It’s nice to see grommets these days who
are hungry to surf better; kids like Liam Murray-Strout here.
These kids see coaching as a way to improve
rather than as some sort of stigma as so many surfers do (I plan on touching on
this sometime in the future but, really, why do surfers have such an issue with
accepting advice on how to improve whereas it’s the norm in almost any other
activity?), and they train hard to improve both their technique and
fitness. They’re also hungry for it;
days were when it seemed that the only British surfers with the support of a sponsor
came straight out of Newquay and nowhere else, but now the field’s wide open
and there is way less sponsorship money going about. I’m not talking about free stickers here, but
kit like wetsuits, surfboards and travel allowances that will help them to perform at their best,
year round. Less help and more competition
for it means that grommets these days can’t rest on their laurels and a cool
haircut, they have to act and train like young athletes. But why you may ask? Can’t they just be happy to go surfing and
enjoy it for what it is? Well yeah, of
course. I’m chronically un-competitive
but if I was able to chuck an air, get the tail of my surfboard higher than my
head, and ride out of it then I’d be smiling for
days.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting
to surf well and working hard for that, because barrels are way better when you
get spat out of them - even if nobody’s around to see it happen.
