What a week! A big thanks to everyone who has participated.
We are absolutely blown away by the level of surfing, creativity and stoke you grommets showed us so far.
Prizes awarded thus far:
Dane Henry was the winner of our “Blast Off Spirit Award” for supporting his fellow grommets and submitting 4 epic videos of his own. This tube was Dane’s first Backdoor Barrel at Pipeline back in January this year. Dane’s efforts awarded him a SPY prize pack thanks to @spyoptic @spyopticaustralia
Here’s a kid who brought the stoke in our opening days! Zach Epenetos from South Africa submitted a video of him receiving his first new surfboard, the pure joy of this moment is priceless! Thank you for entering guys and sharing the stoke. We’re sending Zach a Sharkbanz thanks to @sharkbanz and a UFO Wax Pack @ufowaxproducts Congratulations mate!
Congratulations to all the weekly winners and everyone who submitted a video in week one, you guys totally stoke us out!!
Macklin Flynn is the winner of our “Frothers Award” he submitted 5 incredible videos giving him the most diverse entry portfolio yet. Some crazy airs, deep tubes and a heavy wipeout. We’re sending Macklin a Boost Mobile prize pack from @boostaus @boostmobile that includes a refurbished iPhone7 and 12 months free coverage from Australia’s biggest mobile network. Refurbished is better for the environment so winning all round.
Kahlil Piners-Schooley from Maui, Hawaii submitted an absolutely ripping edit and a stand out video from our first few days. Winning him a Hurley pack thanks to @hurley Congratulations Kahlil. We see a big future for you mate!
Two siblings and mini rippers, Arlo and Wren Dog Mitchell each submitted a video of them surfing. One was actually Ren Dog’s very first wave! Both grommets showed amazing style and control for just young surfers. We’re sending the Mitchells a Sunbum prize pack thanks to @sunbum
Coaching kids not judging them
Just like our physical events, this online challenge is focused on “coaching kids, not judging them” BL and the Blast Off team are sharing their coaching advice in the chatroom on every video entry. Be sure to check out your video to hear the expert’s advice as well as other entries as we honestly believe you can learn something from everyone’s feedback. Take these lessons on board and we want to see you apply them and progress your surfing during this event window. We know that in this early period, a lot of the videos we get have been shot at earlier times in the year but now is the time to take this coaching advice and put it into practice for your new videos. Get practising kids!
Coach AKO's Tip Of The Week
“Hi groms,
You are all such an inspiration & it’s been such a fun week reviewing your vids.
The wipeouts have made me laugh.
The newbies to surfing giving it their best shot have stoked me.
Those that are pushing their boundaries have inspired me.
There is one thing I’d like to bring to everybody’s awareness & that’s the pop-up… yep it’s the old fashion pop-up that I want to highlight.
At all levels, the pop-up is the most important factor in getting surfing right, yet in reaching for the stars it often gets little attention.
So wherever you are on the surfing spectrum, spend some time closely studying the pop-up techniques of the champs like Steph Gilmore & John John & the new hot crew coming through like the judges of this video challenge. Many of you will benefit from addressing the deficiencies in your pop-up techniques.
So get to it groms & take your surfing experience to the next level.”
What we learnt this week
Our biggest learning from week 1 was how important it is to respect music copyrights. The biggest issue we faced was receiving videos with music we didn’t have the rights to use. Like most of you, we honestly never even thought about it until it was brought to our attention but you can get in serious trouble for violating copyright laws. So we thank you all for your cooperation in only submitting clips with music you have the rights to. We suggest googling “copyright free music” and you should find plenty of options for music to use.
Your feedback
The most common feedback we received this week was how much you guys appreciate our community in a time like this. The world has become so separate and we know it can feel lonely at times. Hence, we are stoked to help you grommets make new friends, connect with like-minded frothers and share the love!
