A talented young East London surfer’s rapid rise to the top of junior surfing in South Africa has earned widespread praise from legends of the sport.
Big things are expected from 13-year-old Queensberry Bay surfer Mitch du Preez after he won a three-series competition in Durban against the best juniors in the country and was selected for specialised high performance training.
The sun-kissed youngster told the Saturday Dispatch from the family’s second home in Tofinho, Mozambique, that he was excited with his achievements after just over a year of competitive surfing.
Over the past 12 months, surf mad Mitch has won more times than he has lost and has been on a roll ever since he won the U12 division of the Billabong Grom Games in Port Elizabeth last year.
Since then he has been crowned South African surfing series champion based on his consistent wins at junior events around the country.
Although he is immensely talented on a surfboard, the youngster has a back-up plan to his dreams of seeing how far he can go in the sport in the years to come and dreams of becoming a financial accountant.
“The best thing about competing is it pushes your surfing to the next level and you meet other people from all over the country and many friendships are made.”
Since his whirlwind rise to the top, Mitch has been snapped up by several top notch sponsors including Billabong, Island Style and Rebel Surfboards.
Although his parents, Grant and Lauren du Preez, do not surf it has not stopped Mitch, brother Bryce, 14, and younger sister Aimee, 11, from all becoming great competitive surfers.
The three youngsters got hooked on the sport during long holidays in the warm waters of Tofino where they have a house.
Former East London professional surfer Greg Emslie, who coaches Mitch and several other up-and-coming local youngsters, yesterday said Mitch was doing well because he was focused and worked hard.
“Mitch is easy to coach; he listens to everything and then goes out into the water and does it all.
“He is surfing very well.
“The state of junior surfing in South Africa is very good at the moment.”
According to Emslie junior surfing was on the rise in East London thanks to legends of the sport getting involved and ploughing something back.
“Anyone who is putting something back into the sport is doing a good thing.
“The more the legends put in the better the children surf.”
Emslie, who started coaching five years ago after he retired from more than a decade of surfing on the world professional tour, said the greatest reward was watching youngsters blossom under correct guidance.
The three Du Preez children, who are home schooled by their mother Lauren, spend a lot of time in the water surfing and travel for months on end across the country in a fancy 4x4 camper van.
They also train with other top coaches during their travels.
“We live on the East Coast Resorts and Queensberry Bay is our local surf break,” father Grant explains.
“Between contests we probably spend six months at home.
“We also spend part of our year in Mozambique, possibly three months in Tofino at different times of the year and three months competing.”
The SA Surfing Legends programme was introduced this year by icons of the sport to try and produce more youngsters who will compete on the world tour one day.
For winning the series, Mitch will get specialised high performance training worth more than R12000 along with 11 other youngsters from two boy’s divisions and a girl’s division.
Rise of wavecruiser
Big things are expected from 13-year-old Queensberry Bay surfer Mitch du Preez after he won a three-series competition in Durban against the best juniors in the country and was selected for specialised high performance training.
The sun-kissed youngster told the Saturday Dispatch from the family’s second home in Tofinho, Mozambique, that he was excited with his achievements after just over a year of competitive surfing.
Over the past 12 months, surf mad Mitch has won more times than he has lost and has been on a roll ever since he won the U12 division of the Billabong Grom Games in Port Elizabeth last year.
Since then he has been crowned South African surfing series champion based on his consistent wins at junior events around the country.
Although he is immensely talented on a surfboard, the youngster has a back-up plan to his dreams of seeing how far he can go in the sport in the years to come and dreams of becoming a financial accountant.
“The best thing about competing is it pushes your surfing to the next level and you meet other people from all over the country and many friendships are made.”
Since his whirlwind rise to the top, Mitch has been snapped up by several top notch sponsors including Billabong, Island Style and Rebel Surfboards.
Although his parents, Grant and Lauren du Preez, do not surf it has not stopped Mitch, brother Bryce, 14, and younger sister Aimee, 11, from all becoming great competitive surfers.
The three youngsters got hooked on the sport during long holidays in the warm waters of Tofino where they have a house.
Former East London professional surfer Greg Emslie, who coaches Mitch and several other up-and-coming local youngsters, yesterday said Mitch was doing well because he was focused and worked hard.
“Mitch is easy to coach; he listens to everything and then goes out into the water and does it all.
“He is surfing very well.
“The state of junior surfing in South Africa is very good at the moment.”
According to Emslie junior surfing was on the rise in East London thanks to legends of the sport getting involved and ploughing something back.
“Anyone who is putting something back into the sport is doing a good thing.
“The more the legends put in the better the children surf.”
Emslie, who started coaching five years ago after he retired from more than a decade of surfing on the world professional tour, said the greatest reward was watching youngsters blossom under correct guidance.
The three Du Preez children, who are home schooled by their mother Lauren, spend a lot of time in the water surfing and travel for months on end across the country in a fancy 4x4 camper van.
They also train with other top coaches during their travels.
“We live on the East Coast Resorts and Queensberry Bay is our local surf break,” father Grant explains.
“Between contests we probably spend six months at home.
“We also spend part of our year in Mozambique, possibly three months in Tofino at different times of the year and three months competing.”
The SA Surfing Legends programme was introduced this year by icons of the sport to try and produce more youngsters who will compete on the world tour one day.
For winning the series, Mitch will get specialised high performance training worth more than R12000 along with 11 other youngsters from two boy’s divisions and a girl’s division.
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