In the lineup -- again

Mike Sciacca

Now that the U.S. Open of Surfing has left town, let the Game begin.

Some of professional surfing’s top athletes will be in Huntington

Beach once again when the East meets the West in an event called the

Game, to be held on the south side of the pier beginning at 10 a.m.

Saturday.

Surf competition will debut at the X Games this year, the annual

event’s ninth, which will be held in Los Angeles Aug. 14 through 17.

The X Games, developed by ESPN in 1995, will showcase more than

300 of the world’s top action sports athletes.

Chris Stiepock, general manager of X Games IX, said that the games

has always wanted to include surfing as part of its action sports

package.

“After all, surfing is the grand daddy of all action sports,” he

said. “But, logistically speaking, it was difficult to do.”

Once Los Angeles was announced as host city for the 2003 games,

Stiepock said surfing was mentioned again as possibly joining the

action sports fold.

Zuma Beach and Trestles in San Clemente were tossed around as

potential sites for the surf competition, but ultimately, Stiepock

said, Huntington Beach was a “natural” fit.

“Surf City, man, that’s where it’s at,” he said. “Paramount,

though, was conditions. We needed one specific day with a four-hour

time period where we would have waves, and Huntington in August

seemed the perfect place.

“That, plus we are holding the competition just one week after the

U.S. Open of Surfing, so people know the pier as a great place to

watch the competition.”

The Game format consists of an East versus West Coast team. Eight

surfers from each team will compete in four quarters which each

quarter broken down into two 15- to 20-minute heats, depending on

wave conditions.

Finals for the U.S. Open of Surfing had about 6-foot waves.

“We’re hoping for similar conditions,” Stiepock said.

Each team will also include two international wild cards, allowing

them to add surfers from other parts of the world. Each heat is

surfed and judged as a team.

Team coaches determine which foursomes will head out in each heat

based on surf conditions and riders’ strengths.

Each surfer is judged on technique, wave selection, tricks and

creativity.

As of Tuesday, the line-up for the West and East teams, consisting

of athletes who either surfed last week’s U.S. Open of Surfing or

were former competitors, are as follows:

EAST

Heading the east team are two teams of brothers, Cory and Shea

Lopez of Indian Rocks Beach, Fla., and the Hobgoods, C.J. and Damien,

of Satellite Beach, Fla.

Cory Lopez won last weekend’s U.S. Open of Surfing, and Shea Lopez

won the 1999 U.S. Open title.

Cory Lopez, who stayed in Huntington Beach this week after his

U.S. Open victory Sunday, said he’s ready to compete again with and

against several competitors he faced in the U.S. Open of Surfing

event.

“It should be a really fun event,” he said. “We all know each

other. We’re all competitive and want to put on a good show.”

Also scheduled to surf for the East is former U.S. Open and world

champion Kelly Slater of Cocoa Beach, Fla., and Ben Bourgeois of

Wrightsville Beach, N.C.

WEST

Six Southern California athletes will surf for the West, among

them, Pat O’Connell of Laguna Beach.

“I’m looking to have a great time out there,” said O’Connell, who

competed at last weekend’s U.S. Open of Surfing. “We have some really

great guys out there, and it should be a lot of fun.”

The West team also consists of a pair of former U.S. Open

champions, the only two-time winner, Rob Machado of San Diego, and

Shane Beschen of Sunset Beach, plus Tim Curren of Oxnard, Taylor Knox

of Carlsbad and Chris Ward of San Clemente.

* MIKE SCIACCA covers sports and features. He can be reached at

(714) 965-7171 or by e-mail at [email protected].