In
a final against Mike Stewart at Salt Creek, Kyle, Jason, and Harry ganged
up against Stewart in an effort to defeat the world champion. Their
plan didn't work: "We got burned real bad," says Harry shaking his head.
A new plan would have to be developed.
In September of 1991
Harry and company decided to quit using team tactics in the water, proposing
instead to battle it out, "every man for himself." And it worked.
Their ratings on the PSAA improved. For example, in 1992 Chris Tennberg
jumped from twelfth place to third place, behind Mike and Ben.
For a 21-year-old
with such sudden fame, you'd expect Chris to be big-headed. But that's
not Chris. "Chris is humble pie," says Burkart.
When I ask him about
his girlfriend Kim, Chris grins and says, "She's the apple of my eye, the
beat of my heart." Jeremy looks at Chris and rolls his eyes, but Chris'
grin gets even wider. As it turns out, Harry introduced them to each
other at church a few years ago. And what were his first thoughts? "Cute,
nice, I had no idea we'd be going out."
They're getting married
next year.
The biggest obstacle
for Chris and Kim is knowing that they're getting married, while at the
same time living a "Christian" lifestyle. "Jesus says that sex is
for marriage, "Chris explains.
But Chris, if anything,
is spontaneous. Once, while hunting up in the mountains of Kauai,
Chris, Jason and Burkart were walking up a path when a bird flew out of
the brush, right into Chris' line of fire. Not stopping to think,
Chris raised his shotgun and "BLAM!"-shot off Jason's hat. Jason
was standing between Chris and the bird. "I was just acting on reflex,"
explains Chris. Jeremy, hearing the story for the first time, asks,
with a puzzled look on his face, "Did you get the bird?" Chris bites his
nails, and under his voice murmurs "no." Everybody laughs.
Not
all the challenges the team faces are laughing matters; they've had their
share of downs as well as ups. In January of 1990, when they first
started the tour, they had no financial support from their sponsors.
They all sold their cars, including Kyle who had a cherry black lowrider
mini-truck. They went through the year charging all their travel
expenses on Bob's credit cards, hoping to win the money to pay it off.
At that point, the pressure wasn't just on the guys to perform, but on
Bob to coach them and pay the bills as well. Then it happened.
"Bob snapped," says
Harry. They were competing at the Imperial Beach Contest in June
of '90 when Bob told the guys that, if they wanted to stay together as
a team, they would either have to shape up or ship out. The guys
were letting things slide and, naturally, it upset Bob. "Right now
you guys are letting things happen," Bob told them. "If you guys
really want this thing, you'll have to fight for it." And did they ever.
Right after the I.B.
incident, things started to look a little brighter. They picked up
Body Glove as a wetsuit sponsor, and signed a contract with Challenger
Bodyboards. They eventually had so many sponsors, they had to worry
about stickers on their boards slowing them down.
As time went on, more
changes were made within the team; after Burkart and Brown's departure,
Jeremy Olson, the team's only Californian, climbed on. They weren't
necessarily looking for new teammates but, after winning the U.S. National
Amateur, it looked like Jeremy was ready to jump on board.
Go
to page 5
If
you have any questions about the Kauai Classic Team email the coach: classic@aloha.net