en-ushttp://www.sportscene.tvSportscene produces cool impact-full videos and photos that show what your sport is really about.http://www.sportscene.tv/news_details.php?id=139Sportscene is now on Twitter. You can visit the page here.http://www.sportscene.tv/news_details.php?id=137Sportscene and the International Canoe Federation (ICF) have now become partners in media. Both Simon Toulson (Secretary General ICF) and Rob van Bommel (Founder Sportscene) believe that this partnership will result in more interesting video productions on the Internet. This is good news for everyone who enjoys canoeing andor loves watching races competitions interviews with athletes (background) canoeing news and so on. More information will follow so stay tunedhttp://www.sportscene.tv/news_details.php?id=136In this Sportscene newsletter lots of news about several canoeing disciplines tennis cycling and video seminars about sports nutritionpsychologyphysiology (SLSA). But lets start with Sportscene: Sportscene Besides the studio in Sydney Sportscene opened a second studio in Europe. This studio in Eindhoven (The Netherlands) will be the basis for client work in Europe. Youtube has asked Sportscene to become a Partner. Youtube about Sportscene: You have great videos and a growing audience. You can watch the Sportscene Youtube Channel here. Over 5000 fans from all over the world joined Sportscene on Facebook in 5 months time. This is a positive start. You can watch the Sportscene Facebook Page here. Sportscenes Social Media strategy and approach is becoming more and more successful every day. It definitely helps that figure heads like Jacques Rogge (President IOC) also do have a strong vision in this respect: The Olympic movement needs to learn from the likes of YouTube [and Facebook] or risk losing viewers for life. If they are going online we are going online. Another example is Google that is developing Android OS which enables existing televisions to access the Internet and use all kind of web applications.  Canoeing Sportscene produced a video that promoted a wildwater event with 4 disciplines: wildwater sprint. slalom freestyle and boater-X. This is a good example of giving sponsors exposure throughout the duration of the video. You can watch it here.  Canoe Slalom - The Three Musketeers. Commissioned by CSN (Canoe Slalom News) Sportscene produced a trailer and three interviewsepisodes with Fabien Lefevre Denis Gargaud and Jean-Yves Cheutin. You can watch all productions on the CSN website. On the Eauxvives website it had 2000 views and some discussion... The Three Musketeers had multi class racing as one of the themes. Does multi class racing make you a better athlete This video with Maximillian Benassi - a down river and sprint athlete - shows it definitely can make a difference. Also watch this video that promotes cross participation between canoe sprint and surfski with Ken Wallace and Murray Stewart. It also contains some exiting Olympic footage. Ever wondered how athletes feel when they are racing the 200 meter Watch this video with Jesse Phillips and Steve Bird. 8 May Sportscene will cover the canoeing trials for the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore this year. Athletes must compete in two disciplines: a Head to Head Sprint race and an Obstacle Slalom race. As of 910 May the video news flashes can be watched on the Australian Canoeing Youtube Channel the ICF Youtube Channel and the Australian Olympic Committee website.  Youtube also invited Australian Canoeing (AC) to become a Partner. When benchmarked with other international Youtube channels that primarily focus on canoeing the AC Channel can be considered as the most successful. A fantastic recognition for the collaboration between AC and Sportscene their Social Media strategy and their effort in promoting canoeing.   Mainstream sports and other topics Sportscene also started covering mainstream sports such as tennis cycling hiking and maybe rugby in the near future. Although a sport like tennis has plenty of TV coverage they realise that attracting young athletes and viewers requires a proper Social Media strategy and related services that suit Facebook Youtube etcetera. This is in line with Jacques Rogges vision as mentioned earlier in this newsletter. The hiking concerned shooting footage in the Himalayas which was exhausting (on 4700m) but fantastic. The video will be produced for an agency that sells and promotes multi-week trekkings. Sportscene covered seminars about nutrition psychology and physiology for Surf Life Saving Australia all presented by leading experts in the field. Like several other productions these videos are not available on the web. But if you are an Australian sprintsurfski athlete contact Lynda Lehmann via SLSA. http://www.sportscene.tv/news_details.php?id=135The objective of the Surf Kayak Program is to attract talented athletes and to promote the cross participation and development of surf ski paddlers with the Olympic discipline of canoe sprint racing. This program is a joint initiative of Surf Life