What becomes of our elite surfers when injury befalls them, or circumstances change and success eludes them?
The Sirens were mythical watery women who lured sailors to their death. These seductresses would call and sing across the ocean, their voices captivating the hapless sailor. Homer writes of them in the Odyssey. The lure of their voice captivated and captured seafarers. Their beautiful song and its promises were empty, a ruse to guide the ships onto the rocks and lure the sailors to their demise in a watery grave.
With an estimated 14% of the Australian population riding surf craft of some sort and somewhere between 5 and 30 million surfers globally, the ocean is a popular mistress.
Like any consuming passion, the lure of the surf is strong; its siren song is a constant beckoning call. I know grown men and women who have made shipwrecks of their lives by following the call of the surf at the expense of all others. They forsake work and relationships for the call of the sea, choosing riding waves above all else. To many reading, this may sound appealing, if not downright desirable. Unfortunately, the ocean’s song leaves us wanting more. JD Rockefeller was once asked how much money was enough. He famously replied: “Just a little more.”
The call of the waves carries a similar thirst for just a little more. Surfing is a great passion and sport, a lifestyle and a defining thing in my life and the lives of others. But I wonder, however, how much we feed the siren’s call in ourselves and in our surfing athletes? These men and women are great surfers and amazing athletes, but do we appreciate them as amazing people? Professional athletes are committed to the development of specific tasks, skills needed to win the event and perfect their craft. Sometimes this comes at the expense of their development as a whole person.
What becomes of our elite surfers when injury befalls them or circumstances change and success eludes them? The sponsors retreat and the entourage diminishes. Skills developed to surf well don’t always serve them well in navigating life beyond surfing. And those young surfers who are picked up? They are sung the siren’s song of a career in surfing–a life that, to them, seems so beautiful and amazing. How many of these aspiring athletes have run aground on the rocks of unrealized surfing careers?
We need to develop the whole person, not just the athletic skills of the person. Athletes need to be well rounded in life, not just skilled at surfing. We need to invest in the development of our youngest emerging surf athletes to broaden their horizons. We should, like many other professional sports, provide some sort of reintegration for ongoing life and career development opportunities outside of professional surfing.
If we can only sing the siren song of “I surf therefore I am,” are we luring people to shipwreck.
