Mike Castro, Mario Ríos and Eduardo Mena will seek the presidency of the Costa Rican Surf Federation.

As many know, a general assembly will be held today, April 23rd, with the associations duly registered with the Costa Rican Surf Federation. These associations have nominated their candidates for president of the governing body of Costa Rican surfing. The candidates are: Mike Castro, Mario Ríos, and Eduardo Mena.

Those chosen to run for the presidency, currently held by Mr. Randall Chaves, must find the best path for the future of surfing in Costa Rica.

Surfing Republica spoke with the three candidates about their projects and ideas, and these were their responses:

Mike Castro:

What projects do you hope to implement if elected president?

Among my proposals I have many, all in favor of the new generations, high-performance athletes, associations and all the disciplines that make up this beautiful sport, but the most urgent thing is to make an accessible national circuit, focused on the new generation of many Costa Ricans who are starting their sports careers as well as seeking benefits within the same circuit for categories such as the Open male-female and Junior male-female.
In addition to links with many institutions that will contribute to creating, together, comprehensive environments that motivate essential values ​​for life, this will be done through different activities that the Federation and the Associations will develop.
In the professional field, we must make the most of the Olympic platform, prepare our high-performance athletes, and, based on their professional experience, identify the challenges these competitors face in their pursuit of professionalism. We must be 100% involved and support them in every way possible. They not only need financial support; there are other essential factors that would undoubtedly make them happier in achieving their goals.

What is your vision as president for Costa Rican surfing?

For those of us who have competed, I could put it as an example of being in a competition, studying the conditions very well, observing the heats of other competitors, creating a strategy and when your moment arrives go all out, managing the times, taking care of your priority, managing the emotions without lowering the intensity, taking care of your position until the last second and thus achieving the goal.
So the vision is always to give our best for the sport, for everything it represents, for all the people who represent us, to listen with great respect to the words of the pioneers, the words of the parents, the words of the competitors, of the high-performance athletes, of the professionals, and to be attentive to the evolution and current needs of our sport.

What do you think would be important to work on to improve the development of surfing in Costa Rica?

We must work on values; if we have athletes who are strong, physically and mentally, with the ability to cope with social and sporting challenges, I think we could be contributing to having a new golden generation.

Furthermore, we must improve the sporting and educational environments by working hand in hand with institutions such as the National Olympic Committee, public and private universities that lead athletes to achieve many parallel goals, thus contributing to the construction not only of a great athlete but of a professional in every aspect.

Mario Ríos:

What projects do you hope to implement if elected president?

Some of the projects are:

A. Reactivation of competitions at the national level.
B. Find sponsors to help the athletes.
C. Advance a bill that would generate $1 for every surfboard purchased by tourists entering the country, injecting income into the Federation to hire coaches to work with children and young people in coastal areas.
D. Evaluate a methodology for the efficient selection of athletes to form the team (create a technical criteria manual for selections ).
E. Seek an approach to bring qualifying events in all disciplines to Costa Rica.


What is your vision as president for Costa Rican surfing?

To be at the forefront with the best technical equipment to help athletes and to be able to bring the largest number of competitors to the Olympic cycle in a safe and efficient manner.

What do you think would be important to work on to improve the development of surfing in Costa Rica?

Investing in national talent, especially children, through the training of national coaches and with the collaboration of parents.

Eduardo Mena:

What projects do you hope to implement if elected president?

Regional qualifying circuits for the National Circuit. This project aims to identify new talent who, due to cost, are unable to compete in the current format of the National Surf Circuit (CNS). Another benefit is that the National Circuit could gain national television exposure, as only those who qualify from each region would earn the right to participate in the National Surf Circuit, making it shorter. Furthermore, this initiative seeks to strengthen regional surf associations.

What is your vision as president for Costa Rican surfing?

Closely related to the previous project, we could take the necessary steps towards the professionalization of the sport on a larger scale (since very few athletes make a living from surfing), which is one of the visions for the sport in all its categories.

What do you think would be important to work on to improve the development of surfing in Costa Rica?

The regionalization project will strengthen local associations by attracting new talent and supporting professionalization. All projects are integrated with the aim of improving the development of surfing.

The election will be held today, Friday, April 23rd at 12pm.

Written by: Enrique Hernández

General Management: Marco Montero