Saving Australia (SLSA) Australian Canoeing (AC) National Talent Identification and Development (NTID) and the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS). Sportscene produced a promotion clip a support and technique video and the third video shows an extract of the interviews with the managers that started this joint initiative. FB.init(5ab9061876b71f32931ad94617200d1a); http://www.sportscene.tv/news_details.php?id=134The Penrith Valley Jets Program supported by the National Talent Identification and Development Program and Australian Canoeing is seeking young male and female athletes with the potential and ambition to become champions in the sport of canoe slalom. Are you: looking for something exciting and challenging comfortable in and around the water and interested in becoming a future Australian Olympian We are looking for male and female athletes aged between 10-14 years old who have: good strength power and endurance good balance posture and flexibility resilience and the ability to commit to a regular training squad. If you meet all or some of these requirements then we want to hear from you Athletes selected in the NTID Penrith Valley JETS program will have: a world leading coaching and training environment superior coaching including coaching from Olympians and National team members quality training facilities access to equipment and the chance to be a top Australian sports star. The program linked to the Penrith Valley Canoeing Club will be based at the Penrith Whitewater Stadium and the Nepean River Travel to other venues will be required. For more information or to register for testing visit http:ausport.gov.aucanoe FB.init(5ab9061876b71f32931ad94617200d1a); http://www.sportscene.tv/news_details.php?id=133One News Flash and two Game Flashes are produced: the Grand Finals for Women and Men 30. http://www.sportscene.tv/news_details.php?id=132Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 October the surf life saving competition took place at Manly beach. This video news flash gives an impression of the surf sports the athletes and of course Manly beach itself. If you would like to download this video (for AUS$ 9.95 in Quicktime or MP4) contact Sportscene. http://www.sportscene.tv/news_details.php?id=128Sunday 4 and Monday 5 October I randomly took some photos. It was the first time I covered canoe polo and to be honest it was difficult. In comparison to the other sports like slalom sprint or down river it was really challenging but it went well. You can find the photos here. We also filmed the Mens and Womens Grand Finals. Two cameras were used: one overview camera by Matt Perrin and one roving camera for the close ups operated by myself. After the Sydney World Masters Games we will start editing. But dont forget to watch the video news flash that will cover the Sydney World Masters Games Canoe Polo. http://www.sportscene.tv/news_details.php?id=126Topics in this newsletter: - Preview Surf Kayak Program. Three questions for: * Clint Robinson (Elite Canoe Sprint Athlete) * Grant Baldock (General Manager Surf Sports Surf Life Saving Australia) - World Championships Canoe Slalom Spain - All News Flashes Worlds Canoe Slalom on DVD for A$29.95 - 2009 Sydney World Masters Games: Canoe Slalom - Event Agenda: 2009 SWMG and Wildwater World Cup 2009 - Receive a free photo print or DVD __________________________________________________________ PREVIEW SURF KAYAK PROGRAM The objective of the Surf Kayak Program is to attract talented athletes and to promote the cross participation and development of surf ski paddlers with the Olympic discipline of canoe sprint racing. This interview with Clint Robinson (Five times Olympian and winner of Gold Silver and Bronze medals) and Grant Baldock (General Manager Surf Sports SLSA) precedes the final Surf Kayak video production that will be released in November 2009. The program is a joint co-operation between Surf Life Saving Australia Australian Canoeing and the Australian Institute of Sport. This video production is commissioned by National Talent Identification and Development (Australian Sports Commission). WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS CANOE SLALOM SPAIN Commissioned by the International Canoe Federation (ICF) five days long Sportscene covered the World Championships Canoe Slalom 2009 in the Spanish Pyrenees. During the races Sportscene interviews athletes and coaches and films the races the audience and the venue. Each day after the races a video news flash was produced uploaded on You Tube and made available for broadcasters like TF1 (the largest European private TV channel) across the world via satellite. You can watch all news flashes here. It was a fantastic experience to work with professionals like Toti Rossello (Manager Press Centre) Lee Hart (Twitter press releases public relations) Balint Vekassy (photography photo Mens C2) and Richard Fox Simon Toulson and Simon Catterall (ICF). NEWS FLASHES WORLDS SPAIN ON DVD For those who are interested all ICF news flashes produced during the world can be bought on DVD in High Definition (1280x720) and Widescreen. For more information click here. For the Australian market three extra news flashes will be added as shown on the AC You Tube channel. 