In case you didn't know, the center of the world can be found in Panama. The Surf World that is. This week marks the start of the ISA Billabong World Surfing Games. Since the Olympics are old fashioned and think the pentathlon (seriously- what is this 'sport'?!), badminton (for crying out loud- it has the name 'bad' in it), canoeing (maybe in the summer I do with a beer in my hand), archery (Robin Hood won gold in '08- 1708 that is), handball (the US team was chosen from the top 5 elementary schools in the nation this past May), and a list of other 'hobbies' not even worth mentioning are supposedly cool, the ISA decided to take matters in their own hands and create the Games- surfing's version of the Olympics.
With over 35 million people around the world surfing and 27 countries participating in this year's event, it's a force to be reckoned with. With names like Jeremy Flores, Sofia Mulanovic, Chris Waring, Mick Campbell, Magnum Martinez, Nathan Hedge and countries as big as the US, Brazil and Australia battling little guys like Israel, Columbia, and Switzerland (yes they have a surf team- that's how frickin' big of a deal this even is!) it's an all out world war for surfing supremacy. The event started June 25th and runs through July 2nd at Playa Venao in Panama. Make sure to watch it in the coming days and root for your country!
