EMMALYN Ponte, 21, said she feels down when people tell her that women are weaker surfers.
This sentiment inspired Ponte and her fellow surfer Lolit "Mocha" Edusma to work hard as they displayed their skills during the fourth day of Surf in the City 2021 in Borongan City, Eastern Samar.
“We give our best in the sport. There are a lot of great women surfers and a lot of women surfers who have bright futures. Surfing is all about a person’s skills, not their masculinity,” said Ponte, a native of Lanuza, Surigao del Sur.
"We need to be given equal opportunities. We need to have a level playing field,” the young surfer added as she advocated for women surfers to be given the same opportunities given to men surfers.
According to Edusma, they still face a lot of challenges, particularly on their training needs.
“Before, we didn’t have anyone training women surfers. It’s only recently that they started giving us training opportunities,” said the 41-year-old surfer from Daet, Camarines Sur.
Edusma noted that more work has to be done to encourage young girls to go into surfing.
“A lot of people have already been inspired to try surfing. I hope local governments can support sports like surfing, especially for women and youth,” the veteran surfer added.
While these two women surfers were competing with each other in both longboard and shortboard categories, they still showed their admiration and support for one another.
“My inspiration are my fellow women surfers, even if I am competing against them. Even if they are my competitors, they are my friends. I don’t know everyone but I know they are amazing,” Edusma said.
Both Ponte and Edusma aspire to be part of the Philippine Surfing Team, aiming to inspire more young women to join the sport.
Rupert Ambil, president of Surfriders Club of Eastern Samar (SCES), maintained that one of the challenges women encounter in the surfing industry is the lack of training support in the grassroots surfing communities.
This sentiment also pushed him to work for the realization of this year’s Surf in the City to give the spotlight to women surfers in the country.
Surf in the City served as the first leg of the 2022 Philippine Surfing Championship Tour.
According to Ambil, Borongan has already committed to hosting the event in December 2022 to close the surfing tour.
He also thanked the support of SCES, City Government of Borongan, Philippine Surfing Championship Tour, Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta Partylist, Savepoint Plus Philippines, and Globe Telecom for organizing the national surfing competition amid the pandemic.
Surf in the City is the only surfing competition in the Philippines where competitors get to surf inside the city, along the shores of the iconic Baybay Boulevard of Borongan.
“What we need to do is encourage more women to join the sport because this is a very good sport for us,” Edusma said. (Sunstar Philippines)