2009 SYDNEY WORLD MASTERS GAMES - CANOE SLALOM Thursday 15 October the Penrith Whitewater Stadium will host the canoe slalom races during the 2009 Sydney World Masters Games. After the event all approximately 100 individual races will be uploaded on You Tube including the time and ranking of the athlete. Late next week a promotional video will be uploaded on the same You Tube Channel that is set up for the Sydney World Master Games Canoe Slalom: You Tube Channel . EVENT AGENDA - During the Sydney World Masters Games Sportscene will also cover the Surf Life Saving Competitions on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 October. Whether this will be via video news flashes or photography still needs to be determined. Also Canoe Polo Canoe Sprint and Marathon will be covered. - Between 24 October and 7 November six Wildwater World Cup races will take place on Tasmania. Some of these will be covered by Sportscene. *** RECEIVE A FREE PHOTO PRINT OR DVD ***http://www.sportscene.tv/news_details.php?id=125The news flashes below can now be bought for A$29.95 including domestic or international shipping. All news flashes are in HD (1280x720) and Widescreen. To order the DVD click here. http://www.sportscene.tv/news_details.php?id=124Obviously Sportscene supports an active lifestyle. Double Drummer is an initiative that brings together people who would like to start or continue a sport. Sportscene therefor has become a supporting partner of Double Drummer. Double Drummer is a place where you can have fun meeting other people who want to start (or continue) an active lifestyle. In time we’ll also become a comprehensive sports community and activity web site enabling you to find whoever and whatever you need to keep active. Help grow this active community … join now for FREE Whatever your favourite sport or activity Double Drummer will connect you with sports partners living in your area of your age gender playing standard or situation (you decide the search parameters) as well as the coaches physios sports centres retailers and more most relevant to you. Eventually you’ll be able to search worldwide.  Why join in the fun If you’re time poor you want to get healthy (or healthier) you’d rather meet people through sport than in a bar you’ve just relocated here from overseas the kids have left home and you’re free to spend more time doing your own thing… or a hundred other reasons Double Drummer is for you. Photo right: Double Drummer Team.     Put simply Double Drummer is the best and most inexpensive way to find sports partners to play with in your area. It costs you nothing to join… nothing to search… and you pay just $1 for contacting those people you most want to meet. For example if you’re looking for a B grade standard female squash player aged 31-40 years old living in the Hills district of Sydney who’s available for social hits on a Monday night you pay nothing to search and only $1 to make a first contact. (After that it’s up to the two of you) And if you contact a Seller (e.g. a coach sports club physio sports facility etc.) you pay absolutely nothing Double Drummer also supports relevant non-profit organisations - like Guy Leech’s favourite charity The Heart Research Institute; and Elka Graham’s swim for safety program in Papua New Guinea through Australian Volunteers International – as well as others that use sport to help disadvantaged kids and communities. Photo left: Elka Graham swimming Olympian and DD Ambassador. Join Double Drummer now for FREE. Double Drummer – the features Believe it or not over 11 million adult Australians play some kind of sport every week. There are tens of thousands of service providers for these active Aussies (e.g. 6000 cricket clubs alone and over 2000 tennis coaches). Double Drummer will cater for people who are into any of around 600 different sports or other activities from Abseiling to Zorbing. (Never heard of ‘zorbing’ It’s basically rolling around in a huge PVC ball… you can’t say we haven’t done our homework). The Double Drummer web site will continue to evolve but right now these are the main features you can access: FREE to join and seek - joining then searching and reading ‘seeker’ and ‘seller’ profiles is FREE Seek to find: the right sports partner (or group to join) by locality sportactivity playing standard age group and gender  the right club coach sports store physio etc. from one of the most comprehensive sport and active lifestyle directories available Only pay per contact  – no subscription or membership fees… you only pay to make contact after your search (just $1 a time)… and if you contact sellers it’s FREE Receive discount offers – you can choose or refuse to receive exclusive offers and discounts always from relevant sport and active lifestyle service providers for (e.g.) sports gear tickets to major events etc. Chill Out Zone – for ‘after-sport’ activities (e.g. dining fine wines concert tickets etc.)