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INTERVIEW: FERNANDO AGUERRE
Up next on the ISA President's agenda... Turning surfing into an Olympic sport
By:
Evan Fontaine
Photos: A.J. Neste
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October 12, 2009
3872 visits
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To outsiders looking in, Fernando Aguerre is nothing if not a character.
But don't let the loud clothes and the lavish parties fool you. Dude is an industry OG - one of its true pioneers - a fact affirmed by his seat on the Surf Industry Manufacturers Association's (SIMA) Senior Advisory Board.
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Now in his 15th year as President of the International Surfing Association (ISA), Aguerre is pushing a new initiative -- making surfing an Olympic sport. Talk to Aguerre for more than five minutes, and you quickly learn that the perception of impossibility really doesn't factor into the man's decision-making process. Keying on the rising premium placed on youth culture and the increasing mainstream popularity of action sports, Aguerre hopes surfing will follow the lead of recent Olympic additions like snowboarding and BMX. Surfline caught up with Aguerre on the heels of the sixth annual Liquid Nation Ball, the fundraiser he chairs and hosts at his La Jolla home, which generated a record amount this year - over $270,000 in net proceeds - benefiting 12 surf-based charities selected by the SIMA Humanitarian Fund. In a wide-ranging interview, Fernando talks about the recently concluded Billabong ISA World Surfing Games, the tall task of attracting ASP World Tour surfers to ISA competition, and how he plans to convince the IOC to admit surfing as an Olympic sport by 2020. I think every time the ISA goes to a new country that has never hosted a major event, there are a lot of things that need to be taught and things to be learned. But that's what we do in the ISA. We're not just a promoter of events, we're an organizer of events, and mainly a rights holder, so we choose countries where the support for surfing is not fully developed to take our event, because that way we help develop the sport in that region. It has such a tremendous impact on the society and the beach culture of the country. Thirty-five nations from all over the world, rich countries, poor countries, people of all ethnicities, from the north, from the south, from near and far countries -- they all have the same passion. They might not even speak the same languages, most of them don't, but the spirit and the passion for the sport are the same, very intense. For me the ISA is not just a surfing competition. It's also a social gathering. It's a cultural exchange. It's meeting new people, the ultimate surfing network. I call it the United Nations of Surfing. It is a life-changing experience for the visitors, certainly for the locals, to see that happening. Every time we go to a new place that's the way it is, Costa Rica was no different. "The Duke showed us the way. I'm just following his path, and enjoying every second of it."
-- Fernando Aguerre
Some people might say it was just the athletes, some people will say the coach did it, but you know, it's not just the coach or the athletes. I think it was a mature team with a good mix of talent, and I think that those guys were going to win probably regardless of any coach, but by having such a powerful and respected coach, someone the guys really like, it made a big difference... I mean I talked to most of them, and they really were enjoying the coaching. I think America being close, being medalists since Surfing America became the NGB, since 2004, it's not like it wasn't in the cards. But the top five, six, even seven nations are packed with really good competitors. When you couple that with the impact of the win in America, that it was the first gold medal for the Surfing America team, it's very big. Up until now, one piece that has been missing in terms of American success at the ISA events is that most American surfers don't get the national team concept. Hopefully this is a change in the culture of the team, and of all other USA competitors. It's like the first time you organize a party -- you show up at the party, the party's great, and everybody who came to the party talks about the party. Next time everybody wants to go to the party. In most cases, the top surfers don't want to go because there's no money. Right? They need to make money, which is reasonable and very acceptable. They have three, four years of their lives in which they're going to make top cash if they're the top guy, and then it's over. So there's a conflict. It's a conflict of interest for the surfer, and if his sponsor doesn't ask him to participate, the athlete will logically conclude that there is no value in being a member of the USA team. I mean the surfer is no different from any employee. The value proposition for the sponsored surfer - why they should go - comes from the brands saying they care; that they want to see their athletes with an ISA gold medal. Now, who communicates the brand's goals to the athletes? It's not Bob McKnight or Paul Naude or any of those guys. It's their team manager. So if the team manager doesn't get the national team concept, maybe because he never surfed for the national team him or herself, then the athlete doesn't go. And the attitude is, who gives a f--k? The team manager is supposed to have as many guys from the brand's team competing at the highest level, which is the WCT. But there is a video interview on Surfline and a written piece by Ian Cairns, in which he clearly states the value proposition for both brands and athletes. He states that there are two major competitive platforms in surfing. There is the 'CT and there is the ISA. There are team events and individual events. If you want to be a complete surfer, you've got to be the best at both. Sophia won the ISA World Surfing Games in 2004, then went on to win the ASP World Title too that year. And she has gone on the record as saying that she thinks that [the ISA win] really gave her the self-confidence that she could beat anybody and become the World Champion. And she credits the ISA spirit, the team, and being carried off the beach and the flags and all that team camaraderie gave her a level of confidence that she didn't have when she was alone on Tour. For France, winning gold medals in two