Pros starting ages

[954worldexplorer]

I've always wondered which surfer was the latest to start surfing in his life? Were all of them surfing since they were little or did any start out later in life?

[oldmansurfer]

That is very interesting and I don't know the answer but I will bet that long ago there were more later in life starting pros compared to today where they are all starting to surf at a younger and younger age.

[waikikikichan]

I think it"s more of the 2nd generation that became competitive in surfing. The Dad used to surf, the son got into it, Dad takes him to contest. Like with most sports, it's really the support you get. You hear about the parents that moved states and jobs to be closer to the ice rink for their iceskating daughter. Read about Vanina Walsh, She visited Hawaii, saw surfing, said she wanted to be good at it one day, Her parents made the decision to move to Hawaii. Now she is a world class SUP surfer and former Roxy girl.

There are tons and tons of great Free surfers that don"t do contest. Some of the best surfers I know will never do a contest. I think you trying to really ask if you're too old to become good at surfing. I started surfing when I was 25. Most of my friends started in High school. A lot of them got burned out or bummed out about the new crowds and longboards and SUPs. Me, I still have the stoke.

[oldmansurfer]

Being a pro surfer is a difficult thing. It is competitive and you have to cater to the judges within a time limit. Surfing is one of those sports that attracts free spirits, those people who don't want to be confined or defined by others. But just because someone is a fantastic surfer doesn't mean they will win ANY contests. But if you look at who is winning the contests lately it is all surfers who started young. I have been reading books about surfers lately and I am sure I read about surfers who learned at an older age but went on to excel at it long ago. I think I just read Peter Cole learned to surf at 14 and he was surfing Waimea bay when he was 60 and might still be surfing Sunset when it's big with no leash to boot and he is older now 70's or something. Anyway there are more surfers now who have put in more hours of surfing before they are 18 than lots of surfers do for their entire life so by that time they are already skilled enough to be competitive and maybe have been competing all that time too. It's just natural for them to go on to pro surfing. What you won't likely see is many surfers like Kelly Slater who compete well into their 40's because the younguns are going to start off better and better as the whole sport is headed that way. But Slater has some skills and knowledge of how to compete and there won't likely be anyone as successful as he has been......but you never know.

[benjl]

similar to what Waikiki said, my cousin lived opposite one of the main surf beaches in NZ and started at a young age. However, he just never had the want or urge to do it competitively. Instead he left NZ when he was 18 and has spent the last 8 years just travelling and surfing around the world! Ive seen him in photos on his facebook doing monster barrels and all but yet he just lives for the lifestyle.

Ironically enough, I never had the slightest interest in surfing despite coming from the same family and basically competing highly in most sports except for surfing! I only started exactly one year ago on my 27th birthday and straight away got addicted (if only I'd started earlier..).
I'll never be a pro but my goal by the end of this year is to be able to do consistent snaps/cut backs and get properly tubed and survive it!

I'm confident I'll get there and continue surfing for the rest of my life (maybe even compete for fun when I'm older). Just continue the stoke and see where it takes you

[drowningbitbybit]

In my neck of the woods, I see plenty of pro surfers (Mick Fanning for example).

I also see plenty of others that are well on their way to becoming one (by which I mean have some sponsorship, winning comps, are making the local news, etc) and generally they're about 12 years old
I see kids in the water at my local break that are about 7, and they are absolutely ripping... I don't mean "ripping for little kids" I mean actually ripping, doing moves most of us 80kg adults can only dream of.
Then I see some kids that are just starting out... surfing with their mum and dads... and they're about 4. Tiny tiny little children, being pushed onto a wave by their parents, and then surfing. Properly surfing. Surfing better than I do

So I don't know about the previous and current generation of pro's, but the starting age of the next generation will be around 3 years old.

[dtc]

I was reading an article about a 14yr old Hawaiin girl who is aiming for the pros (but unfortunately suffered an injury). Anyway, she is a bit on the extreme of the bell curve, but home schools and surfs 5 hours per day, including a couple of hours with a coach; then on the weekend surfs 8 hours per day

So each week she is surfing around 40 hours. Meaning in 5 weeks she surfs as much as you if you surf 2 x 2 hrs every week for a year and she surfs around 2000 hours per year - as oldman says, this is probably more than many people (for whom surfing is not their life) will surf in their lifetime.

