Random Thoughts on Organizing a Surf Club and Coaching a Surf Team...

Always Under Construction...

Getting a Club Organized

Organizing a college surf club is a lot of work since there is a certain amount of institutional prejudice against surfing/surfers, and few surfers are voluntarily willing to take time away from surfing/classes/work to do everything necessary to get an "official" club started.
To paraphrase: "When the going gets tough, surfers go surfing."
You will need a couple of enthusiastic students willing to step up to the project. The institutional volunteers don't necessarily have to be good surfers, but your club leadership should be.
Often club leadership will have no formal organizing experience, but they usually know how to work a group of surfers.
Take cues from the other active surfers in the group, they will let you know who is a good surfer and a leader.
They will need help with drafting and submitting all of the required documentation.
They may need a crash course in Robert's Rules of Order in order to deal with university, and associated student meetings.
The group should consider what they want out of the club? Most of these are pretty simple, others are not.

Networking/carpooling
Surf Trips
Competition (intra-collegiate and/or inter-collegiate)
Discounts on surf equipment
Status on campus
Meet real surfers
Learn how to surf

The more of these goals the group adopts, the more members you are likely to recruit.
The more members you recruit the more discretionary funds you will have.
The more of these goals the group adopts the more money you will require.
Also it is unlikely that the entire club will share an interest in all of these goals. You may need to recruit leadership to be responsible for organizing specific goal activities. ie learning how to surf, vs competition team.
Always make sure the club meets deadlines for submission of proposals, etc.
If you can, try to find members who want to document/photograph club events and help publicize stuff.

This tends to fall into three roles:

A historian who wants to document events and set up a scrapbook keeping track of major club events.
A photographer who takes pictures/videos of contests, trips, team trials, etc.

This person will need to be reimbursed for basic film purchase and development costs by the club, and a set of everything becomes the property of the club/team.
Requests from members for additional pictures/tapes of themselves should be paid for by the individuals themselves.
Keep a copy of pictures for the club scrapbook.

A publicity person who helps announce (flyers) upcoming meetings and events, and gets contest results into local newspapers. This kind of publicity lends a lot of credibility to the club/team and comes in handy at funding time.

An up-to-date scrapbook of events is a great way to recruit new members, and reinforce participation by the regular membership. Just be sure it doesn't get swiped.

Encourage relationships with other clubs and organizations on campus. We found the foreign and domestic student exchange programs to be great souces of enthusiastic dues-paying members. I'll never forget the stoke of some of our Italian, German, and French beginners.

Coaching a College Team

The biggest problem will be the costs associated with organized inter-collegiate competition.
Costs are likely to include:

Equipment & materials you might consider to run club/team trial contests. You can improvise on most of these but you will need them pretty consistently. Some of them might be donated by a club sponsor.

First Aid Kit
Jerseys
Horn
Timer
Clipboards
Judges scoring sheets
Score compilation forms
Pencils
Chairs for judges
Bullhorn
Calculator
Judges beach chairs
Flags

Annual NSSA club fee.
Individual NSSA event fees.
Competitor membership in NSSA.
Travel, food, and lodging costs to and from competitions (often assumed by individuals)
Publicity/photo/video costs.

Sources of funding can come from...

Membership Fees
Associated Student funding
T-shirt sales (Often sponsers will pay for shirts/artwork/screening if their logo is included. Sell them at the club booth during club recruitment periods. Talk to the college bookstore about selling them on commission.)
Food Sales
Ideas that never got going:

Sponser and organize a "feeder school" contest (High Schools and/or Junior Colleges that might enroll at your institution). This collects competition fees, gives the club local exposure, and may recruit better surfers onto the team when they transfer. Remember to insure for the day's event.
Car Washes

Coaching a surf team in college is pretty simple. Unless you have a credit bearing class that the team can get units for being enrolled, you will not get very many opportunities to do any one-on-one instruction.
Encourage team members to car pool and free surf together. They will push each other.
I hate to admit it but at the college level, recruitment onto the team is a much more effective way of boosting team contest results than trying to push mediocre performers too hard.
Most college students don't have the time to engage in a serious competitive training program. Look for good cross-training opportunities that they can fit into their schedule...like videos, skateboarding, swimming, weight-lifting, etc....
More importantly, don't let competition rule your attitude. The team should be there to learn, improve, have fun, and mix with other academically oriented surfers. Most of your team are not ever going to get to the finals...so emphasize little victories (higher scores or advancing to the next round)...and arrange for a lot of fun free surfing near the contest site.
Be willing to challenge judge's scores, interference calls, etc. based on the rulebook.
Read the scores from all judges for each heat immediately after they are released.
Bring the judge marshals attention to "mistakes", omissions, inconsistencies etc. I have rarely seen a call overturned but this accomplishes several important goals:

