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  Body Glove signs on as a major

Press release:

Redondo Beach, Calif. (March 25, 2015) – Body Glove returns as a key sponsor of the National Scholastic Surfing Association (NSSA) for the next three years. “We are extremely proud and excited to have Body Glove return again as a major sponsor of the NSSA,” said Janice Aragon, NSSA Executive Director. “Our renewed partnership is an example of Body Glove’s commitment to the roots of our sport and the importance of promoting and supporting the future. The presence of Body Glove at the NSSA events nationwide, especially the world-renowned National Championships, will surely add to the overall event experience for our competitors, families and spectators,” Aragon, added.

Body Glove has been a major supporter of competitive surfing since the company started. In addition to creating the first wetsuit for surfing, the brand helped create the Bud Pro Surf Tour that ran through the eighties and nineties. Body Glove has also sponsored numerous competitive surfing events from local Grom surf contests through its own retail store, Dive N’ Surf, to international and big wave events like the Maverick’s Invitational that took place last January.

Body Glove was a major sponsor of the NSSA from 1989-2009, and a few of Body Glove’s employees competed at the NSSA when they were kids. The company has also sponsored dozens of surfers who also got their start on the NSSA and have gone on to have successful careers in the surf industry. Jeff Booth, Rob Machado, Shane Dorian, Vince De La Pena, Kelly Gibson, and Ted Robinson, to name a few.

“Getting back to the fundamental idea of teaching kids how to compete and progress in their lives has always been an important ideal for the brand,” said VP of Marketing Scott Daley, who competed as a professional surfer in his twenties.  “Our goal is to help the organization thrive. We encourage other brands to step up and support the NSSA and other surfing development programs as well.”

About Body Glove International

Founded in Redondo Beach, California in 1953 by twin brothers Bill and Bob Meistrell, Body Glove is the original wetsuit company. Today, the privately-owned, family-operated company is a leading global watersports brand that specializes in wetsuits, swimwear, clothing, footwear, accessories and technology products. While Body Glove has supported surfers and the surfing industry since 1953, today Body Glove sponsors one of the most respected surf and wakeboard teams in the industry. Pro surfers Tatiana Weston-Webb, Jamie O’Brien, Anthony Walsh, Alex Gray, Zeke Lau, Guinness World Record Holder Garrett McNamara, as well as wakeboarders Rusty Malinoski, Harley Clifford, and Bob Soven are all part of the Body Glove Team. Through Reef Check, SIMA’s environmental fund, and the Surfrider Foundation, Body Glove also works hard to preserve and protect the oceans and waterways it loves. The company’s headquarters are still based in Redondo Beach, but its products are sold all over the U.S. by a network of independent retailers, at its own Dive N’ Surf retail shop and in approximately 50 countries worldwide.

About NSSA

The National Scholastic Surfing Association (NSSA) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to encourage and assist its members in their interest to learn and develop the fundamentals and skills of surfing competition while competing in structured and quality events. The NSSA promotes the qualities of discipline and competitive excellence while supporting the merits of academic achievement to young surfers. The NSSA strives to provide a fun surfing experience for all of its members.

The NSSA is one of the few national youth sports organizations that require its participants to maintain academic standards in order to compete. Since 1978, the NSSA program philosophy has been that athletics and scholastics go hand in hand. More than 80 NSSA events are run nationwide that culminate with the annual National Championships which is regarded as the highest profile youth surfing event in America.