Paragraph.The USBA is the result of a joint effort to bring back a National Title Tour to the USA. The first crack at a National Tour was set in motion in early 2005. Events were set up by Corey Correa ( Co-Founder of The IBA Hawaii), Shawn Backus (Co- Founder of the BIA Tour, CA) and Jason Bitzer (Founder of The Jenkinsons’s Pro, NJ). With successful events in each region, bodyboarding had embarked on a new era, gaining new ground as well as a new National Champion in Jeff Hubbard (HI). The original plan, between the three regions, was to get a few years under the tour''s belt and feel out which direction the tour should move. This was the original plan, but plans changed very quickly as a heavy flow of mainstream corporate companies took notice of the East Coast leg of the tour. Names like Marriott, Sobe, Big Blue Marble, Verizon Wireless and Rock Star video games all took to the image of bodyboarding in the Northeast and partnered with the Jenkinson’s Pro. This event became a success over night, with mainstream media and sponsors on par with mainstream sports. This event became part of an East Coast one-two knock out combination. The Rockstar Games NYBB Pro in Long Island, NY was blessed with great waves and great sponsors as well. This made for an amazing two-weekend stretch of bodyboarding competition in the Northeast Region. The 2005-year ended in late-September, after another great event at Seaside Reef in California. With the last buzzer sounding, and the conclusion of competition, it was time to begin planning of the 2006 season and the future of both the pro and amateur world of US bodyboarding!



With sponsor potential abound and events now tested and set in place, Jason Bitzer’s event promotion company Gravitys Flaw started looking at ways to package what was implemented in the 2005 tour to create the USBA National Tour! The new goal was to formulate a tour that could be sold to sponsors wanting to reach bodyboardings broad market place! A schedule was proposed to all event organizers involved in the 2005 tour. Dates and locations where then discussed in detail, until a final six event tour schedule could be drafted! A few new events where added and the USBA California had taken on a new organizer Tyler Weiman to help structure the west coast leg of the USBA! After that a point system was laid out for all USBA events to follow. Soon after basic rules and guidelines were set in place. This was formulated much like the USBA’s parent tour the IBA World Championship tour. All material was then drafted and passed on to the rest of the organizers to be revised and agreed upon! With everything in place for an amazing USBA National Championship Tour, it was now time to focus on bringing our sport to the masses!

During the Hawaiian season a wonderful new TV network (The Water Channel) had taken it upon themselves to film the Rockstar Games Pipeline Pro! This was not only great for the sport but it lead to great relationships with the Water Channel and bodyboarding’s personalities and event organizers. Through fate ,USBA operations manager ,Jason Bitzer was asked to a meeting with an affiliate of the Water Channel to explain what the USBA was in detail! The Water Channel was immediately happy with the positive direction the USBA was aiming to take the sport and wanted to commit their support to the tour and partner up for 2006! They were so excited that they flew out a Jason Bitzer to their amazing studios in Seattle Washington! The Water Channel was able to Cleary show their capabilities to bring the sports events and products to the general public worldwide!

For a rider to have a chance at the National Title he or she must compete in all USBA tour, making it mandatory to compete outside of his or her region twice.


A rider must be in full compliance with the IBA/USBA rules and regulations, which will be laid out prior to the start of each season and in conjunction with the IBA World Tour Rules. All membership fees must be paid before a rider competes in a USBA event. By paying membership and entering USBA events, a USBA rider is contracted to the USBA National Championship Tour and is obligated to compete in IBA /USBA sanctioned events only! This is to insure that a rider’s points will be counted towards the National Title. Competitors Obligations to Events

Minimum Standards

Men's Pro: 15 National USBA member entrants are needed to justify the minimum prize purse of $2,000 USD

DK Pro: 10 National DK USBA member entrants are needed to justify the minimum prize purse of $750 USD

Women's Pro: 10 women USBA National Members entrants are needed to justify the minimum prize purse of $1000 USD

PRO FORMATS: 20-minute heats with 40 min final!

*Round 1- 8 heats of 4 (1st and 2nd to round 2)

*Round 2- 4 heats of 4 (1st and 2nd to round 3)

*Round 3-6 heats of 4 (1st and 2nd to the 1/4 finals)

*1/4 finals- 4 heats of 4 (1st and 2nd to the semi-finals)

*Semi-finals- 2 heats of 4 (1st and 2nd to the Final)

AMATEUR HEATS

15 Minute heats are the standard all USBA/IBA rules apply

Final- 1 heat of 4

JUDGING

(a) Selection of Judges: An attempt shall be made to ensure that no judge has a vested interest, with the Head Judge to have the power to make appropriate substitutions based on a bodyboarder's request for standing down of a judge deemed to have a vested interest. A person with vested interests is defined as a shareholder or Board of Director of a business enterprise, which sponsors or employs a bodyboarder competing in that event. No current ranked bodyboarder may judge.

For all tours( USBA) Head Judge and Contest Organiser can have inputs about the selection of the Judges in the BIO List, but the final say will be from JUDGING COORDINATOR.

The REGIONAL (EAST,WEST,HI) HEAD JUDGE to be the same for the whole year and to go to all events related to the USBA tour. In case he can't attend one event, the next most senior Judge available will be selected to replace him. H

(b) Panel Size:

USBA: 4 Judge Panel with regions represented (minimum of 3 judge panel with 2 different regions)

(c) ) The wave scoring will be done from the zero to ten, broken into increments e.g. 7.2, 7.3, 7.5, 7.7, 7.8, 8.0. Judges are not to use other decimals." Half and whole points should mostly be used, but for example 7.7 or 7.8 can be used only if a Judge has already given scores of 7.5 and 8.0 in the heat".