… again exclusive member only offers and discounts Try a new sport - invitations to try new sportsactivities or join new groups Improve your skills – coaching tips from professional athletes and coaches relevant to your interests Keep fit and healthy - sport nutrition and diet tips from professional athletes and sport nutritionists Play and display – all the latest sports fashion news tips and special offers Help others through sport – donate your unused credit your time (even your unwanted sporting gear) to help disadvantaged kids and communities through sport. Double Drummer has formed an alliance with Australian Volunteers International (AVI) and will be supporting AVI programs such as the Elka Graham Swim for Safety program in PNG. We also support Guy Leech’s favourite charity The Heart Research Institute. Have your say - talk to other like-minded active people provide feedback about sellers suggest new offers etc. … and coming soon Seek to find activities and events – such as competitions coaching clinics tickets to major sporting events community projects and more Surveys and polls – tell us what you think of the current issues in sport health and fitness Faster communication via SMS – contact fellow seekers quickly via SMS Buy and sell - trade your old sports gear or upgrade to the latest technology Photo right: Guy Leech Champion Ironman and DD Ambassador. Join Double Drummer now for FREE.http://www.sportscene.tv/news_details.php?id=123The Australian Team will participate in the ICF CANOE SLALOM WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2009 to be held in LA SEU DURGELL (Spain) from September 9th to 13th 2009. This trailer introduces the athletes. Stay tuned to the Australian Canoeing You Tube Channel and website to watch the video news flashes that will be uploaded direct from Spain. In the next few months Sportscene will cover the following sports events: World Championships Canoe Slalom in Spain (10-13 September) Canoe Polo Oceania Championships (3-5 October) World Masters Games in Sydney (10-18 October) and the Wildwater World Cups in Tasmania (24 October - 7 November). Coverage will take place through video and photography. For more information contact Sportscene. http://www.sportscene.tv/news_details.php?id=122Topics in this newsletter: - Market for online instruction videos continues to grow - Video productions for the Surf and Kayak campaign - Agenda sports events: world championships canoe slalom etcetera - www.robvanbommel.com __________________________________________________________ MARKET FOR ONLINE INSTRUCTION VIDEOS CONTINUOUS TO GROW This niche in the professional video industry with how-to-information starts to show the first results. Demand Media one of the largest players and biggest up-loader on YouTube recently published its 1 billionth video. As you might expect the How to moonwalk instruction video attracts a lot of viewers (5.5 million) but also in the world of sport Lance Amstrongs Livestrong tutorials are successful. Four months ago Sportscene published a pilot instruction video with Daniele Molmenti. This resulted in a modest success of 1000 views per month. Furthermore it was adopted by canoe slalom and sports websites across the world and generates lively discussions on blogs. The online instruction videos are financed by showing commercials and advertisements. For both the sports organisations and the advertisers this is a viable and interesting proposition. The sport organisation can provide its members this service at no costs and the advertiser is assured it reaches the right audience. Especially for manufacturers and companies that serve the minor sports this is the perfect and most cost effective way to reach an international and diverse audience of clients. For more information contact Sportscene. VIDEO PRODUCTIONS FOR THE SURF AND KAYAK CAMPAIGN Commissioned by NTID (National Talent Identification and Development) and in collaboration with SLSA (Surf Life Saving Australia) AIS (Australian Institute of Sport) and AC (Australian Canoeing) Sportscene is producing several videos to attract talented athletes and to promote the cross participation and development of surf ski paddlers with the Olympic discipline of canoe sprint racing. You can expect more information about these productions and the Surf and Kayak campaign by November. AGENDA SPORTS EVENTS In the next few months Sportscene will cover the following sports events: World Championships Canoe Slalom in Spain (10-13 September) Canoe Polo Oceania Championships (3-5 October) World Masters Games in Sydney (10-18 October) and the Wildwater World Cups in Tasmania (24 October - 7 November). Coverage will take place through video and photography. For more information contact Sportscene. WWW.ROBVANBOMMEL.COM Whilespending lots of time outdoors and travelling for the core activities concerning Sportscene many other interesting topics and people cross Robs path he loves to capture and write about. You can find his work in the