2026 South African Junior Surfing Team to compete in the 2026 International Surfing Association World Junior Championships in El Salvador later this year is announced
The Surfing South Africa (SSA) Board of Directors is proud to announce the names of surfers and management who have been selected to represent the country at the 2026 ISA World Junior Surfing Championships in Surf City, El Salvador from September 4th to 13th.
Following months of intense competition, the team and non-travelling reserves who make up the extended squad, not only reflects surfing excellence but also showcases the future of the sport in South Africa.
The 2026 junior team is made up of three U16 Girls, three U16 Boys, three U18 Girls and three U18 Boys and the squad includes a further three U16 Girls and three U18 Boys and three U18 Girls and three U18 Boys, all of whom are non-travelling reserves.
These twenty four surfers will participate in two High Performance Training Camps in Ballito in July and East London in August.
The U18 Boys team members are Rory Dace (Cape St Francis), Matt Canning (Durban) and new cap Josh Malherbe (Coffee Bay) while Emily Jenkinson (Constantia) Taylor Emslie and new cap Camilla Heuer (both East London), make up the U18 Girls group.
Ben Esterhuyse (Camps Bay), new cap Carl Wiersma (Port Alfred) and Melokuhle Zotshana (Durban) are the U16 Boys in the team while the U16 Girls team members are Leah Lepront (Scottburgh) and two new caps, Emma Schermbrucker (Kommetjie) and Maya Malherbe (East London).
The team management will consist of Head Coach Liam Wood (Hout Bay), Assistant Coach Penny Stemmet (Melkbosstrand) and Manager, Sisonke Ndum-Ndum (Durban).
The non- travelling U18 Boys and Girls reserves are Cooper Smith (Hout Bay), Rylan Jarvis (Cape St Francis), Gordon Falangile (Durban), Nina Bone (Somerset West), Maxine Kauffmann (Durban) and Mahle Ntsebeza (East London).
The non-travelling U16 Boys and Girls reserves are Sebastian Copson (Kommetjie), Travis Turrell (Port Shepstone), Inam Falteni (Mossel Bay), Jasmine Venter (Jeffreys Bay), Lila Aszalos (Salt Rock) and Zipho Mseleku (Durban)
Surfing South Africa President outlined the plans for the squad, saying “This year marks an important step forward in SSA’s high performance pathway as we reintroduce dedicated training camps to better prepare our athletes for the 2026 ISA World Junior Championships. These camps will provide them with the opportunity to develop their technical skills, competitive strategies, physical conditioning and team culture in a focussed environment. We are confident that this renewed investment in preparation will translate into stronger performances on the world stage. Importantly, we have included a number of surfers from our transformation programme in these camps, ensuring that they will have access to the same high-quality coaching, training environment and development opportunities as their peers. Creating equitable pathways for talented young surfers remains a key priority for Surfing South Africa and these camps will play an important role in identifying and nurturing the next generation of national and international representatives”.
The South African Junior Surfing Team will compete against the world’s best U18 and U16 surfers at the ISA World Junior Surfing Championships, which is the largest junior surfing event in the world. The Championship brings together over 400 surfers from more than 40 nations. In 2003 South Africa hosted the inaugural ISA World Junior Championships in Durban and has a proud history of competitive success and international recognition at the tournament.
About Surfing South Africa
Surfing South Africa (SSA) is an Olympic sport and the official National Federation for surfing in South Africa. The Federation is a member of the South African Confederation of Sport and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) and is recognised as the governing body by the National Department of Sport, Arts and Culture. (DSAC)
Surfing South Africa is responsible for the development of the sport, the hosting of National tournaments, the sanctioning of all International and National events and the selection of National teams in all the disciplines that make up the sport.
SSA is a member of the African Surfing Confederation (ASC), Union of the Indian Oceans Surfing Federations (UIOSF) and the International Surfing Association (ISA), the World governing body.
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