Surf Life Saving New Zealand is pleased to announce we will be selecting a New Zealand Under 20 Team to compete at the World National Team Championships. This event runs as part of the 2012 Life Saving World Championships (Rescue 2012), Adelaide in November 2012.

This is exciting news for our talented younger surf sport athletes and a huge incentive to train and compete hard this season!

This under-20 teams event was recently added to the Life Saving World Championships by the International Life Saving Federation. The format of this event will be the same as the Open National Teams event.

Teams of 12 (six female, six male) will compete over four days (two days of pool events; two days of beach and ocean events). Under 20 competition will also be added to the Rescue 2012 Interclub World Championships. A full list of events within Rescue 2012 is available the event website www.rescue2012.com.au.

The New Zealand Under 20 Team will be selected by the SLSNZ National Selectors and named along with the Open Team following the 2011/2012 season.

The same selection events and other criteria (excluding age) will be used for both Open and Under 20 Teams and can be viewed on the SLSNZ website. The age eligibility criteria will be that competitors are aged from 16 to 19 years on the first day of competition (8 November 2012).

As a new event the New Zealand Under 20 Team is not part of our SPARC funded Life Saving World Championships campaign. At present athletes that apply and are selected will be required to fund the majority of the trip themselves. However SLSNZ will work hard over the next 10 months to secure new funding and sponsorship to support the costs of the under-20 campaign.

With the support of clubs and members we are confident any athlete that aspires to represent New Zealand will get the financial support needed if selected.

The New Zealand Under 20 Management Team will be selected from the current New Zealand Development Management Team who were appointed through to the end of 2012.

Further details will be available as they are released on the official Rescue 2012 website - www.rescue2012.com.au. Details on SLSNZ selection events are available in the High Performance area.

Online applications for selection for both World Championships teams will open on 15 February and close on Friday 16 March 2012 (first day of Nationals) at sport.surflifesaving.org.nz.

We encourage you share this exciting news to any athletes you think are interested.