What Do People Find Hard About Surfing?
Surfing is on many bucket lists and people take surf lessons but What Do People Find Hard About Surfing? It is very technical and very physical and the waves are often threatening to beginner surfers.
In lessons, those who are successful are a cross of young, teens and adults. It has so much to do with how well people listen and can translate what they hear to their body. Coordination is the communication between the brain and the body. Some people have little communication because they haven’t tried anything new for years.
Who Gets It?
I had a 9 year old boy student who nailed it from the beginning. My impression of those who get it are very bright. When I have dull kids or adults, I can predict they will not be able to assemble the techniques one after the other. In a family group of five people, the mom got it right away and the dad stopped after a few tries. The kids eventually were able to ride. Why the differences?
The mom said I liked how you presented the details. The details were the clue to getting it right. The mom of the 9 year old said you presented very detailed information and he takes to detail. That is a major clue. I see many new students roll their eyes when I explain the details of popping up and it tells me they are not following and their brain has shut down to learning the details. In the water, instead of following the technique, they do what comes to them instinctually and that is always wrong.
Learning the Sequence
The sequence to catching waves and standing up is not complicated. The surfer rolls over on the surfboard as the foam wave approaches. He paddles easy to get momentum and looks to the side to see when the foam wave will hit the board. When it is close, he paddles hard to accelerate to the front of the wave. We want the tail out of the foam and to be pushed by the foam.
The student has to paddle hard until he feels the board take off and then he puts his hands in a man’s push up position. He glides for two to three seconds to develop the poise for standing up. Then he pushes up. As he pushes up, he puts a back foot flat on the board under his butt so he can stand on it. As he stands, he lifts his hands off the board and moves the other foot to the nose of the board. Now he is in a stand I liken to pushing a tall box. The hands are in front and the feet are shoulder width apart.
Taking it From the Dry Land to the Water
That’s it. Most people can get it on dry land but fall apart in the water. They forget everything. I give students a count to say out loud while they execute to give their brain something to focus on instead of using their instincts. The count is paddle, stop (man’s push up position), glide, push up, back foot, stand, front foot. I ask students to memorize this before we go into the water and quiz them often in the water if they are not using the sequence. If they can’t memorize it, they will default to their incorrect instincts and never stand up.
So you can determine if this sounds too hard for you. Can you memorize? Can you get your body to do what your brain asks? Can you focus ride after ride to make the sequence embedded into muscle memory? A person doesn’t need to be a warrior to surf. They just need to be able to learn and coordinate what they hear to their body.
Read Other Posts:
Beginner Surfers Learn on Soft Tops
5 Steps to Improve Surfing Performance
3 Ways to Catch Real Surfing Waves
Training to Ride the Surfing Short Board
Short Board Surfing Techniques
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