IWGA Athlete of the Month June 2015

published on 4 July, 2015

IWGA Athlete of the Month June 2015

Congratulations to Leilani McGonagle (15), IWGA Athlete of the Month for June 2015. The Costa Rican athlete won silver at the World Surfing Games in Nicaragua. She was also a member of the gold-winning team of Costa Rica at this event.

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Leilani McGonagle was born with scoliosis of the spine. Scoliosis is a medical condition in which a person's spine has a deviation. But this did not stop her from launching into a career in Surfing. And it does not stop her from striving to become a professional in her sport.

She was born in Pavones, Costa Rica, and has been surfing since she was one and a half years old. In 2014 she won a silver medal at the ISA World Junior Surfing Championship. Right now she competes in the senior section of her sport. Although she works hard at her career, she also finds to time to help young people to overcome limitations caused by scoliosis - she helped lead a special yoga session for them in her hometown of Pavones.

Learn more about Surfing on The World Games Channel.

The International World Games Association (IWGA) is a non-profit-making international sports organisation recognised and supported by the International Olympic Committee. The IWGA comprises 40 International Member Sports Federations. It administers and promotes The World Games (TWG), a multi-sport event held every four years that features around 35 sports on its programme. The next edition of TWG will be in Chengdu (CHN) from 7-17 August 2025. 5,000 participants from more than 100 countries are expected to take part in this 12th edition. The latest Games were hosted by Birmingham, Alabama (USA).

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