Regarding the standard of the wave ridden, IBA Score-sheets should read:

0.2-2.5 POOR
2.7-5.0 FAIR
5.2-7.5 GOOD
7.7-10.0 EXCELLENT

(d) Criteria to be used in judging:

? A bodyboarder must execute the most radical maneuvers in the critical section of the wave, with the fluid linking and combinations of maneuvers, combining speed and power throughout. The bodyboarder who executes such maneuvers on the biggest and best waves for the longest functional distance shall be deemed the winner?

(e) Judges should be visually and verbally separated and it is the responsibility of the Head Judge to see that the judges do not discuss scores or interference calls.

(f) Judges must not change their interference calls either in the computer terminal or on the manual judging sheets. In the event that a mistake has been made the judge should have the Head Judge make the correction for him. Scores may be corrected under certain circumstances, but all corrections must be initiated by the particular judge making the correction.

(g) If a Judge misses a wave, or part of a wave, he should place an M in that square of the judges sheet and have the wave included into his sheet, by the Head Judge on the basis of comparison to the precious ride on the Touring Judge sheets.

(h) At times, errors of a special nature occur with respect to judging. This includes priority, timing and judges scores. The Technical director and Head Judge will rule on these special circumstances, case by case. At his discretion the Head Judge may consult with those qualified observers ( defined as off duty judges, spotters or other officials) who may have witnessed the incident in question.

(i) If a heat in progress cannot be completed fairly to all competitors due to outside influences( heavy rain, lightning, fog, sharks, bluebottles, surfers in the line up etc.), it will be stopped by the Head Judge in consultation with Technical Director and concluded at an appropriate time. The scores up to the time of abandonment will stand unless All competitors in that heat agree to have complete resurf.

SEEDING RULES

(a) For all USBA events seeding will be done based on the previous years tour seeding points and current years ranking points. A seeding list will be done by the Tour Director prior to an event, and this will be used by the Technical Director of the event to make the draw as fair as possible.

  
        Before you learn the maneuvers, you need to know the basics of what a bodyboard is and where it came from. A bodyboard is an instrument of wave riding consisting of a small roughly rectangular piece of foam, shaped to a hydrodynamic form. The bodyboard is ridden predominantly lying down (or 'prone'). It can, also, be ridden in a half-standing stance (known as 'dropknee') or can even be ridden standing up. The vast majority of bodyboarders usually wear swimfins on both feet to aid in paddling out and taking off. The bodyboard differs from a surfboard in that it is much shorter, and made of lighter material. A bodyboard typically ranges in length from 40 to 42 inches for men, and from 38 to 40 inches for women, with a squared-off nose, angular rails and a tail which is usually crescent-shaped (however "batwing" style tails have recently become more popular). Bodyboards are designed to be flexible, and board builders tend to be more experimental with materials than with their stand-up cousins. The board is made up of a 'core', made from dow/polyethylene, arcel and more recently polypropylene. These are types of plastic, and each gives a bodyboard a different amount of flex and control for the rider. Glued, or more currently,heat-bonded, to this core is a thick plastic bottom (known as the 'slick') which gives the board strength and speed.

              The top of the board (the deck) is made from softer plastic to give grip and cushioning to the rider. Unlike a surfboard, there is no fin or skegs.  This allows the rider to rotate the board more easily.Bodyboarding is arguably the earliest form of surfing, and is ultimately derived from the ancient Hawaiian Paipo board, which was ridden lying down. The modern invention of the bodyboard is credited to Tom Morey, who sold very basic bodyboards, (known then as Boogie Boards) by mail order. They were very crude by today's standard, but were easy to ride and became quite popular. With todays standards in bodyboards, amazing things can be pulled off such as the following.

 Note: All maneuvers are derived from one main element and that element is speed! Speed is the key to everything in bodyboarding and to get speed you need to create a smooth approach to the lip.



The BOTTOM TURN:  The bottom turn is the key element to good bodyboarding.  It sets you up with plenty of speed and projection for the rest of the wave.

 

 

 A combination of 3 existing bodyboarding moves (invented by Mike "EPPO" Epplestun of Australia) consists of the "AIR", the "ROLL", and then the "SPIN". To complete an ARS your should be competent at doing all 3 moves first.

• As with all aerial moves, performing the ARS requires plenty of speed and projection, the first step is to have a strong bottom turn and aim towards the curling part of the wave

• The next step is to launch off the lip into your roll projecting as high and as far in front of the wave as possible. • About halfway into your roll you should begin your spin, spinning your board and body inward towards the face of the wave as you project your roll up and out of the lip • It is best to try and complete the spin while in the air but if this is not possible you can always land it halfway around by keeping your weight centered on the board and turning your head and body into the wave.

• The more you can harness the power of the wave to help you execute this maneuver, the smoother and more powerful your ARS will look and feel.

BACKFLIP: Speed is the main ingredient in a good backflip.

Note: The Backflip is similar to an ars but it the rotation is straight over the sholder rather then a gyration out of the roll!

• Start with a solid bottom turn and aim for a bowling section.  Harness your speed and aim for the pitching lip .

• Hit the section at a fairly vertical position.  Timing is essential, at this point, to help you get out of the pitching lip.

• As you launch, go for maximum height and try to project out from the lip and into the flats.  Pull your board close to your body and throw your head back using this momentum to kick your legs and the rest of your body over your head in a looping motion.

 • The hardest part is the landing as you are landing backwards.  You should land flat and centered on your board.  Finish the move in the whitewater by bringing the nose of your board all the way back around and continue in the direction in which you started.