area of travel nature and people on his personal website: www.robvanbommel.com http://www.sportscene.tv/news_details.php?id=120Topics in this newsletter: - Rapid River Aqua Adventure Center in Europe: indoor - Video with Daniele Molmenti successful: some stats - Internet broadcasting: live video through the Internet - Music Library __________________________________________________________ RAPID RIVER AQUA ADVENTURE CENTER Objective is to make canoeing on wildwater accessible to a broad audience every moment of the day throughout the year. Developed is a concept and feasibility study for an indoor wildwater stadium in the Netherlands that offers several activities like: two wildwater courses canyoning surfwave kids-lazy-river skimboarding and a terrace. Initiator Wim Holdrinet asked Sportscene and Rob van Bommel for their support to develop the concept for Rapid River Aqua Adventure Center. One of the key recommendations was to facilitate several ‘outdoor‘ activities in an indoor facility. For more information you can contact Sportscene. VIDEO WITH DANIELE MOLMENTI SUCCESSFUL In our newsletter last month we showed you our video about upstream gates with Daniele Molmenti. In one month time it had 1400 views and 70% of the audience comes from New Zealand Spain Andorra Netherlands Italy and Australia. The video is embedded in canoe websites across the world and enhances on line discussions about technique. The graph on the left shows the so called hot spots. The ups-and-downs of viewership at each moment in the video compared to videos of similar length. The higher the graph the hotter the video: fewer viewers are leaving the video and they may also be rewinding to watch that point in the video again. The low is the basic upstream and the two peaks are entering the upstream gate with a break and C1 style. LIVE BROADCASTING THROUGH THE INTERNET Currently we are testing live broadcasts through (wireless) Internet. We will use a mobile phone (Nokia N95N97 or iPhone 3G) or a camera connected to a laptop with wireless Internet. Besides live video this service will also offer interesting features such as: live polls while broadcasting viewers that can communicate with the broadcaster and for example the athlete who is interviewed viewers can chat with each other and the live video can be watched on your mobile. We will keep you up to date about our progress.   MUSIC FOR VIDEOS AND SLIDESHOWS It is essential to have good music for each video and of course it should be royalty free to avoid surprises and problems. Challenge is however that many companies have been flogging the same worn-out cheesy tunes for 50 years. Finally we found a company that produces super-groovy cutting-edge royalty-free stock music: From ultra-hip block rockin electronic grooves and trippy breakbeats to ambient hip hop jazz classical world beat and virtually every genre and style imaginable. This music is also used by Sony Pictures New Line Cinema and Time Warner. Next time you are watching one of our productions you can also enjoy the music library we purchased from this Canada based company.http://www.sportscene.tv/news_details.php?id=121Topics in this newsletter: - Australian Sprint Canoeing Championships 2009 - Australian Canoeing You Tube Channel - Upstream gates with Daniele Molmenti - Sports Minster Kate Ellis baptised in canoe rapids __________________________________________________________ AUSTRALIAN SPRINT CANOEING CHAMPIONSHIPS 2009 The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) and Australian Canoeing commissioned Sportscene to cover the Sprint Championships 2009 and broadcast the daily news through You Tube. On Friday Saturday and Sunday we produced and published news flashes. Before the championships took place we filmed several athletes in NSW and QLD preparing for the races. It was a fantastic experience to work with for example coach Guy Wilding and athletes like Jo Brigden-Jones and Murray Stewart. Below you can watch the video we produced after visiting the QLD Squad. You can watch the five videos we produced by visiting the Australian Canoeing You Tube Channel. You can buy all these videos on one DVD in High Definition and widescreen for A$29.95 including domestic or international shipping here. AUSTRALIAN CANOEING YOU TUBE CHANNEL For Australian Canoeing Sportscene built a You Tube Channel where you can watch several news flashes that so far cover the Australian Open Canoe Slalom the Sprint Championships and Sports Minister Kate Ellis visiting the Penrith Whitewater Stadium. By the time of writing this newsletter the channel was watched by 43% female and 57% male visitors. In three weeks time the channel had more than 1700 views and the news flashes were watched 4000 times in total. Obviously the channel gets most of its visitors from Australia but also people from South Africa like to visit the channel and watch the news flashes. So far the channel has 24 subscribers. You can subscribe by selecting the Subscribe button after which you will be notified every time a new video is published on the