HUBBUB
COMMOTION
ALARMED VOICES
PANICKED VOICES
CLAMOURING
SHOUTING
SCREAM ECHOES
DISTANT SIRENS
BOY SPEAKS SPANISH:
BARKING
25, 25, 25. Cinco!
INAUDIBLE
ALL: Voila, voila, fu man chu.
JHONNY:
BARKING
MOTHER SPEAKS IN SPANISH:
BABY CHATTERS WITH JHONNY
BROADCAST ANNOUNCEMENT:
IN SPANISH:
The Proyecto Sofia Mulanovich is a youth high-performance surf academy.
We're going to be choosing ten kids
and giving them everything they need to become professional surfers.
Till now, I've been the only Latin American
to qualify for the World Championship tour.
To win the world title in 2004 was like my dream come true, for sure.
Winning that for my country was amazing.
I feel the need to transmit my knowledge
to the Peruvian and Latin surfers.
I feel that's my job.
Of course, I want to create a champion, yeah.
But like a real champion.
Ahora no colabora. Atencion. Azul...
HE BROADCASTS SIREN ALERT
APPLAUSE
Good, good, good.
Let's go.
Vamonos. Eric!
Esta? Hola.
Hola, que tal? Hola.
THEY SQUEAL WITH DELIGHT
Tranquilo.
THEY CHANT: Jhonny, Jhonny!
CLAPPING
Traditionally, surfing in Peru is a middle-class sport.
All the families come from generations and generations
of surfers.
Como estas? Bien?
Yeah, it's pretty much like a big family.
Hola. Como estas?
Hola, Jhonny. Hola, Jhonny.
Jhonny turned up on his own.
He came from Chorrillos.
He's done it the hard way.
Dos, tres! Vamos!
There's a couple that are really motivated.
Probably I think the kids that have never had the opportunity before
are a little bit more into it, you know?
I think kids like Jhonny see surfing as their only way out.
They don't really have a plan B.
They put a lot of extra pressure in themselves to perform.
My name is Jose Plaza,
and I have known Sofia since we were kids, really.
And she asked me to help her with her proyecto,
and that's when I met Jhonny Guerrero.
Cual se queda?
There goes Jhonny.
The first time I saw Jhonny surf,
I was super impressed.
Good, huh?
But he lives in a very chaotic environment...
..and it's very easy for him to just disappear.
He needs the right people around him.
Without that support,
Jhonny cannot make it as a professional surfer.
Little by little, over the months,
I started helping Jhonny out.
Getting board sponsors.
They give you a little money and help you with equipment.
DOG BARKS
Ya, ya, mira.
Surfing is like most sports.
There is a junior series which you have to do well in
if you want to step it up to a pro career.
The first step for Jhonny is to try and win a national title.
Bien.
In Peru, the way you do that is with the Junior National Championship.
Jhonny!
Bien!
OVER TANNOY: Jhonny Guerrero, siguiente serie - recoger licras.
JOSE: Each year, we have a series of events...
..here in Lima and in the north and south of Peru.
And the winner is crowned as the national champion for that year.
JOSE: He has improved a lot.
He's, like, super consistent and super intelligent.
SOFIA: He's really raw. That's really exciting in a surfer.
Watch him surf - he's hypnotising.
You see it, you know?
JOSE: Jhonny's not far from the lead now, with just one more event to go.
I think he has a chance...
..to become champ.
MUSIC PLAYING INSIDE
Me duele hasta el culo.
CAR HORNS, ALARMS SOUND
INDISTINCT CONVERSATION
SOFIA: Surfing, I think,
is the sport with most variables in the world.
You have the wind,
you have the ocean moving,
you have the different waves.
And also your mind.
In that 20 minutes, you're standing on your board
for, like, 30 seconds, and the rest you're in your mind.
So, for sure, I think
that the thing that makes the difference is the mind.
The times I've won seemed effortless.
My best results came when I was the most relaxed,
the most in tune with the ocean.
Tonight, they are doing really well.
But as soon as the heat started, Jhonny turned off.
He started picking bad waves, you know, falling off.
You know, he's... I don't know.
He just sometimes needs to just chill out in his heat.
You know, sometimes you just have to have a balance
between being too focused and, you know, letting go,
so you are in a stable state of mind, you know?
But, you know, with the pressure that the contest is coming up,
I think sometimes they let their emotions come forward.
I don't know.
HE WHISTLES Yo, Franco!
OVER TANNOY: A ver, por favor,
este, aquellas personas que esten fumando, por favor, stop.
Ley 25357 -
asi que, por favor, apaguen sus cigarros, senores.
It's really frustrating cos he's been ripping here,
he's been training every day for this contest,
and he doesn't show up, you know? It's just...
I don't know.
He seems like he's living in another place, with his dad,
but his dad is in jail but...
I don't think he's there, so I think they're lying, you know?
So...let's see when he comes and ask him, no?
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
JOSE: Me and Jhonny, we come from different worlds.
And this clash of worlds,
it's sometimes very difficult for us to communicate,
we have very stressful situations sometimes.
His identity is all over the place.
He doesn't know who he is, really.
So he absorbs all these gangster influences,
and that really gets on my nerves,
and sometimes I really want to strangle him.
What's the deal with that?
You are a surfer, you know?
And sometimes he doesn't seem like one,
and for me, that's very disturbing.
It would be super sad if that talent would be lost here in Peru,
where we don't have much of that.
Te quiere, ya? Si, si, te quiere.
No, no digas eso.
Que tal? Que tal?
