Press coverage ABGSC
This page features international media coverage of the Arugam Bay Girls Surf Club (ABGSC) - not necessarily in chronological order! - since the club's inception in August 2018.
If you would like to interview a member of the club, please get in touch with Tiffany.
Video by Roar LK
03/2019 The Surfer Magazine (Online: headline)
THIS ALL-FEMALE SURF CLUB IS SHIFTING THE PARADIGM IN SRI LANKAN SURF CULTURE
IN ARUGAM BAY, STRONG-MINDED LOCAL WOMEN ARE CREATING A SPACE FOR THEMSELVES IN THE LINEUP WHERE THEY WERE PREVIOUSLY UNWELCOME
03/2019 Silkwinds Magazine (Online: headline)
The March 2019 edition of Silkwinds features the Arugam Bay girls surf club, and Girls Make Waves as their cover story.
Here are screen grabs from the full article.
Click here to read the full article (pages 36 to 42).
Incredible photographs by Tommy Schultz.
11/18/2018 ISA Website (Online)
18/11/2018 ISA Website (Online)
Coverage of the ABGSC on the International Surfing Association's website
"Development at all levels has been continuing and very importantly Sri Lanka’s first women’s surf club, the Arugam Bay Girls Surf Club has registered with the Federation. This is huge step forward for the country and we are all looking forward to women and girls taking up surfing all over Sri Lanka. A first female ISA coach and a women’s champion is not far away."
12/12/2018 SeaTogether (Instagram)
Featured in @sea.together.mag
"Smash the patriarchy 🏄🏾♀️ Founded in August 2018, the Arugam Bay Girls Surf Club (ABGSC) is Sri Lanka's first female surf club! 🇱🇰
Run by local women, for local women, the impact of the @abay_girls_surf_club for girls and women in Sri Lanka goes far beyond surfing. In a country where long-standing traditions and gender norms place many women inside their homes, restricting their access to the public sphere, the girls and women of the ABGSC have stepped forward as pioneers, showing that surfing is an option for women across the country, empowering and inspiring others to surf too!“ 📷 @soulsnapss
12/2018 Surf Sri Lanka Magazine (Print)
20/01/2019 Ceylon Today (Print)
"Tiffany Carothers, in 2015 introduced the weekly Girls Make Waves surfing lessons for local girls and women in Arugam Bay. She realised that even though these girls grew up in a surfing community where many of their fathers, brothers, and other male family members were either surfers or were tied to the surfing industry in some other way, they themselves were restricted from exercising their innate desire to surf due to social norms..."
25/01/2019 Surf Session France (Online)
"...en août 2018, le premier surf club féminin, Arugam Bay Girls Surf Club, voit le jour. Sanjaya Shamalie en est la présidente. Sanjaya Shamalie est issue d'une famille de surfeurs. Son frère et son père sont surfeurs mais trouvaient cela trop dangereux pour une femme et n'étaient surtout pas contents lorsqu'elle revenait d'une de ses sessions. Mais sa détermination ne l'a pas empêché de poursuivre son rêve."
Quelques amies à elle étaient également intéressées et avec le coup de pouce de Tiffany Carothers, elles ont pu faire découvrir les joies de la glisse aux filles des environs.
26/01/2019 Gemtrack Magazine (Online)
While the rest of the country looks to Colombo for direction, a small fishing village on the East Coast is all set to change the game! Read the full article online.
28/01 Prime Magazine (Online)
"Tiffany Carothers und Martina Burtscher gründen den ersten Frauen Surf Club Sri Lankas in Arugam Bay
Die Amerikanerin Carothers wohnt seit mittlerweile acht Jahren in Sri Lanka und startete vor drei Jahren das Projekt „Girls Make Waves„ . Sie begann das Projekt aus dem Antrieb heraus weibliche Surffreunde zu gewinnen, sagt Carothers..."
06/03/2019 BBC Sri Lanka (Online)
Coverage in Tamil on the BBC website
"கடலலைகளில் சறுக்கி சாகசம் புரிந்த அந்தப் பெண்ணின் பெயர் - ரவீந்திர ராஜா பேபி ராணி. 'அறுகம்பே விமன் சர்ஃப் கிளப்' உறுப்பினர் என்று, தன்னை அவர் அறிமுகம் செய்து கொண்டார். கடலில் அலை சறுக்கில் ஈடுபடும் பெண்களுக்கென இலங்கையில் முதன் முதலாக உருவாக்கப்பட்டுள்ள இந்தக் 'கிளப்', இலங்கை சர்ஃபிங் சம்மேளனத்தில் பதிவு செய்யப்பட்டுள்ளது."
11/03/2019 Ada Derana (Online)
On 4 March 2019 Skills for Inclusive Growth (S4IG), an initiative of the Australian Government’s aid program, in partnership with the Sri Lanka Ministry of Skills Development and Vocational Training launched a professional development and certification program for the Arugam Bay Girls Surf Club.
At the end of seven months of training, members of the club will be certified as surf instructors by the International Surfing Association San Diego, California.
In celebrating this event during International Women’s Day week...
Silver Kris (Online and Print)
"The rising sun is just beginning to paint the eastern skies in shades of vermilion, but there are already a number of surfers just beyond the breakers, scanning the lightening horizon for the perfect wave.
One of them is Shamali Sanjaya, one of a growing number of female surfers who hail from the tiny fishing community of Arugam Bay, located on the eastern coast of Sri Lanka."
09/03/2015 The Inertia (Online)
Dressing for the culture: leggings on for Sri Lanka; photo credit: Yanik Tissera, 2015
The Inertia shared Sarah Yani's reflections on the first Girls Make Waves event in Sri Lanka in 2015