Orange County’s team got game

Mike Sciacca

Before the start of the first National Surf League California Cup, a

series of month-long, professional surfing events that had the novel

idea of implementing a team concept, the general consensus among

those competing had distinguished Team Orange County as the team to

beat.

A victory in the first cup competition, held at the south side of

the Huntington Beach Pier on April 30, further entrenched Team OC in

the favorite’s role.

Performances at three other cup stops, hosted by Team Santa Cruz,

Team Ventura and Team San Diego, solidified the sentiment.

“They were, hands down, the deepest team among the four, talented

teams,” said Jeff Cutler, vice president of the National Surf League.

“Every surfer down their lineup was a star and could enter the game

at any time and give an outstanding performance. From the players all

the way up to the coaches, Team OC was definitely considered the

favorite.”

And Team OC, whose members include several surfers from Huntington

Beach, lived up to that billing.

Saturday at Goldenwest St. Beach before an enthusiastic crowd,

Team OC defeated Team San Diego on Championship Game Weekend to

capture the California Cup.

The turns Timmy Reyes, Mike Losness, Nate Yeomans and Chris Ward

took late in the game helped Team OC pull way from a battle that had

been tight in the third quarter.

“We showed the rest of the state that the best talent is here in

Orange County,” said professional surfer and Huntington Beach

resident Danny Nichols, a member of Team OC. “We had a lot of pride

surfing on our home turf.

“If I wasn’t out there surfing, I was pretty pumped up for my

teammates. I loved the whole team concept.”

As did the rest of the Team Orange County members, as well as

Cutler and the National Surf League staff.

“The one thing about this California Cup series is that we could

not have done this without these incredible surfers and our

sponsors,” Cutler said. “They stepped up 150-percent and just did a

great job. Everyone seemed to have a great time out there, too.”

The team concept format was formulated by Joe Gerlach, the father

of Brad Gerlach, president of the National Surf League, in 1992.

Since then, the concept had been tweaked and tampered with, Cutler

said, before arriving at the four quarter style of competition, with

timeouts and substitutions, just like in football and basketball,

that debuted in April.

“This turned out about as great as we could have expected,” Cutler

said of the California Cup. “The beauty of it is that we are happy

with our attempt to create a sports entertainment value and fan base

for surfing, something that has been lacking. By holding these four

competitions at each team’s home site, it also brought fans a sense

of ownership with these teams.

“The bottom line is that this is more about getting the support of

the surfers. You can’t work on improving the sport unless you have

their support. It’s really about them leaving the beach happy. I

think everyone really enjoyed this first cup series.”

Cutler said that the California Cup will return in 2005 and new

National Surf League cup events will take place in Hawaii and on the

East Coast.