You had me at “holistic approach.” Photo: Luke Cederman//Screenshot
If you want to learn something, anything, in life, you’re going to need a coach. Sure, you can try getting in shape without a trainer or nutrition instructor but at some point you’re just going to have to seek all that knowledge yourself and absorb it, at which point you are still learning from somebody else. Surfing is no different. You can go out all on your own and give it a try but at some point you’re going to need somebody to take you under their wing and show you the ropes before you or somebody else gets hurt.
While surf coaching programs online and in person are practical to a degree, Luke Cederman knows there’s one aspect that no online program will go out of its way to promote: the fact that surfers suck. We’re the worst.
“Surfers at times can be somewhat judgmental and disapproving of other surfers,” he admits. “(They) will criticize you for the board you ride, the way you paddle, how quickly you pop up, your hairstyle, the length of your boardshorts, how many fins you have in your surfboard, your style, your religious beliefs, who your friends were in high school, and just who you are as a person in general.”
The training solution? Crack open a couple of pops at the local park. At 9 a.m. on a Tuesday morning. Why? If you can handle the judgment of a passersby, you can surely handle the cloud of judgment you’ve unknowingly stepped under for the rest of your life as a surfer.
And there’s always the cold hard reality that no matter how experienced you become through decades of surfing, the ocean will always be ready and able to swiftly kick your ass. With ease.
