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South African Fly Fishing Association - Competitive Angling
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SA Junior Flyfishermen reaching for gold
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South Africa’s junior Flyfishing team was invited to compete in the 7th Youth World Flyfishing Championships in Penacova, Portugal. The juniors have been preparing for this event for almost three years now but only this year did the funding and support of sponsors made this dream possible. It is therefore very important to thank Wildfly, wildfly travel.com, Sybase, Explorer and Senqu for their believe in the team and allowing them to go and test their skills against the best junior flyfishers in the world.
The team, consisting of Chase Nicholson, Christiaan Pretorius and Daniel Factor who received Protea colours after the trials in January 2008 and Joshua Smith and Steven Terblanche who received President’s colours after the trials, were ready to take on this challenge. The crucial position of Coach and non fishing captain was given to MC Coetzer. He took part as a Protea angler on the same waters during the 2006 Senior World Championships and therefore formed a very important link in the plan to give the youngsters their best chance of success. The team was completed with the appointment of Willem Pretorius as the manager of the team.
Preparation started in all earnest at the beginning of February 2008. MC Coetzer ensured that the technical ability of the team was kept on a high by continuous information to and from Portugal. Willem ensured, through the support of the sponsors, that the team were equipped with the correct tackle for the three rivers, Mondego, Ceira and Alva that would form the waters for the competition.
A technical weekend was held in April on the small streams of the Western Cape. Each member of the team was taken through their paces by MC Coetzer and Tim Rolston, another Protea angler just returning from the senior Worlds in New Zealand. The foundation was laid during this weekend and the team started to realise that they were destined for something big.
The team were send off by a delegation of the South African Flyfishing Association (SAFFA) on Friday the 1st of August 2008 and they departed from the OR Tambo airport with the well wishes of the majority of competitive flyfishers in South Africa. This would have been their first step towards reaching for gold in the Youth World Championships.
Eight countries, which included France, Slovakia, Czech Republic, USA, Ireland, Spain and the host nation Portugal together with the South African team, finally made their way to Penacova. Two days of non competitive training quickly put the three days of competitive fishing in perspective. Very hot conditions in Portugal together with relative low water levels made fishing for wild browns very difficult. That together with the rivers each demanding a very high level of flyfishing skills made the first outing for the South Africans a very demanding one.
The first session ended with South Africa achieving a third position and that eased the tension to some extent. We were quickly removed from our cloud and after the second session we were finding ourselves struggling in the sixth position. A very serious team talk and confirmation of specific tactics for the different rivers made the team step up to fifth position after the third session. It now became clear that the competition level between the eight countries was on a very high level with only a few points between us and the USA team lying in fourth position and the Czech Republic, one of the best teams in the world, lying a few points behind us in sixth place. It was also clear now that the French prepared them well and that their twenty days earlier arrival in Penacova put them in a class of their own. As a team we tried hard to catch up with the USA team but the final results saw us finishing in fifth position ahead of the Czech Republic, Ireland and the host nation Portugal. The medals were received by France as winners, Slovakia as runners up and Spain getting the bronze medals. The USA team just managed to stay ahead of us finishing fourth.
On the individual level our South African team performed exceptional with Chase Nicholson achieving seventh and Christiaan Pretorius finishing tenth giving us two top ten finishers. Steven Terblanche excelled in twentieth position with Joshua Smith coming 29th and Daniel Factor finishing 34th out of the 40 top junior anglers in the world.
As a team we would like to thank all the people that made this possible and in particular Gareth George of Wildfly, Alan Cowley of Sybase, John Geils of Explorer and Robin Lavery of Senqu. Without their believe in the team we would not have been able to live this dream. To all the parents that supported this exercise financially as well as taking the pressure with us a big thanks as well.
We believe with the experience gained and the selection of the correct team we will be able to better on our fifth place in the World at the 2009 Youth World Championships to be held in the Czech Republic from the 21st to the 26th of July 2009. We will be ready! |
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