Three Sydney brothers face off at the Reflections Cadet Cup

Three Sydney brothers will star in the Reflections Cadet Cup at Tuncurry’s Nine Mile Beach this weekend, with two of them competing against each other as they chase their dream of making the World Surfing League.

The ocean-mad Spierings boys – Hugo, 13, Brynn, 12, and Tymen, 11 – surf twice a day before and after school at their local break, Bondi Beach.

On December 7, Hugo and Brynn will compete against each other in the Under 14s category in the Reflections Cadet Cup at Tuncurry, on the Mid North Coast, while Tymen will compete in the Under 12s category. (The boys’ sister Coco, 7, is also a keen surfer but too young to compete this year).

Hugo recently won the Under 14s at the Victorian Micro Groms Cup at Torquay Point, knocking out Brynn in the quarterfinals, and Tymen came second in the Under 12s category.

“They all have dreams of being WSL surfers, a healthy goal to have for kids of their age,” their father, Ruud Spierings, said.

The Reflections Cadet Cup is a partnership between Reflections Holidays, a Crown Land manager and the largest adventure holiday park group in NSW, and iconic surf festival Surfest.

Importantly, the Reflections Cadet Cup is a 5500-rated event that helps young surfers win points towards climbing the professional ladder to reach the WSL.

The inaugural Reflections Cadet Cup in February, 2024, at Rainbow Beach, Bonny Hills, was such a success that it was expanded to include the second event at Tuncurry.

Minister for Sport, Lands and Property, Steve Kamper, said it was great to see Crown land holiday parks hosting the Cadet Cup to support junior sport and regional businesses through tourism.

“Reflections Holidays manages coastal holiday parks on Crown land in some of NSW’s best surf locations so its match-up with Surfest to host the Cup is a win-win for both sport and tourism,” Mr Kamper said.

Surfest director Warren Smith said Nine Mile Beach at Tuncurry would provide challenging and rewarding conditions for the event’s 75 entrants in boys and girls Under 12s, 14s and 16s categories.

“The debut Reflections Cadet Cup at Bonny Hills was such a fantastic event and we’re really excited to be expanding the cup into this second competition at Nine Mile at Tuncurry,” Mr Smith said.

“These regional events are really the breeding ground for the development of youth surfing to build national champions and we’re thrilled to be partnering with Reflections again on this second event in the Cadet Cup calendar.”

Reflections CMO Pete Chapman said the Reflections Cadet Cup offered competitors and tourists the chance to enjoy the action beachside and connect outdoors with the community.

“We believe that life’s better outside and we exist to connect our guests with nature and create experiences for them, and the Cadet Cup really meets all of our goals in that sense,” Mr Chapman said.

Ruud Spierings said when he and his wife met in Australia, they moved to Bondi with the dream their kids would have a chance to live a beach lifestyle that was very different to their homeland in the Netherlands.

“We thought how nice would it be for them to surf as a lifestyle choice so when they were young, we got them into surfing lessons, and all four of them instantly became like, ‘the ocean is calling me’ kind of humans'. Now they can’t not go. They are proper surfers," says Ruud.

“They wake up at 5.45am, they get dressed in wetsuits and surf between 615 to 745am then get dressed in the carpark and then get dropped to school, then they get out 315pm from school, get changed in the car park and are back in from 330 until 5pm. “