Practice What You Preach: Methodology of Surfing





As I am now a teacher of surfing I thought it would be fun to muse on the methodology of surfing. Any good teacher of any discipline should spell out and include the theories, practices, and valued rules of their discipline. In history, my other subject of favor, one learns about precision, narrative, and other conceptual schemes that are relevant to the subject matter. Without methodology students have no frame of reference as to what is to be valued and focused on. Back to surfing...

One of the most obvious theories behind surfing is the idea of fun. Born out of an environment of plenty, surfing was created not as sport but as an Eden-esque form of play. It is not meant to be competitive, because the only person one is competing against is him or herself. Hence, Surfing is just for fun.

One could stop here but let's go down this road a little further.

Surfing and the lifestyle that surrounds it involves harmony with nature, a love of spontaneity, and challenging oneself and the elements. A good surfer is one who (besides having the most fun) is one who goes with the, and I pardon the pun, flow. Form is quintessential. Style is tantamount. The aesthetic of surfing depends entirely on the surfer. To each his or her own.

When instructing beginning surfers the teacher is looking for several things. Besides the ability to grasp several keys techniques including: balancing while lying down, paddling correctly, duck diving or turtling, turning the board while sitting, finding the wave, and eventually standing up and riding the wave, the teacher is hoping to instill the love of the ocean, the fun of the sport, and the experience of spontaneity that only surfing can provide.

There are other aspects of surfing (i.e. respect, rules of the water, and correct equipment, not to mention correct language and clothing apparel, jk) that need to be taken into account, but those are peripheral to what has been stated.

Overall, the things above embody the values of surfing for those who take on the activity. With this added understanding beginners of the sport are sure to have a more fulfilling time.

Aloha!

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