Sally Fitzgibbons Blog - Hanging with Djokovic and Ablett!
Posted by Sally Fitzgibbons - Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:58
Over the summer break I teamed up with Red Bull on a project to find a new design for my contest boards for the 2012 season. The idea stemmed from trying to think up cool sprays all the time and drawing a blank a lot of the time. So it was time to tap into all that creative talent out there in Australia and see what would come out of it. With Red Bull throwing up a heap of cool prizes; cash, a trip to the Gold Coast to watch the Roxy Pro and boards with their design on them, it really sparked some interest.
I was amazed by the response we got from it with around 500 designs entered plus a lot of international interest. Unfortunately it was an Aussie only contest this time around. I really appreciated the little things that people had researched or knew about me and put into their artwork.
The contest closed on the 22nd of Jan and it was time to choose a winner. All the entries were set up around the room, covering the walls from floor to ceiling at Red Bull headquarters. It took hours to choose the top 20, then top 5 and eventually the winner. I’m super excited to be sporting it for the season. The unveiling will take place at the Gallery showing in Sydney where all of the top 20 will be invited and the top five will have there designs exhibited on boards that night. I can’t wait to meet the winner. Check out the designs!
Having a little extra time to play with waiting for my wrist to heal these past few weeks I was finally able to attend the Australian Open of Tennis and not just watch it religiously on TV. I was fortunate enough to have a hit in the charity match with many of my heroes; Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Kim Clijsters and Sam Stosur. Being a die-hard Geelong Cats supporter I was beside myself to be hitting with Gary Ablett and the rest of the celebs.
I went back
to beautiful Melbourne for another amazing day of tennis courtesy of the AO
club later in the event. I was so excited to be front row for the Women’s Semis
and for the clash of the titans, Men’s semi Rodger Federer v Rafa Nadal. A
dream come true being up so close to the action and enjoying one of the all
time rivalries of my time watching sport. I watched all day and night and then
continued on my merry way to the airport and hopped on the 6am flight home to
Sydney. It was such a fun tennis adventure.
Leading into the start of the season we have seen the World Junior Titles won and done. With the third and final stop of their series being held at Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast. It was action packed with the World Title points race being so close in both Men’s and Women’s. Our Aussies had a strong showing with wild card Wade Carmichael from the Central Coast taking out the event, Round 3 of the series. Byron Bays Garret Parkes and Newcastles Philippa Anderson were both very close Runner-ups to the World Title. Garret actually tied with Brazilian surfer Caio Ibelli at the top of the ratings and they had the first ever ‘Surf Off’ in the history of our sport. They would surf just one heat to determine who would be World Junior Champion. A last minute wave from Garret was just not enough loosing by just 0.6 of a point. Congratulations to the new World Junior Champions Leila Hurst from Hawaii and Caio Ibelli from Brazil. They will be officially crowned at the ASP World Surfing Awards, which is the curtain raiser for the start of the World Tour season at Snapper rocks.
Like most surfers this time of year means getting your equipment sorted for the first few events. I recently made a quick trip to the Gold Coast to work with my shaper Darren Handley at DHD Surfboards. We spent a couple of days going over footage and looking at equipment. The first lot of magic boards are on their way. I can’t wait to test them.
The first stop on the calendar will be the Australian Open of Surfing, a 6 star qualifying series event which a lot of the World Tour surfers will be competing in to ready themselves for the for the Roxy Pro and Quiksilver Pro on the Gold Coast. It all kicks off at Manly on the 11 th of February. It’s going to be a great event to compete at and it’s awesome to see big surfing events like this returning to Sydney’s shores.
See you all in the line up soon.
Sally Fitzgibbons, Professional Surfer
www.sallyfitzgibbons.com
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Preparing for the 2012 season
The challenges
The summer holidays
