accurate. It used to be that when more than one competitor was surfing at the same time judges were told to watch them all, but you can’t watch them all. You need to be focused on one object to see it. Instant replay ensures fairness. It might take a little longer for the results to come out, but it’s fair. The objective of running any type of competition in sports is fairness.
What about Mother Nature? Doesn’t the unpredictable nature of conditions make surfing a tough sport to pitch to the IOC?
Obviously you have to have waves in proximity to the Games, but if you look at Beijing, they hosted soccer 1,500 miles away from the city and sailing was held 1,000 miles away. So some rules are becoming more flexible because they have to-by nature of the development of the sports.
The waves will have to be man-made waves if there are no waves nearby, as they have built white-water rapids for the kayaking. This is the same thing, just moving water through obstacles so you can create waves.
How far in the future do you think it will be before made-made waves are a reality?
There are plenty decent-quality and -size wave machines out there. I’m not talking about Flowrider-type static waves. There are wave-machine companies out there that have it pretty much dialed. At least four companies are developing Olympic-worthy, man-made waves. A good wave machine would cost from $5 million up to $25 million. These are reasonable amounts when you think about the builders being governments, water parks, big hotels, or housing developments.
What’s the time line for surfing making it into the Games?
According to the current rules, the first Olympics that surfing could be a part of are 2020. So 100 years after The Duke asked for surfing to be in the Olympics they have a chance. That will be decided in 2013. But there is also an option to get surfing into the 2016 Rio Olympics. Rio is one of the largest and most dynamic cities by the ocean in the world. Most of its inhabitants either surf, play beach volleyball, or play soccer-beach soccer included-or all of them. Olympic Surfing in Rio could be held without the need to build a wave machine.
What do the Olympics stand to gain by including surfing?
Many specialists have stated that unless the Olympics bring in new, contemporary sports that are connected to the umbilical cord of the youth in the world, they’ll become increasingly irrelevant for a large part of the young consumers. The Olympics need surfing, skateboard, and BMX freestyle, for sure. These are the core of the action sports, also called urban sports. They will dynamize the young audience of the world.
Recently you launched Friends Of Olympic Surfing. What is that program all about?
It is a vehicle for funding this effort and bringing the common wills of people that have a shared interest together with the shared goal that surfing will become an Olympic sport. We are very happy with its evolution.
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TAGS: Bob Mignogna, fernando aguerre, international surfing association, isa, Olympics, surfing
