Overview:

As a part of the ISA’s ongoing efforts and commitment to promote gender equality across the sport of Surfing and increase the number of female technical officials in our sport, the ISA has created an ongoing series of Women’s Judging Programs, which take place during ISA World Championships.

The key aim of this program is to train and develop more female surf judges for consideration on the panels at future ISA World Championships and eventually in the Olympic Games. The program is fully subsidized by the ISA as one of our gender equality initiatives. Multiple women from these programs have gone on to judge at ISA World Championship Events, highlighting the success of this initiative.

Past Editions:

September 2025 at ISA World Surfing Games in Surf City, El Salvador

The 2025 ISA Women’s Judging Program received record-breaking interest with 114 applications from 44 countries. This 35% increase in applications from 2024 proves that the momentum of female participation in judging is continuing to grow thanks to the ISA program.

8 women from around the world were selected to participate in this program. The course included a separate learning space within the judging tower for the women to learn and discuss with their dedicated program expert, Dave Shipley. They had access to their own judging tablets and replay system so they could follow along with the competition and run mock panels in their judging space before comparing to the official results. They rotated between practice judging in their own judging room and shadow judging the actual competition panel.

February 2024 at ISA World Surfing Games in Arecibo, Puerto Rico

The 2024 ISA Women’s Judging Program received a great deal of interest from women around the world with 85 applications from 39 countries.

8 women from all 5 continents were selected to be included as a part of the technical team during the World Surfing Games. They alternated between fulfilling key roles as spotters and beach marshals and receiving on-site judging training from the ISA Technical Team and ISA Judge and trainer Dave Shipley, who has over 30 years of judging experience.

Online Women’s Judging Program – November 15-17, 2023:

The ISA hosted an online women’s judging program for over 130 women from 45 countries from November 15-17. The program was led by ISA Technical Director Erik Krammer and ISA Judges Dave Shipley and Tory Gilkerson. ISA President Fernando Aguerre also joined for a portion of the program and gave an inspirational message to all of women in attendance. This program is part of the ISA’s gender equality initiative to have more women technical officials. Feedback from the Women’s Judging Program has been overwhelmingly positive.

This ISA Judging training initiative is offered exclusively to women and includes the ISA Judging and Officiating Course and Certification, Olympic Judging Testimonials, and additional technical judging details and topics. The program is subsidized by the ISA and is free for the women selected to participate.

September 2022 at ISA World Surfing Games in Huntington Beach, California

This historic Women’s Judging Program took place at the 2022 ISA World Surfing Games. This was the first on-site edition of the program. 9 women from around the world were selected to fulfill key roles as spotters and beach marshals, and to receive on-site judging training from the ISA Technical Team and ISA Judge and trainer Dave Shipley, who has over 30 years of judging experience.