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BWA FUTURE PROS: THE BWA’S GRASS ROOTS KIDS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM!

As the BWA tour continues to inspire the next generation of wave sailors, one initiative is helping young riders take their first real steps into the sport. We caught up with Willy McLean to hear all about the BWA Future Pros…the youth development programme running alongside the tour. He talks us through how it all began, what it offers to up-and-coming windsurfers and how new faces can get involved.

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WINDSURF: So, you kind of started the whole Future Pros thing up here in Tiree, is that right?

WILLY MCLEAN: “Yeah, so Future Pros is kind of an evolution of a number of different initiatives that have really been ongoing for…I’m just scouring my brain here, at least 25 years. I think myself and Robin Nicol first got underway with a bit of a development program here along with Andy Groom back in the day, probably 2001, something like that.

It was very ad hoc to begin with….just a combination of coaching for youth, for anyone that turned up and wanted to have a go at windsurfing. Then, over the years, it became a little bit more youth and development focused.

Robin eventually started coming up as part of an RYA Scotland initiative to do training with the club members on the loch. Then around 2015, we had a more formal engagement with RYA Scotland, where it became the RYA Scotland Team 15 training camp. For three years, RYA supported it with some funding, sent instructors up and really helped to develop the program from that point.

After those three years, unfortunately, they had to stop funding it. They’d been able to fund it through their advertising budget rather than a training budget, because typically that’s Olympic pathway money. But we had a very enlightened Scottish CEO at that point who was willing to put a bit of money into manoeuvre-oriented sailing, which was fantastic.

Unfortunately, when that came to an end at the end of 2017, we were left with a bit of a void. The Mailing Room and George Bevan stepped up at that point and said, “We’re going to fill that void and help you promote the Future Pros initiative.” It’s been going strong and building up ever since.

The Mailing Room | Keep your mailing room stocked up!

That’s the general background to it. Future Pros was a bit of an initiative pre-COVID, but COVID really sucked the life out of it and slowed everything down for a few years.

This year we’re back with a bang. Some of the new events have smaller numbers…just ones, twos, threes at the new venues, but here in Tiree we’ve come in with 24 youths (25 originally, one had to pull out). Eight of those are pre-selected to do national title competition, with the potential to add four more of the newer young kids into the mix.

Rhosneigr was fantastic. We had eight competing there for national points and twelve doing training in the background, so again, a big camp with 20 kids involved.

When we get down to West Wittering, the entries aren’t complete yet, but I think there are about eight in the national titles and a couple of kids possibly doing training as well. So again, for a new or resurging event, we’ve got 10 kids already involved, and sign-up is still ongoing. Very healthy!

WINDSURF: What’s the concept behind it? Is it to train them up for competitions, or just a fun week to get them into water sports?

WILLY MCLEAN: “There’s not really a short answer to that…it’s a mix of things. A lot of the kids, to be fair, aren’t necessarily into racing, which is the main funded coaching pathway within RYA initiatives. They’re looking for something a bit different. Racing is great if you’re successful, but if you’re consistently off the podium, it doesn’t leave you many options.

In the past, we’ve seen people like Ben Proffitt and other national-level stars come through racing programs and then move into waves…and that’s exactly what we’re trying to do. We’re basically in friendly competition with our parent body, the UKWA, who are doing a fantastic job bringing kids into racing.

The speed sailing and wave sailing sits a little aside from that, and we’re hoping to offer youth initiatives that attract kids who want something different…more expressive, more dynamic. The skill set is different. Racers tend to be the bigger, stronger kids, whereas in wave sailing, it’s often the lighter, more agile riders who shine.

So yes, there’s a bit of disillusionment drawing some kids to it, but there are also kids who’ve grown up wave-sailing with their mums or dads, traveling around the UK or the world, and they’re a natural fit straight into waves. They’re coming from all angles.

And the kids all have a good time. I said this last year in an interview with Alfie Hart…with the best will in the world, you can’t just have parents who windsurf hoping their kids will get into windsurfing. It doesn’t work like that. You need to surround kids with other kids doing the same thing so they can form a gang, make friends, and enjoy it together.

That’s exactly what these camps do… they bring together kids with similar backgrounds, training, travel and families. Suddenly they discover lifelong friends, forming bonds and travel companions that last for years. That’s a really important social aspect of what’s going on here.

WINDSURF: If any new kids want to join, can they come along to almost any event?

WILLY MCLEAN: “Yeah, we’d always encourage first-timers to look at what’s happening in their local area. That’s why we’re promoting this tour with two events in Scotland, two in Wales, and two in England…so they don’t need to step far outside their school terms or comfort zones.

We want to see events running in conjunction with schools, so kids can take part without missing too much class time. In England, especially, it’s quite hard to get kids out of school compared to Scotland. So, when we do Cornwall, West Wittering, or the Wales events, it’s really important to align them with weekends or holidays so everyone can be involved.”

WINDSURF: And do you think the kids enjoy hanging out with riders like Lucas Meldrum, Bubble, Phil Horrocks, and the rest?

WILLY MCLEAN: “I think it’s difficult for the pro riders to fully understand the role they play in these kids’ lives. They’re the poster boys and girls. With smart TVs, YouTube, and Windsurfing TV, it’s amazing…a proper fly-on-the-wall look at their world.

If you ever spend time in our house, you’d see it… anytime Andy Chambers calls me to talk about Goya equipment, he hears his own voice in the background because the kids are watching one of his videos!

So, the opportunity to rub shoulders and sail with their heroes, to see how they do manoeuvres up close…that’s such an important aspect of what we’re doing!”

EDDIE MCLEAN

“I mean, personally, I love it because it’s me, my brother and one of the girls, Charlotte …we’re like the only people that windsurf on Tiree. So, it’s really nice to get a bunch of other kids up, sailing about and enjoying themselves. So yeah, it’s great.

For me personally, it’s just sailing with other people my age. It’s the craic and the banter…it’s just great for me because, like I said before, it’s only three people that windsurf here.

It is absolutely epic to sail with Andy Chambers and Lucas Meldrum. I’ll see them go and do a move and I’m like, “Oh, that’s absolutely sick! Maybe I should try that.” Then I’ll go out and just really enjoy myself. So yeah, I have strong hopes to turn pro one day. I think I will, yeah!”

 

MORE INFO HERE:

‘Future Pros’ is the BWA’s grass roots kids development program. 

Developed after partnership with RYA Scotland for three years, Future Pros is an aspiration training and development program. The program takes aspiring young windsurfers from 8-17 years of age and offers them:

• Training for wave and manoeuvre oriented Wavesailing
• An introduction to wave competition
• An opportunity to meet, learn from and eventually compete with the brightest stars in the UK who currently compete in the sport of Wavesailing. i.e. the kids heroes!

With training camps running directly alongside our competitions around the UK, Future Pros offers a more ‘expressive’ form of training than the current mainstream race competition. While speed and the ability to go fast is a necessity within Wavesailing, manoeuvre oriented coaching is often referred to as the fun side of the sport when compared to the rigours of race training. This can be particularly appealing for smaller, lighter windsurfers who are traditionally less competitive in the racing environment. 

Typically our camps are open to those with an already established ability with one or two of the camps being targeting for very accomplished young riders. The camps should be viewed as development pathways and not as beginning coaching. So typically minimum prerequisite ability cut offs might include:

• Beach-starting ability
• Water-starting ability
• Jumping/waveriding ability. 

Some of our venues will be more favourable for specific standards than others so if your family are considering attending a camp, please let us know and we can offer advice as to which camp/s may be most suitable. 

BWA