Special coverage presented by Surf City - El Salvador Travel - Cover photo: Aguerre by ISA/Franco

Fernando Aguerre is happy that the World Masters is back after 11 years. He says that at the beginning of the year he asked himself what he needed to do and his answer was the World Masters.

As he says, he is a practical idealist, that is, he carries out what he sets out to do; he did not stay in the world of ideas; he went forward with the resurgence of that deficiency.

The World Masters Championship was announced months ago with one of the best allies that an international sports organization can have, such as El Salvador, which with almost 20 international events organized during this administration has become a perfect nation to hold international championships.

“This is an example that for those of us who like to surf and compete, even though we are free surfers most of the time, sometimes it is nice to compete and also in the masters championships there is a camaraderie, a focus on camaraderie and friendship that surpasses other championships where the focus is on winning or losing. In the Masters championships we are all a little more relaxed,” says Aguerre about one of the main qualities of this tournament.

Below in an interview, you will find everything that happened to bring this event back onto the map and back to stay, as Aguerre also assures.

Why did it take 11 years without a World Masters Championship?
It's just that the ISA has organized a lot of championships in these 11 years and at the ISA we are the ones who organize the Pan American Games, the Pan American Games competitions, the Olympic Games competitions, we have organized many world championships in all these years and sometimes the difficulty is finding hosts committed to a long-term organization of the events.

So we are very happy to have found in the government of El Salvador someone interested in making the Masters happen and keep happening. So we are happy to have organized the championship again and especially in my dear friend El Salvador on this incredible beach that is El Sunzal.

What happened to make you come back and to make you come back to El Salvador?
It was a personal initiative of mine. At the beginning of the year, when I was thinking about what I needed to do at the ISA on a world level, I thought that we needed to do the Masters again. Of course, there are a lot of events that can be organized, so I started working directly, personally, and I found the necessary agreement with the government of El Salvador for the Masters to return. And that was what started all the negotiations and that is why there are now Masters in El Salvador.

As a global federation, what is the point of encouraging and incentivizing surfing among older surfers?
I think that sport should be practiced throughout life. From a very young age until the end of our lives, which is why I think that surfing is a sport that can be practiced throughout life. There are sports that are not like that, but surfing is.

And I think it's great that we have a place where all the masters surfers from all the countries in the world can compete representing their countries and thus continue their lives. This is the case of Tom Curren who won an ISA Junior World Championship in the 80s, won an Open World Championship in 1982, won the professional world title three times and won the masters once, which makes him the most decorated surfer in history in the diversity of ISA championships and he is now in El Salvador.

"This is an example that for those of us who like to surf and compete, even though we are free surfers most of the time, sometimes it is nice to compete and also in the masters championships there is a camaraderie, a focus on camaraderie and friendship that surpasses other championships in which the focus is on winning or losing. In the Masters championships we are all a little calmer."

This is an example of how for those of us who like to surf and compete, even though we are free surfers most of the time, sometimes it is nice to compete and also in the masters championships there is a camaraderie, a focus on camaraderie and friendship that surpasses other championships where the focus is on winning or losing. In the Masters championships we are all a little more relaxed.

It is a pleasure to have been successful in hosting the ISA Master World Championships again.

What do you like most about this World Cup?
I said it in the previous answer: camaraderie and also giving people the opportunity to continue competing and representing their country. I think that's a beautiful thing.

You know people of all kinds, from all sports, how do you see surfing as a physical activity that helps longevity?
Surfing has that ability that allows you to surf basically until the end of your life. You can't be a boxer at 70 or 60. Other sports are also difficult to do when you're older, like playing football when you're older is also difficult. And surfing is suited to longevity.

"And what I really believe is that it's not that one stops surfing because one gets big, one gets big because one stops surfing. And in that sense it seems to me that it is essential to continue surfing."

And in reality, what I believe is that it's not that one stops surfing because one gets old, one gets old because one stops surfing. And in that sense, I think it's essential to keep surfing, and even though what one can do on the wave adapts to changes in age and the boards one uses adapt as time goes by, there is desire, and if there is desire, everything is possible.

With the ISA in a much better financial situation today, can we expect the World Masters to be fixed annually in a guaranteed way? Or at least with a high level of security?
The plan was not to hold another Masters Championship but to organise it and keep it going, so yes, this is the first one and of course I am in favour of it being held over time and being repeated. That is the plan.