of the three divisions and finishing second overall, it was like winning. They brought home more champions than anyone. Right now Jeremy [Flores] and, the longboarder, Antoine [Delpero], they both got letters from the President of France two days after they arrived back home. Right now they're on billboards in France, like [Michael] Phelps in America. So it is a big deal. So, I sent a letter to Mike Gerard and the directors of SIMA and to the board of Surfing America. I attached the Sarkozy letter. When South Africa won the ISA Championships in 2002, a week later they were in they were received at a Cabinet meeting, with standing-up applause, for the whole South African team. When the Brazilian team in 2000, they got the same treatment. Two French surfers won the ISA gold medal, they went home to France, and they got a letter from the president. What are [the Americans gold medalist] getting? A few days later I found out that Surfing America had the same idea, and had sent a letter to the White House. Maybe you only get a letter [pointing to a framed letter from Bill Clinton]. You'll be surprised the things you can achieve, when you try. Second half of next year, and it's between a few countries. It's either going to be Peru, Panama, or Ecuador. It's going to be in Latin America. And the reason why it will be in Latin America is because there are 500 million people south of the United States, the largest percentage of youth population in the world, so it's a huge amount of young people. Out of 42 countries in the Americas, 40 are on oceans. Most of them have waves, and most of them are in moderate to warm climates. Surfing paradise. Imagine the tens of thousands of miles that are full of waves and surf spots. It's amazing. So we would like to help develop those surfing communities in those countries. We have elections every four years. We renew half of the executive committee every two years. We've got four vice presidents and a president. So next year's election is for the president and two vice president positions. And I intend to run. So that takes me to what, 2014 if I get elected next year. It's not because I want to hang onto this. I don't make money. I've never had any salary paid by the ISA. I mean, I've paid staff all over - photographers, judges, etc... but I travel on my own dime. I've always done that for the last 15 years. And I was doing that when I wasn't maybe as materially comfortable as I am today, and I was doing that when I was really busy running a company that was growing very fast. So for me, if I was doing it when I didn't have so much financial stability and when I barely had any spare time, why not do it now? People tell me, "Are you nuts? You're running the ISA as its CEO. Nobody's paying you. I'm happy doing this labor of love. It's great to be able to give back, and use what I learnt all these years in the surfing industry. Four years. They were two-year terms, but in 2006 we changed to coincide with the Olympic cycle of four years. As many as you get elected. No, I think I need to renew my mandate. I think people need to cast a vote and confirm that they're happy with what I'm doing, and if not, they can send me home at next election. That's the way democracy works, and I like it. Every president of every federation has a vote. The ISA is leading this movement. The process for inclusion in the Olympic Games is very complicated and hard. It's very convoluted and very, very, very money driven. Not money in the sense of bribing, but money in the sense that sports are scored on their ability to improve TV ratings, what the sport can bring to the IOC, basically financial bottom line. I'm seriously questioning the process because some of the votes needed to be cast for inclusion of a new sport, are to be cast by heads of sports currently in the Games, a clear conflict of interest. It's a process that has a risk of not being conducted with the best interest of the IOC but what is best for the federations currently included in the Games program. Okay, for me, the question isn't why is surfing good for the Olympics, it's why are the Olympics good for surfing? Some people talk about inclusion of surfing will provide credibility, I don't think it's about credibility, but I think it has to do with the athletes. If you are a competitive surfer part of why you're in surfing is because you like to compete, you like to win. Nobody likes to compete to lose. If you like to win, win the best event. And in the right waves, Olympic surfing will be something really cool, like it became for snowboarding (think Shawn White here). In that sense, I think it's great for surfing. I mean we'll continue to get involved with all these Olympic movement events. We're running the Bolivarian games; we're running the Beach Games. In October, I'll be in Copenhagen to continue lobbying and meeting people who like surfing, and want to see surfing in the Olympics. (Read Fernando's account of those meetings.) We'll continue monitoring manmade wave technology, hopefully there'll be a bunch of them competing and trying to be better than each other. I am very proud of Billabong, Quiksilver Foundation and Reef Redemption for supporting the ISA Individual Scholarship Program, to provide funding to good surfers that are also good students, to further both their surfing and school career path. I would like to continue the expansion of founding surfing organizations in countries where they don't exist. Right now we're working on three or four African countries, and three or four Asian countries. Korea just created the first surfing federation and they just had a great a contest sponsored by the Mayor of Pusan, which is the second biggest city in Korea, and they had 200 surfers from around the world. Imagine if the Chinese embrace surfing, or India, or the Arab world. Most importantly, I believe that surfing is a great bridge building between the nations of the world. As surfers, our love for the ocean, for waiting for that new swell, is all part of a larger culture -- the beach culture. We are ambassadors of that beach culture, but we are also protectors of the oceans and shores. I am a surfer, but I don't just surf. I work for a better surfing world, as part of a better world for us and for our children. It's a great way to live. The Duke showed us the way. I'm just following his path, and enjoying every second of it. MORE SURF NEWS SURFLINE HOME PAGE |