channel. UPSTREAM GATES WITH DANIELE MOLMENTI After the Australian Open we spent some time with Olympian Daniele Molmenti shooting a video about upstream gates. We covered 4 different techniques on the flat and wildwater from different angles in normal speed and slow motion. Also shares Daniele some of his insights and experiences with us. The video is a try outexperiment not an instruction video and doesn’t pretend it shows the “one and only truth”. What it does however at this stage is showing how one particular top athlete looks at taking upstream gates. We think that especially juniors can obtain some insights from this video and secondly it might trigger a constructive and healthy dialogue between athletes and coaches. Sportscene will produce more of these videos in the future. You can buy this video on DVD in High Definition and widescreen for A$29.95 including domestic or international shipping here. SPORTS MINISTER KATE ELLIS BAPTISED IN CANOE RAPIDS Wednesday 4 March Australias first male Olympic Canoe Slalom medallist Robin Bell led Sports Minister Kate Ellis in her whitewater initiation at the Penrith Whitewater Stadium to encourage a new wave of young athletes to the sport. Minister Ellis wants her adventure on the rapids to inspire young athletes to try canoeing and consider a possible journey towards representing Australia beyond London 2012. Sportscene covered this visit and you can watch the video below. http://www.sportscene.tv/news_details.php?id=116After the Australian Open we spent some time with Olympian Daniele Molmenti shooting a video about upstream gates. We covered 4 different techniques on the flat and wildwater from different angles in normal speed and slow motion. Also shares Daniele some of his insights and experiences with us. The video does not pretend to show the one and only truth. What it does however is showing how one particular top athlete looks at taking upstream gates. We think that especially juniors can obtain some insights from this video and secondly it might trigger a constructive and healthy dialogue between athletes and coaches on You Tube. You can buy this video on DVD for A$ 29.95 including domestic or international shipping costs. Its widescreen and in High Definition (1280 x 720). To buy this video here. http://www.sportscene.tv/news_details.php?id=115Friday Saturday and Sunday we were filming the Australian Canoeing Sprint Championships 2009 in Perth. Every evening we published a news flash on the Australian Canoeing You Tube Channel. Before the championships we published two specials: the athletes preparing in NSW and in QLD: Australian Canoeing You Tube Channel. Between filming we managed to take a few photos on Saturday: see sprint racing under photo categories in the left menu. If you are interested in buying the DVD (wide sceen) with the five (You Tube) news flashes click here. http://www.sportscene.tv/news_details.php?id=114The Australian Open was held this weekend at the Penrith Whitewater Centre. The feature event in the Australian calendar saw a large international field compete for World Ranking points and for the Australians it also doubled as the first round of Australian team selections. The mens C1 drew a very strong field including both the Silver and Bronze medalists from the 2008 Beijing Olympics (David Florence of Great Britain and Robin Bell of Australia. Florence and Bell both paddled well but it was Slovakian Matej Benus who claimed the fastest time down the course with a time of 106.02. Slovakia also took out first place in the womens K1 with Jana Dukatova showing her experience over Corinna Kuhnle and top performing Australian Rosalyn Lawrence. Young up and coming Australian paddler Jessica Fox finished in a very respectable sixth position. C2 saw an extremely close race with the reigning Olympics champions of Pavol and Peter Hochschorner from Slovakia claiming the victory by just .34 of a second from the Slovenian pair of Ladislav and Skanter. In the mens K1 an visiting international took the top of the podium (Daniele Molmenti Italy) leaving Australian Will Forsythe in second place. Commissioned by the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) and Australian Canoeing Sportscene covered the Australian Open Canoe Slalom 2009: a canoe slalom racing event with international representation and high quality World and Olympic champion athletes. We set up a You Tube Channel published a news flash every day and the winning races just several hours after the last finish. In the week after the event we also produced a 6-7 minutes overview for the International Canoe Federation (ICF) and a video slide show. You can buy all six videos on DVD for A$ 29.95 including domestic or international shipping costs. Its widescreen and in High Definition (1280 x 720). To buy this DVD go to http:www.sportscene.tv and select VIDEOS under Categories in the left menu. Below the results for Mens and Womens K1. For more results visit www.canoe.org.au http://www.sportscene.tv/news_details.php?id=113Photos of the Coogee Surf Carnival