There’s an uncommon tension in the air around the Gran Canaria Frontón King’s 2023 edition.
You see, one of these beautiful October nights, during a music concert at Galdar, there was an altercation in the crowd involving two athletes – Moisés Silva and Ricardo Silva, 21-year-old twin brothers from Chile.
The International Bodyboarding Corporation (IBC), the body entity that manages the bodyboarding world tour from 2020, did not agree with this conduct and expelled both riders from the competitive draw. Boom! Lesson learned kids.
However, there is something that needs to be said: these kids were having fun at a party/concert organized and promoted by the Frontón King organization.
Well but this is not all. The IBC image at the moment is pretty bad and is full of criticism, going from unpaid prize money to athletes, poor communication and even blocking Instagram accounts from bodyboard fans all over the world. In August, for example, Brazilian Isabela Sousa, 5x women’s world champion, quit competing on the world tour for the remaining 2023 season (read more here).
The latest controversy involves the one and only Mike Stewart. The bodyboarding G.O.A.T. came directly to Europe from a trip to East Java and didn’t arrive in time to the athletes check in at the Frontón King site. Therefore, even though he registered online on time, IBC did not consider his ranking points or seeding and sent him directly to the first Round of the comp.
Mike did not agree with this measure and chose to withdraw from the competition. “Basically I wasn’t physically at the check in, there’s nothing in the rule book that says I have to be, and Tanner [McDaniel] registered me, paid my entry and that was accepted”, start by explaining, adding that “I also sent a letter saying I wouldn’t be there. They received and acknowledged that.”
After all this was done, Mike Stewart was in transit somewhere in the world, when he was notified by the IBC with the message they were going to “strip my seeding from the event.”
“I also discovered other athletes that this happened too, maybe because they didn’t check in correctly, I don’t know, maybe the circumstances were different, but they were also stripped from the ranking”, reveals.
The 9x world champion justifies his position by saying “The issue I have is that there is nothing in the rule book, there is nothing official, this is a decision made practically by a dictator regime of the tour.”
“I took a stand, I will not accept this and pull out of the event because they put me in the last place. Starting in Round 1, well I worked hard and spent a lot of money this year, a lot of resources, a lot of time to get the seeding I got, to get the ranking I got, so I can make progress here”, Mike adds.
On a final note, the Hawaiian legend highlights the fact “I was training a lot for this event, traveled a lot and it was hard just to get here. Very expensive. For this to happen is just unacceptable for me. If I don’t take a stand they will keep doing it and they need to be accountable for this.”
We love bodyboarding and being involved and just hope the sea breeze brings better times.We are not for or against anyone. But trying to establish a new guard of the sport by alienating the old is not the right or proper way to do it. Just saying.
Also, the experience we have in the field easily remind us one important thing: this succession of events are not healthy for bodyboarding and the only ones who lose out are those who are passionate about the sport. xxx
