Alyssa Spencer was 9 when she first came to watch female surfers compete in the 2012 Super Girl Surf Pro contest in Oceanside. Three years later, she joined the annual competition as a junior. And this morning, Saturday September 18, the Encinitas surfer, now professional, will face some of the best riders in the world.

This weekend (September 17-19), the three-day Nissan Super Girl Surf Pro celebrates its 15th anniversary. Since its inaugural event with 16 competitors in 2007, Supergirl has grown into the world’s largest women’s surfing competition. Eighty-eight of the world’s best surfers – including Olympic gold medalist and five-time world champion Carissa Moore – compete at Oceanside Pier South Beach for what organizers expect organizers to expect. to a crowd of around 10,000 spectators from Friday to Sunday.

Spencer said that from a young age, seeing her surf idol Moore and many others compete in Supergirl “lit a fire” under her to reach the top.

“I have pictures of myself here when I was 9 or 10 posing with some of the same girls I’m competing against now,” Spencer said on the opening day of the event Friday. “I love what Supergirl has done for women’s sport. It showed that women can push just as hard as boys. “

It’s music to the ears of Rick Bratman, founder and director of Supergirl. He said he felt like a proud stepdad watching the surfers who started Supergirl years ago as teens grow up to dominate the sport, including Moore, Lakey Peterson, Sage Erickson, Coco Ho and Sally Fitzgibbons.

“Supergirl is all about seeding the next generation and inspiring them to be the next Carissa Moore,” Bratman said.

Recognizing the influence she has on budding young surfers, Moore worked with Bratman this year to host one of her Moore Aloha events for the first time at Supergirl. On Friday, 24 young girls from across the country joined Moore for a one-day surf mentorship program. Bratman called it a “blessing” that the native of Hawaii shares her time and talents with others so generously.

“I have been in the sports industry for 27 years and she is without a doubt one of the nicest people I have ever met,” he said.

Moore will compete early this morning in Round 8. Spencer will follow her a few hours later in Round 12. At the end of the day, the riders with the most points will advance to Sunday’s finals.

Spencer grew up in Carlsbad where she remembers climbing her first surfboard around the age of 5 with the help of her father, and now coach, Paul Spencer. At age 8, she started participating in push-in tournaments, where her father pushed her board to the breaking wave because it was not yet strong enough to paddle. At age 11, she started competing solo. She says surfing appeals to her competitive nature and that she feels at home in the water.

“The ocean is a place where I feel calm, peaceful and refreshed. I always come back happier than when I started, ”she said.

Her goal since the age of 12 has been to qualify for the Women’s World Surf League circuit. Surfers participate in qualifying tournaments like Supergirl all year round to earn the points needed to make the Championship Tour. A few years ago, Spencer ended the year at a point near the end of the tour. Looking back, she said she realized that having so much responsibility at 16 would have been too much for her. But it was still a big disappointment.

Alyssa Spencer, 18, of Encinitas, talks about her surfing career as she sat on a lifeguard tower near Oceanside Pier on Friday. She is competing in the Super Girl Surf Pro women’s surf tournament until Sunday.

(Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)

When the pandemic arrived and tournaments were canceled around the world, Spencer said the pressure she had put on to earn points evaporated. Instead, she was able to enjoy surfing purely as a recreational pleasure, which renewed her passion for the sport.

With the exception of his distance education at MiraCosta College, Spencer is focused on his surf career. She’s in the water for about four hours a day and balances that with fitness, yoga, and weight training. She also travels the world with her family surfing in remote places, including her favorite wave spot, Macaroni Surf Resort in Indonesia.

“This free time gave me the mental space I needed to bounce back from a loss,” she said. “Instead, my goal was just to have fun and focus on doing it for myself and not worrying about anything else.”

When Spencer returned to competition this year, she was in great shape. On September 5, she won her very first qualifying tournament, the WRV Outer Banks Pro in North Carolina. Once Supergirl is over, she’ll head to Huntington Beach next week for the US Open challengers tournament, where she hopes to do well.

The main focus of Supergirl Surf Pro is surfing, but to broaden the appeal of the event over the years, Bratman said he has created many surround events over the years to expand its appeal to one. wider audience. New this year is a women’s longboard tournament on Sunday, and today’s comeback of years gone by is an event adapted for female surfers with disabilities. Carlsbad resident Liv Stone, who won the 2020 AMPSurf World Parasurf Championship gold medalist, will compete with 19 other women.

All public events at Supergirl are free. They include live concerts from 11:15 am to 7:30 pm today and from 11:30 am to 6 pm on Sunday. There’s also a Women’s Esports tournament, a DJ competition, a vendor village, and a series of free lessons and talks given by professional women. The event is at 300 N. The Strand, Oceanside. For more details, visit supeprgirlsurfpro.com.