OCEANSIDE, Calif. (KGTV) — Surf, sports, and sisterhood are taking over Oceanside this weekend. The Super Girl Surf Pro is back — it's the world's largest women's surf, music, and lifestyle festival — bringing hundreds of female athletes together to compete in extreme sports.
"It's so fun to see so many women just lifting each other up," said Nora Liotta, a surf competitor from Hawaii.
Super Girl Pro is expecting nearly 180 women to paddle out this weekend in the surfing event.
In this tidal wave of talent, there's not just a platform for greatness, but also for community. Many of the women are returning and say the competition is becoming fiercer.
"They always push me super hard, like the girls in that heat were ripping," said Zoe Chait, a surf competitor from Northern California.
However, the girls say they love the challenge.
"Just showing them you're comfortable under pressure, have good wave selection, doing good maneuvers in the right parts of the wave, and finishing strong," Liotta said. "I just feel so lucky to be a part of this all-women surf competition. It just feels so empowering."
Rick Bratman, CEO of Super Girl Pro, said their goal is to impress the judges, rack up points, and carve their path toward the World Championship Tour.
Festival grows from 16 to 800 competitors
"It's really all about celebrating women," said Rick Bratman, CEO of Super Girl Pro. "So one of the things that's been great about Supergirl is seeing how many women have come through the program and have gone on to do absolutely incredible things. This is a platform sometimes it's a launching platform."
Bratman says when the Super Girl Pro first launched 19 years ago, it only had 16 women competing. This weekend, there will be more than 800 women shredding across all sporting events.
He adds that there are also pro volleyball, soccer, flag football, and more competitions, as well as free concerts featuring headliners like Lupe Fiasco, Plain White T's, and Jacob Knowles, the current lead singer from Sublime.
Bratman says one core value of this competition is keeping the entire festival free.
"All the concerts are free," Bratman said. "We're doing 25 classes a day which are also free. We have all these speakers and panel discussions which are free."
"It's really important for us that we don't have money be a barrier for any young woman who wants to be a part of this entire experience, it's an incredibly aspirational and inspirational environment," Bratman said.
