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The South African Surfing Legends and their High Performance Surfing Academy put on a great inaugural Future Legends Coaching Series, putting our young and hopeful surf kids and groms through their paces. While the goals and ideals of the HPSA are to generate and coach Future Legends, it is important to see what our future champs took away from the event. Some of them have never experienced professional coaching, and it must have been an experience for them, just getting their heads around how much information and tips there are available out there.
Durban’s James Ribbink was at his first ever coaching event, and was quick to elaborate on some of the tips and tricks that he picked up over the day, and dealing with the South African Surfing Legends like Paul Canning, Simon Nicholson, Spider Murphy, Chris Knutsen and Bruce Jackson amongst others.
Preparation is everything because it’s all about your equipment – the fundamental of the sport. If you do not have the correct equipment and you have it ready and in tune, you are severely limiting your chances of success. Being prepared and having your equipment ready in advance is going to make it easier for you to concentrate on other important things.
Wave selection is very important because you are required to maximise the scoring potential as a competitive surfer. Good wave selection enables you to do so easily; just as poor wave selection will hamper and constrict your scoring potential. If it’s a wave that I know, like New Pier, then it’s important to trust my instinct, as I already have knowledge of what a good wave looks like.
What I eat and drink before and during an event affects my surfing because it is always going to be a long and tiring day, with the elements like sun and wind sapping energy from me, and at times cold water doing the same. Eating good and healthy food throughout the day enables me to sustain my energy levels all the way through the end. Sometimes you might have the last heat of the day – you need to be equally as prepared for a late heat as for an early heat.
The area that is my weakness is being too selective in my wave choice. While we are always looking for those two good waves, sometimes it is more important to get a score on the board, to get going and to find a rhythm. Sometimes catching a small little runner will help me to loosen up and to feel my board.
Watching myself on video. It was something different. It clearly showed my good points and bad, my strengths and weaknesses. It was interesting to see how my surfing style came out on video; there were things to see that I was quite surprised by. There’s an old saying – the camera never lies…
More on the inaugural Future Legends Coaching Series event here.
The next Future Legends Coaching Series event will take place on 19th March at The New Pier in Durban.