are now published. In Manly I focussed on surfboat rowing. This time on ski beach sprint swimming and board. http://www.sportscene.tv/news_details.php?id=112 he�Rapid Descent Racing (RDR) team members and Rob decided to start a sponsor relationship. Sportscene is providing RDR with a tailored license for impact-full quality photos which they can use for their blog media releases and their sponsors. RAPID DESCENT RACING (RDR) is a high-performance whitewater kayaking team based in Hobart Tasmania. They travel extensively to compete at the highest levels in the disciplines of wildwater extreme marathon kayaking and multisport events. They have won Australian Championships as individuals and together are the reigning Australian Champion Team. Currently they are focused on the 2009 Wildwater World Cup to be held in Tasmania. You can visit their blog here. Stewart Bennett who in 2008 achieved a top ten finish in his first year of international senior competition at the World Cup Classic Final in Lofer Austria about the photos of Sportscene: “Rob’s photos truly reflect all aspects of wildwater racing that makes this sport such visual spectacular. The power and beauty of our natural sporting arenas combined with the determination focus and effort of competitors are key elements in action photography all of which feature in Rob’s work”.� Dan Hall who already took a silver medal at the 2007 World Cup in Irvea Italy and in 2008 finished 4th at the World Cup Rapid Sprint Final in Lofer Austria:”Its really hard to capture the action speed and exhilaration of white water kayaking on camera but Rob has done just that� His focus on the athletes facial expression sums it all up”. � � Ben Maynard finished with an overall World Cup Ranking of 12th in 2008 and says:”It is very rare to find someone who knows and understands�the sport they are photographing so well.��Robs images show the ferocity of the water and the fight of the competitor at the same time.� Often�Rob�is in the perfect section of the river for a� shot.�And the level of detail is also rare - you can see spray and drops of water and the emotion of the paddler” � Finally Rob van Bommel about the RDR Team and the sponsorship: “Together Ben Dan and Stew achieved possibly Australias best set of overall results from a world wildwater competition. I think they are fantastic and I like their RDR initiative and concept. I really hope that with my photos I can give a visual impact to their excellent results. Besides that I believe the photos can support RDR their sponsors and Australia’s canoe sport in general in achieving their objectives. It’s my pleasure to work with Stew Dan and Ben”.� For more and the latest information about the RDR Team and Sportscene you can visit their blog (RDR) and Website (Sportscene). On the website you can find many photos of wildwater racing and other exciting outdoor sports.http://www.sportscene.tv/news_details.php?id=111When Australias largest club surf carnival is held on Manly Beach at your front door you just have to go there and in my case take photos of course. A very spectacular sport I must say and there is a lot going on: starters and finishers go on and off. Published some of the photos I took: action shots portraits of the athletes officials and the audience. It was the first time I covered Surf Boat Rowing and I really enjoyed it. Dont be surprised if you see me at a next Surf Carnival... http://www.sportscene.tv/news_details.php?id=110Thousand of young aspiring Olympians from the five continents gathered in the Olympic City of Sydney. More than ever the 2009 Australian Youth Olympic Games was a good opportunity for young athletes for the first ever Youth Olympic Games in Singapore next year. Sportscene Photography covered the Canoe Slalom and Flatwater Canoe Races and photos were used by the Australian Olympic Committee (download article below). Below you can also download the results of the canoe slalom final and for more information visit www.olympics.com http://www.sportscene.tv/news_details.php?id=109All photos are now published and edited as a batch. This means that once you order a photo for print the quality will be even better since these photos are edited separately and send to FUJIFILM Australia for printing. For an example you can click on the photo of Jessica Fox on the right. This photo is also published on the CSAus Wiki: http:csaus.csp.wikispaces.net The 2009 Australian Slalom and Wildwater Championships were held on the Upper Mersey River and Bradys. Bradys is located in the central highlands of Tasmania and is a very steep fast and powerful rapid sprint course that flows into a lake. It has big stoppers and strong eddies. Although it is an artificial course it flows like real river. The photos are spectacular The Upper Mersey River lies below Lake Rowallan and has been used for Australian Wildwater Championships since 1974. Its grade 3 continuous low volume technical whitewater flowing through a forest reserve. Below some results that can be downloaded. For more results go to www.canoe.org.au