I know kids who were not in any way committed to making surfing a career who grew up surfing most mornings for a few hours, got to school at lunch if the surf was good and surfed 8-10hrs most days every weekend. These are the guys who surfed purely for fun and they were still doing 25 hours of surfing every week

Its these guys who you see on your local break picking up waves with 2 paddles and flying all over the place in all conditions and who make you think surfing isn't really that hard...

[drowningbitbybit]

Its these guys who you see on your local break picking up waves with 2 paddles and flying all over the place in all conditions and who make you think surfing isn't really that hard...

Curse them!

[benjl]

I saw a kid (maybe 8-10 years old) on an Anderson short board at my local break in the weekend and the second he popped up he was straight in to doing big cut backs! I've not seen a kid shred like that in person before who was so young! Jeolousy almost got the best of me :O

Curse them indeed.. haha. I paddled over to the dudes dad on a longboard and told him how good his son was

[asilomarsurfer]

I think Dane Reynolds started at 14. If you consider his level of surfing for someone who has only surfed for 15 years, that's pretty amazing.

[Aqualife]

Most pros these days started below 10 years of age and are competing at that age already. Just look at your local surf comps, they all have a below 9 years category these days and yes, it's mostly the dads/mums who get them into surfing at a very young age.

I have seen non-surfing mums sitting at the beach at Trestles waiting for their 9- 10 year olds to come out of water after school preparing for the Scholastics and the kid came out blue and shivering and saying "Mum, can I come out now? I am cold." and she goes "No, look at Luke, his turns are much sharper than yours, go in and try again".

Then I see this surfing dad with his absolutely terrific 7 year old twins in bigger surfs at Coolum Beach and he can only look after one at a time, pushing them into the waves and one of them is getting hammered and washed around, crying and he tells him not to be a baby and then I see them in the paper a week later, proud dad smiling, they are sponsored by a surf label.

So many dads in the water everywhere pushing their little (mostly) boys to be competitive, correcting their every move. I try to paddle away.

I think there is nothing wrong with taking your kids to the beach young and teaching them how to surf but I have seen some shockers and someone told me once that there is such big money in surfing now, so the parents have become just as obsessive as in other sports teaching their kids early. Just go to a junior pro contest and listen to the parents talk, xxxxx's pretty sickening.

Where is the fun in that? I prefer the little kids from my sons primary school riding their skateboards and bikes down the beach before and after class past my house with their mates - without their parents - they are enjoying it, they want to do it, it's their thing and there is no parent around expecting them to do it.

The very best surfers I have seen in the world have all been free surfers not pro surfers and I have worked at some major surf contests and been travelling with a bunch of pros.

My son is 6 - he has no interest in surfing - he told me "surfing is your happy thing Mum, I want to go out in the world and find my happy thing". He boogie boards and swims like a fish but apart from that he spends most of his time horse riding despite living 2 minutes from a major point break and having been in the ocean at 10 weeks old, so you can't win them all. But what I won't do is push him into waves until he knows nothing else and starts being good at it.

I liked the hours mathematics - It has been said that you need roughly 10,000 hours of practice to become excellent at a sport. Just see how you compare in water time with someone at age 4.

My 2 cents.

[dtc]

Guess there is no reason why adults won't obsess over their kids surfing any less than some obsess over soccer or rugby or baseball or whatever. Not that anyone other than the adult thinks it's right (I know a few high perf coaches in a number of sports, esp basketball, and they all hate obsessed parents. Focused kids are great, obsessed parents, well, this is a family site so I won't repeat their comments)

Actually, I blame tennis; it seems to have an awful lot of kids who started at a very early age.

At least surfing is more interesting

[oldmansurfer]

I haven't really seen the surf parent thing but kids of surfers often get taught to surf at an early age. Out of the surfers I knew growing up 2 of them have children who are pro surfers. There is a bunch more young pro surfers from the island I live on and think that may be more about the relative variety and consistent availability of waves on Kauai. Surfing is just something to do here. Some of the best surfers were probably kolohe keikis or hooligans. They hung out with the wrong crowd but surfing gave them a way to feel good about themselves so they spent a lot of time surfing as an escape from their troubled life. Those surfers aren't ever likely to go pro unless they can shed their problems and stick to surfing. Or they may go pro but won't do well (with the exception of Andy Irons). Long ago the pro surfers were mostly wild and crazy party animals but as I understand it there is much less of that these days. It's a business now and there is more to pro surfing than just catching whatever wave you want and doing whatever maneuver you want on it.

[billie_morini]

Aqualife,
enjoyed all that you shared above. Especially, this son's quote:

"I want to go out in the world and find my happy thing."

This is precisely what I've been thinking, too!!
billie