![](\"http:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/uploads\/71354e91-b818-d937.jpg\")
\nPictured: Owen Wright (AUS), 19, 2010 ASP World Tour rookie, is an odds-on favorite at the upcoming Billabong ASP World Junior Championships.
\nCredit: \u00a9 ASP\/ CI\/ ROBERTSON via GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n
Billabong ASP World Junior Championships
\nVon Zipper Trials
\nNorth Narrabeen, Sydney, New South Wales Australia
\nJanuary 9 \u2013 17, 2010<\/p>\n
World\u2019s Best Juniors Descend on Sydney for Billabong ASP World Junior Championships<\/p>\n
\nPictured: Owen Wright (AUS), 19, 2010 ASP World Tour rookie, is an odds-on favorite at the upcoming Billabong ASP World Junior Championships.
\nCredit: \u00a9 ASP\/ CI\/ ROBERTSON via GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n
COOLANGATTA, Queensland\/Australia (Tuesday, January 5, 2010) \u2013 The world\u2019s best junior surfers are descending upon the Sydney suburb of North Narrabeen to hunt down the most prestigious crown in junior surfing, the ASP World Junior Title, as the Billabong ASP World Junior Championships prepare to run at the famed beachbreak from January 9 \u2013 17, 2010.<\/p>\n
Contesting in their respective regional ASP Pro Junior Series throughout the 2009 season, qualifiers for the prestigious Billabong ASP World Junior Championships include 48 men and 18 women from the seven ASP regions: Africa, Australasia, Europe, Japan, North America and South America.While the event has been held at North Narrabeen\u2019s famed peaks for over a decade now, the ASP Australasia region hasn\u2019t seen a men\u2019s champion since Joel Parkinson (AUS), 28, in 2001. Owen Wright (Lennox Head, NSW), 19, ASP Australasia\u2019s No. 1 seed and qualifier onto the 2010 ASP Dream Tour, will look to cap off an incredible junior career with a big result at North Narrabeen.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year (in the Billabong ASP World Junior Championships), a lot of things went the wrong way for me,\u201d Wright said. \u201cIt will be tough since the field has a lot of the same faces from last year, but I\u2019m looking forward to it. Narrabeen is an awesome location; the Alley rights are so puntable and the lefts are long and sometimes barreling so I hope we get it pumping this year!\u201d<\/p>\n
ASP South America has been dominant at the Billabong ASP World Junior Championships, with Brazilians taking our four of the 10 men\u2019s titles in the event\u2019s history. Jadson Andre (Natal City, BRA), 19, 2010 ASP Dream Tour rookie and last year\u2019s ASP World Junior Runner-Up, will lead the latest ASP South America squad into this season\u2019s event.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I put in a good performance last year, but during the final I didn\u2019t catch the best waves, Kai (Barger) was surfing very well during the event and deserved the victory,\u201d Andre said. \u201cThis year, I know and believe all the guys competing at Narrabeen are strong and have a chance to win. All the heats are like a final, so because of this I will give 100% attention in all the heats. I have been working on my psychological, physical aspect and my surfboards. I\u2019m going to surf well and find the best results.\u201d<\/p>\n
ASP North America has not ventured as well in Narrabeen. Despite producing formidable teams, the North Americans have yet to claim an ASP World Junior Title \u2013 a fact that Nat Young (Santa Cruz, CA), 18, hopes to rectify in his second appearance at the prestigious event.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe standard of competition in this contest is crazy, every first round heat could be a Final in a normal junior contest,\u201d Young said. \u201cPersonally, I would definitely like to do better this year. Last year was my first year in the contest and I made a couple heats so I was stoked, but this contest is so important to all the juniors because it is the biggest junior contest of the year. I think the other US guys are all great surfers and they have all had contests this year where they have shown that they are worthy of being in the World Juniors. I think this year could be a good year for the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kai Barger (HAW), 20, reigning ASP World Junior Champion, has graduated beyond the ASP Pro Junior Series, but remains enthusiastic about his fellow Hawaiians in Narrabeen.<\/p>\n
\u201cLooking at the Hawaii team, I think it would be sick to see Clay Marzo win, Barger said. \u201cIf he surfs anything like he has been surfing at home then he\u2019s easily capable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barger more than understands the importance of the event, and the effect a victory there can have on someone\u2019s career.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there\u2019s one contest to do well in, then trust me this is the one to win,\u201d Barger said. \u201cThis contest changed my life and sometimes I still can\u2019t believe I won there. There were a lot of nuts guys last year the surfing standard was so high. It seemed like everybody was pulling out their best.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mick Fanning (AUS), 28, recently crowned two-time ASP World Champion, knows a thing or two about winning and offered his own thoughts on the Billabong ASP World Juniors.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never got one\u2026it\u2019s a tough title to win,\u201d Fanning said. \u201cBack in the day it was really a battle between the Americans, Hawaiians and Aussies, but these days, there are contenders from each of the ASP regions and I think the list of recent past winners is a reflection of that.\u201d <\/p>\n
Despite the heavily-loaded field in this year\u2019s Billabong ASP World Junior Championships, Fanning\u2019s pick for the title stays close to home.<\/p>\n
\u201cOwen (Wright) is World Champ material if you ask me,\u201d Fanning said. \u201cI’ve watched him evolve over the years and he’ll be the man to beat at the World Juniors for sure, provided he’s recovered from some heavy injuries suffered during the Portugal World Tour event.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Billabong ASP World Junior Championships mirrors the competition format of the ASP World Tour and is considered the sport\u2019s \u201ccrystal ball\u201d for aspiring champions. In addition, a Final\u2019s placing in the tournament affords the successful surfers an unrivalled seeding on the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) that serves as a springboard to the ASP World Tour.<\/p>\n
The Billabong ASP World Junior Championships will be webcast LIVE via www.billabongpro.com <\/p>\n
For more information, log onto www.aspworldtour.com<\/p>\n
PAST ASP WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONS:
\n2008: Kai Barger (HAW), Pauline Ado (FRA)<\/p>\n
2007: Pablo Paulino (BRA), Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS)<\/p>\n
2006: Jordy Smith (ZAF), Nicola Atherton (AUS)<\/p>\n
2005: Kekoa Bacalso (HAW), Jessi Miley-Dyer (AUS)<\/p>\n
2004: Pablo Paulino (BRA)<\/p>\n
2003: Adriano de Souza (BRA)<\/p>\n
2002: N\/A
\n2001: Joel Parkinson (AUS)<\/p>\n
2000: Pedro Henrique (BRA)<\/p>\n
1999: Joel Parkinson (AUS)<\/p>\n
1998: Andy Irons (HAW)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Billabong ASP World Junior Championships Von Zipper Trials North Narrabeen, Sydney, New South Wales Australia January 9 \u2013 17, 2010 World\u2019s Best Juniors Descend on Sydney for Billabong ASP World Junior Championships Pictured: Owen Wright (AUS), 19, 2010 ASP World Tour rookie, is an odds-on favorite at the upcoming Billabong ASP World Junior Championships. Credit: … Continue reading “World\u2019s Best Juniors Descend on Sydney for Billabong ASP World Junior Championships”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[24],"class_list":["post-13818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asp-surfing-news","tag-surfing-news-archive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13818\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}