South African junior international Lily Heny of Port Alfred might not have ended up on the podium at the 2024 World Surf League (WSL) World Junior Championships that finished earlier this week at Urbiztondo Beach in the Philippines, but says the experience was well worth the effort.
Forty-eight of the world’s best u21 junior surfers from 14 countries converged on the coastal province of La Union, Philippines, to compete for the top prize in junior girls and boys international surfing.
Seventeen-year-old Heny ended top of the WSL Africa Junior rankings despite losing out to SA surfing champion Anastasia Venter at the Nelson Mandela Bay Pro Junior (JQS) 1,000 finals at Gqeberha’s Pollok Beach in September and secured her ticket to the Philippines.
“I arrived in the Philippines on the 8th (Jan) and practiced until the 13th when the event started,” said Heny who surfs for Kowie Boardriders.
“My practice sessions were good and I was feeling strong. I surfed my first heat against a Brazilian girl as well as a girl from Japan who are both top surfers,” said Heny speaking from her base in the Philippines.
“Unfortunately I came in third and had to surf in the elimination round heat against a girl from Spain. In that heat, the waves died down and didn’t offer much opportunity and I ended up losing and getting knocked out, finishing tied 17th.”
Her SA rival, Venter, was the other South African competitor who like Heny, was knocked out in the elimination round.
Heny who sticks to a tough keep-fit regimen to deal with the rigours of being out at sea for long periods, said surfing among the top junior surfers around the world helped her a lot with regards mental preparation.
“Even though it didn’t go as planned, I have learnt a lot about myself and my surfing. I feel as if each big event I surf whether I do good or bad it helps me grow as a surfer and become better, not just as far as skill levels are concerned, but also the mental side of it as well.”
“The water is super warm here, so I’ve been surfing without a wetsuit most of the time. The weather has been amazing and the people here are really friendly and welcoming. I’m here with my sister as a chaperone and we’ve met some important people who have shown us around and been very generous to us.
For Heny travelling abroad to competitions is a gilt-edged opportunity to make friends with her counterparts and learn from other competitors on the world surfing circuit.
“I’ve become good friends with the other competitors and some of my idols like Sierra Kerr (Queensland, Australia) who I’ve looked up to for a while now. She also won the event last year so it is awesome being able to learn from her and hang out with her,” said Heny.
“Now that the competition is over (it ended on January 19) my sister and I plan to head to Siargao which offers exceptional waves and conditions for surfing. I plan to stay longer because it’s quite cheap to live here and I am able to surf really good waves every day which will help my surfing and career.
Heny was in esteemed company in the Philippines indeed with top surfers from various continents on display – all 24 men and 24 women among the elite of world junior surfing – and for her, flying the Africa flag was a huge achievement in itself.
“There were a top few surfers from each continent and the girls I competed against all have lots of experience surfing these kind of events and they are all extremely good and very well known within the world surf league and competition surf community.
“So the pressure was high but I also knew deep down how high the standards were before I arrived … so I looked at the situation in a way of just doing my best and taking the approach of ‘whatever happens, happens’.
“I really enjoy surfing and being around such exceptional surfers because it really does push me and teach me a lot. The winners of the contest (Luana Silva of Brazil and Bronson Meydi of Indonesia) won a spot on the challenger series which creates opportunity to get onto the world tour which is ultimately the goal of any surfer doing these events.”
Heny said she is super focused on her goals for 2025 – and her academics is top priority.
“I want to focus on school more this year as it is my last year. So I plan to cut down the amount of competitions I do by only taking part in the WSL junior qualifying series and qualifying series events instead of the whole SSA (Surfing South Africa) series.”
Heny said there is more motivation to compete at these events as there is prize-money on offer and are more highly-regarded compared to the SSA events. “I also want to spend more time training and working at my surfing before I compete in more competitions.”
East London’s Daniel Emslie (9th) and Luke Thomson (5th) were the other South African junior men who participated and “surfed very well in the event”, reckoned Heny.
Talk of the Town managed to track down Emslie in between flights.
“The Philippines was incredible, a really cool venue,” he said. “Good waves, good people and good food. Coming 9th wasn’t my goal. Coming into the contest I was feeling good. The stars really felt like they were aligned, but my heats didn’t go my way,” added Emslie.
Thomson and Emslie who are good friends ended up in the same heat – twice.
“In round one I lost by 0.01 and in the next heat I got 14 points and then in round three to lose by 0.04 to Luke was heartbreaking. It was hectic having me surfing against Luke, but that’s the way the draw worked out. But we looked at it as two South Africans putting the country on the map on the world stage.”
Emslie said however to have come out 5th and 9th respectively among the top 24 u21 juniors in the world, was quite an achievement.
Thomson went through to the quarterfinals and ended up losing to Australian, Lenix Smith.