FADING OUT: Un monton de vinculos afectivos con gente...
HE SOBS
HE SIGHS
PHONE RINGING
COMMENTATOR: Jhonny Guerrero,
from Peru, about to paddle out for his next heat.
Boiling hot on the south coast today.
This is the Jeep World Junior Championships
and our tour of the world keeps going.
We talk about the road to the Dream Tour.
The World Surf League really has a clear path now
to the Championship Tour.
So this is a little crystal ball
into the future of professional surfing.
SOFIA: This contest gathers the 36 best junior surfers in the world.
I've seen, like, all the best surfers in the world winning
that contest.
Jhonny has had a couple of really hard months,
but he surprised everyone with his qualification.
If he gets in the top ten, it would be
a great start to accomplish his dreams.
30 seconds.
Jhonny Guerrero from Peru.
And Rio Waida from Indonesia.
Heat number two in the water here this morning.
This is the man-on-man matchups
where we start eliminating surfers.
And it looks like Rio, the top seed,
is getting things started straight away on his backhand.
Just the one turn. Gets a little climb over the foam.
But that is first blood to the Indonesian server.
Like I said before, you've got to stay busy,
particularly when it's a little bit slow like today.
And here he goes, straight into wave number two.
Jhonny yet to ride a wave.
Jhonny has been sitting there for a long, long time.
Can you believe it? He's up again.
Yeah, well, he just paddled a lap around Jhonny Guerrero there, who
didn't move, and Rio may have just locked in one of his top two scores.
Jhonny Guerrero, sitting with priority, didn't really make
any move for it, so I don't know if the Peruvian's a little bit nervous.
Talk about building a house.
Rio Waida is building a hotel at the moment.
Ten waves, they're just gradually stacking up.
Jhonny Guerrero yet to ride a single wave.
Rio Waida takes the sky.
Air reverse, that's the first aerial we've seen today.
Rio Waida really now turning up the heat.
Really hope Jhonny gets a couple of opportunities here.
There's nothing worse than getting knocked out of the event
without getting too many waves.
Five, four, three, two, one.
HOOTER
Unfortunately, the run of Peruvian surfer Jhonny Guerrero
comes to a conclusion.
HE SOBS
INDISTINCT TANNOY
JOSE: He's not, like, in tune with himself, nor the ocean, you know.
I don't know what he's got in his mind. I don't understand, really.
Jhonny Guerrero, el color blanco.
HE CRIES
SOFIA: I've talked to all the psychologists
that have worked with him, and nobody can really get to him.
His mind is somewhere else.
He's so angry inside, you know, so stressed.
We just need to be careful, like, how to handle it,
because we could be helping him...
..or we could be ruining him.
HORN HONKS
DOOR OPENS
Estas tranquilo? Si. Tranquilo.
NO AUDIBLE SPEECH
KNOCKING
OVER TANNOY: ..de la ultima, el rojo sale la nota 2.37...
Con eso tenemos en primer lugar el negro.
Segundo lugar.. We're here in San Bartolo.
Jhonny is in the first heat of the day against
two solid Peruvian surfers.
So if he makes that heat, it's going to be a great success for him.
The guys he's competing against here are a lot older than him.
This is the men's contest, but he's turning 18 soon,
so he's doing it for the experience.
The dad is here, so it's the first surf competition he's ever seen.
So hopefully he can have a good tournament
and everything goes well for him.
OVER TANNOY:
Listo. Atencion con la teoria, ya sabes.
OVER TANNOY: Atencion, competidores,
inicio de serie,
20 minutos en el agua desde ahora.
Cuenta regresiva - en cinco, cuatro,
tres, dos, uno...
HOOTER
Venga.
OVER TANNOY: Ultima ola del color rojo -
5.10. 5.10.
So it's going to be really good to watch.
I think Jhonny really needs to pick his waves right and keep calm,
because they are going to keep calm. They are really experienced.
..a la primera ubicacion.
Blanco, necesitas una ola de 4.76 para poder pasar.
Rojo, necesitas una ola de 5 puntos.
If he really wins this heat, it's, OK, bye-bye Junior,
and bye-bye being a grommet,
and you are with the big guys now, you know.
ANNOUNCER: Cinco, cuatro,
tres, dos, uno...
HOOTER
CROWD APPLAUDS
No, no, no, no.
THEY CHEER
Va bien, va bien!
STIRRING MUSIC PLAYS
HOOTER
CROWD APPLAUDS
SOFIA: Now he has his dad back,
his life is starting to really take shape, you know.
People think it's just about competing, but it's not, you know.
We're also humans and we need that support, we need that love.
Having that in his life, you know,
is really going to make a huge difference.
COMMENTARY: Yes. Team Peru, let the colours fly,
cos Jhonny Guerrero is undeniable.
This young man, just electrifying.
COMMENTARY: Now we're into the elimination rounds,
the pressure is on.
Jhonny Guerrero, surfer from Peru,
with a background in the white water, one solid finish.
Well done by the surfer. You can see from the body language
on the inside, he is stoked on that one.
Jhonny Guerrero's been on fire.
He's come from a hard upbringing,
and he surfs his way all the way to a World Junior Championships.
It's a fantastic story.
# Jhonny Guerrero!#
Look at the speed, the flow that he has.
Looking super alive on his feet.
ALL: Arriba Peru! Woo!
An incredible fifth place overall in the world for Jhonny Guerrero.
He can go home with his head held high.
HE WHISTLES
CROWD APPLAUDS AND CHEERS