You know the saying, “Anything a boy can do, a girl can do better…and with way more style?” OK, that’s not it exactly, but you get the point. We know for sure that the Supergirl S-shield is the icon that makes that point. For the last 3 years, girls from all parts of the action sports world have converged upon the Supergirl Jam to compete in an all-girl, bring your best, showdown in surf, skate, snow and inline. From San Diego’s Mission Beach in 2007 to the U.S. Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach in 2008 and, this year, in locations across Southern California these athletes have taken flight to demonstrate what it means to be a Supergirl.
The Supergirl Jam is the action sports industry’s only large-scale, all-female competition and lifestyle event designed to promote female empowerment, strength and independence. That’s a nice-and long-way of saying that girls rock.
The first event in this year’s Supergirl Jam was the Supergirl Pro Junior surf contest which took place on August 15 and 16 in Oceanside, California. 16 of the sport’s most promising girls under 20 hit the surf for the Association of Surfing Professionals Grade-4 event. The girls were charging for the largest prize purse in ASP Pro Junior history-and the competition was fierce. All the girls ripped, but it came down to Courtney Conlogue, Sage Erickson, Malia Manuel, and Nikita Robb in the final.
The girls competed in smaller surf conditions than day one of the event weekend, but the finals got started with a bang. Courtney picked off the highest score of the final on her first wave…earning a 7.50 (out of 10). Malia shot back with her second and third waves, posting a 5.75 and 6.65 to take the lead. With Malia in the lead, Courtney was stalking the surf for an answer, but kept coming up short in scores until her fifth wave. That’s when she posted a 5.40 to take the lead back. With only minutes remaining, Courtney shadowed Malia in a defensive move to try and prevent her from getting a high scoring wave. It was exciting to watch the strategy of both girls play out. As the clock ticked down, Courtney hung on to win by a nail-biting half point.
So, there were all kinds of action in the water, but we had a blast on the sand too. Fans on and off site were part of the excitement–following on Twitter and entering to win a sweepstakes on the Supergirl page on TheWB.com – t-shirts, skate decks and Mountain High lift tickets were all up for grabs! The competitors did autograph signings and it was awesome to see girls from all walks of life lining up to see them and cheer them on!
The second stop in this year’s Supergirl Jam was at Woodward West in Tehachapi, CA where we hosted the Supergirl Pro-Am Jam skateboard contest on August 19. Woodward is the most amazing skate park facility and summer camp in the world…and they also have a gymnastics and cheerleading facility. Actually, they have a bunch of other activities too. You should check it out.
Anyway, the Supergirl Pro-Am Jam brought professional and amateur girls together in one contest to compete for a great prize purse ($3,000 for the winner) and, as a huge bonus, the top-placing amateur got an automatic entry into the Supergirl Jam event that takes place on September 6th in Venice Beach.
Woodward West opened its Hangar 18 Big Street course for the contest. It was really an incredible playground of banks, ramps, ledges and rails for the girls to attack. With skaters ranging from 5 to 25, everyone had a blast skating and cheering each other on.
Leticia Bufoni, of Sao Paulo, Brazil, took home the win (and the cash) by beating a line-up of 20 pros and amateurs. Leticia told us: “I am so happy to win. I’ve been practicing everyday for this contest.”
Woodward West staff member Amelia Brodka was celebrating her birthday (the big 20) and took second place-cheered on by the camp attendees. And Amy Caron of Huntington Beach, CA, rounded out the top three finishers.
Abby Zsarnay was the highest placing amateur – so she earned the coveted qualifying spot to compete in the Supergirl Jam Skateboard Street professional competition, scheduled to be held at Venice Beach. Abby was moved to tears when she heard the news that she would be competing in the September 6th event. It was really cool.
Abby said ”I didn’t expect it at all. I just went out there and did my best no matter what anyone else says. That’s what being a Supergirl is all about.” Now, we couldn’t have said that better ourselves.
That’s all for now. We hope to see you in Venice Beach on September 6 for the last stop in this year’s Supergirl Jam. We’ll be hosting the Skateboard Street, Snowboard Rail Jam and Inline Best Trick contests. And starting at 11:30 a.m. Pacific time, all the competitive action will be streamed LIVE here on TheWB.com, the official online destination for the 2009 Supergirl Jam events and competitions. Coverage of the Supergirl Pro-Am Jam and the Supergirl Pro Junior surfing contest which took place on August 15-16 will also be included in the webcast.
Programming featuring all three contests in the series – the Supergirl Pro Junior the Supergirl Pro-Am Jam and the Supergirl Jam – will be televised this fall on networks to include CBS Sports, FUEL TV and Fox Sports Net. So, if you can’t make it to Venice, check back here for updates on when the show will air.
We’ll be back soon with updates and reports from Venice Beach. Oh yeah, don’t forget–we tweet too…follow us on Twitter as @thewbdotcom.
Vote for Supergirl in the Best Multi-Sport or Multi-Discipline Event award!
