Parent's Guide to Surfing South Africa Junior Surfing U8-U18 2025

• Membership: where SSA membership is a condition of entry to a sanctioned event, participants must hold valid SSA membership (SSA Event Sanctioning Policy). For national team events, team lists must show each surfer's membership number (SSA Rulebook 2025).
• Indemnity forms: at national team events, indemnity forms must be completed for every team member, signed, and kept on file at the event by the team manager. Each district must make sure this is done. A generic form is available from Surfing South Africa.
• Rules and conduct: members taking part in sanctioned events are bound by SSA's rules, codes of conduct and disciplinary requirements.
• Anti-doping: every surfer at an event in South Africa, juniors included, is subject to the SAIDS anti-doping code and can be tested without warning.

Under the SSA Rulebook 2025 (Section 1):

• National junior events are team events between districts. Team lists go to the SSA General Manager by the set date, in seeded order by division, with each surfer's membership number. Name changes are allowed until 5 pm the day before the event.
• Seeding is by team, based on the team's results in that division at the previous championship (new teams are seeded at the bottom). The first seed is the top surfer of the top-rated team, the second seed is that team's second surfer, and so on.
• Team points: each surfer earns points by their finishing place. The base (maximum 1,000 for first) is multiplied by the number of surfers in the division and shared across the places, so bigger divisions carry more points. These rules apply to the SA Junior Championships, SA Grommet Games and other team events.
• The winning team at the SA Junior Team Championships receives the Freedom Cup.
• A no-show in Round 1 is placed fourth in the heat. A reserve may replace a surfer only for a medically documented illness, with a medical certificate, no later than one hour before the division's first heat; the original surfer can't come back in.
• Paying entry fees late can bring a 10% penalty or the team's disqualification.

How district teams are selected isn't set out in the national rulebook.

Under the SSA Rulebook 2025:

• Heats are 15 to 25 minutes (usually 20), with up to four surfers (five in Round 1 and repechage). At least half the surfers advance from Round 1 and from Round 3 onwards.
• Each judge scores every wave from 0 to 10 in tenths on the ISA judging criteria (commitment and difficulty, innovative and progressive manoeuvres, combination and variety of manoeuvres, and speed, power and flow). A surfer's best two waves count.
• Surfers wear a coloured contest vest, and must wear the right colour.
• A horn (one blast to start, two to end) and a disc (green to start, red for the last five minutes) mark the heat. The commentator counts down the last five seconds.
• All SSA events use a priority system: the surfer with priority has right of way, and interfering with them costs the interfering surfer points (the second-best wave counts as zero).
• The draw, schedule and heat times are published on Liveheats.

Surfers can signal from the water to ask for time left (tapping the wrist), their priority (arms up) or their situation (arms out sideways).

From the SSA Rulebook 2025 and the SSA Event Sanctioning Policy:

Event safety (sanctioned events): organisers must take reasonable measures to protect participants. Arrangements should include, where relevant, water safety personnel, first aid and medical response, emergency and evacuation procedures, and procedures for severe weather and dangerous surf. The Contest Director (or other authorised person) must have authority to suspend or stop competition when conditions are unsafe.

Shark sighting: five horn blasts and a PA call for everyone to leave the water immediately. The area is closed for at least 20 minutes; heat time, scores and priority are recorded and resumed. After a shark attack, competition stops for the day and until further notice (on the final day, the event is cancelled). Only safety officials, the Contest Director, Head Judge and Events Manager decide on restarting; parents, coaches and athletes aren't part of that decision.

Dangerous surf or weather: the Contest Director, Head Judge, Events Manager and Head Water Safety decide whether to suspend, reschedule or cancel, taking into account the skill level of the competitors. Interrupted heats resume with the time left.

Minimum surf: waves must be at least 0.5 m (18 inches) for a contest to run.

Life-threatening situations: water patrol or officials may move a surfer to a safe area (no closer to the line-up), from where they can carry on with the heat.

Under the SSA Rulebook 2025 (Sections 2.4 and 8):

• At national team events, fines are the responsibility of the surfer's district, and must be paid to Surfing SA immediately. If not, the surfer loses the points they would have earned for the team and is eliminated from the contest (the district must still pay).
• At non-team events, fines are paid by the surfer or, if 18 or under, by their parent or guardian, immediately (to Surfing SA at national events, or to the district at district events).
• A surfer who doesn't pay and has qualified for the next round is withdrawn from that round, and can't surf any contest until the fine is paid.
• Fines range from R200 to R6,000 (up to R10,000 for assault) and double each time another is imposed on the same person. The Contest Director may give a yellow card warning first.

Common junior fines: no-show R1,500, surfing in the contest area during heats R1,500 and/or disqualification, removing the contest vest before returning it R200, and wearing it incorrectly R250.

Under the SSA Rulebook 2025 (Section 2.9):

• A heat result can be protested for errors such as heat timing, interference or tabulating errors.
• At team events (such as the SA Junior Championships), the protest is lodged by the Team Manager or Team Coach; in non-team events, by the surfer.
• It must be in writing on the official SSA Protest Form, handed to the Contest Director within 15 minutes of the heat result being published or announced. The decision is given in writing to the surfer or team manager.
• Scores can't be protested: judging decisions are irrevocable.
• With paper scoring, judges' and tabulator's sheets may be viewed after the heat result is published, with the team manager or coach present at national events.
• Penalties imposed by the Contest Director can be appealed to the SSA Board (national events) or the district Executive Committee (district events).

Under the SSA Rulebook 2025:

• Judging area: no. Unauthorised people, including coaches, managers, sponsors, competitors, friends and family, are not allowed in the judging area. The Head Judge is in sole control of it.
• Approaching judges: don't approach judges about a call or result; a penalty may be imposed.
• In the water: surfers may get help from water caddies or jet skis only in extreme conditions, when the Contest Director (with the Head Judge) allows it, entering from a marked marshalling area. If a caddie rides a wave the surfer can be fined (R200 per wave), and if a caddie interferes with another surfer, the interference is called on the surfer they're caddying for.
• Using outside craft (such as a jet ski or patrol board) and then re-entering the competition zone counts as interference, unless officials moved the surfer out of a life-threatening situation.
• Water photographers must check in with the Contest Director and sign a waiver; only two at a time, no hard boards.

Under the SSA Event Sanctioning Policy (effective 1 August 2026):

• SSA commits to a sporting environment that is safe and free from abuse, harassment, exploitation, bullying and discrimination.
• SSA's Safeguarding Policy applies to everyone under SSA's jurisdiction (members, athletes, coaches, officials and volunteers).
• Every organiser of an SSA-sanctioned event must have safeguarding arrangements for its event and personnel.
• Any safeguarding concern involving someone under SSA's jurisdiction must be reported to SSA as soon as reasonably practicable. Organisers must also report serious incidents, including alleged violence, assault or abuse.
• Nothing stops anyone reporting suspected criminal conduct directly to the SAPS or another competent authority.