It lets your team know you are in their corner, fires them up, and rallies them around their teamates.
It keeps competitors from gaining a negative reputation with the contest staff.
It draws the contest staff and judges attention to your team, your competitors, and yourself. They will be more careful in future heats and events when your team is in the water, and they will notice your team members when they are surfing.

Team Trial Suggestions

You will inevitably be put in the role of contest marshal.
Have experienced competitors who are not in a specific heat judge (at least three for each heat)

This keeps them involved in the club and the competiton.
It also forces them to see the competition from the judges point of view.

Hold your contests at beach breaks (most intercollegiate competition will be at such spots)
Hold your contests where you won't get hassled too much by locals and are not too crowded. The club will know where this is.
Part of your job will be to make sure the judging is pretty consistent and fair, and make sure the tallies are accurate.
We always tried to have two club contests in the fall to pick the team before we went intercollegiate. We always had at least one club contest early in the spring semester to pick up new members/recruits.
At any specific event you will have to help some members who were very disappointed in the results. Many of us remember how great we are at a particular spot, conditions, and time when we were surfing our best, and we can't understand how someone who obviously isn't surfing that well beat us. Contest surfing is different. You may even lose some members due to this let down.
You will need to figure out ways to keep frustrations from turning against other club members.

Coaching Competitors

Here is some of the specific advice I find I have to give competitors over and over and over...

Know the rules of competition inside and out.
Surf one heat at a time.
Always scope the conditions before your heat. What wave selection strategies seem to be winning heats?
Know what time it is.
Watch your wave count and make sure you get the minimum. Best introductory strategy is to catch a couple of mediocre waves early and surf them the best you can. Then look for the set waves that can bring higher scores. Goal should be at least 2 more than the minimum.
Always get your wave count+Plus!
Length of ride counts. Milk the wave to the beach. Don't kick out early without a really good reason.
Surf toward the judges whenever possible.
Avoid surfing where the sun will blind the judges.
Judges count the number of maneuvers during a ride very heavily. A big move will boost the score but won't make up for a lot of solid consistent moves.
Always stay friendly with the contest marshal, judges, and other competitors whenever possible.
Never let another competitor intimidate you.
Support your fellow teamates.
Finally, always get your wave count...

For the rare truly gifted surfer

Encourage them to get a portfolio together with photos, awards, articles, etc.
Keep their photo's up to date.
Seek out sponsorship opportunities.
Get into other high profile contests.
Help them round out their skills.
Help them with contest surfing skills and attitude.
Let them know they are special, and that you expect them to behave accordingly, as a leader and a role model to the team.

On Club Surf Trips and/or Surfaris

Your club will inevitably want to take a few trips to camp, surf, and party.
It is a great way to bring the club/team together and discover problems.
It is one of the rare opportunities to do some real coaching to improve individual skills.
Everyone must remember that we travel as a group and must coordinate/communicate accordingly.
They must be reminded that they represent the university, and the club while on club trips.
Never let non-members travel or camp with the club/team, even though you can't control rendevous at beaches.

Non-members don't recognize the club or your authority.
Non-members will distract their friends from the club/team building going on with the group.
Non-members can and will screw up, and leave you and the club holding the bag.
They are not insured through your organization.

It includes lots of risks, and your role is critical in risk management:

Bring a really well stocked first aid kit and the emergency insurance forms.
Have a plan before you leave. Where, when, who, etc.
Anticipate as many problems as possible and either prevent them from the outset, or be prepared to deal with them.
Someone in the group will run out of gas, money, food, car parts, get stuck in the mud, forget their sleeping bag....
Monitor the weather, and other local risks early and often.
The group will want to party hardy at least one night. If there are a few experienced and responsible leaders, I usually stayed at the campsite and hoped everyone got back alright.
Someone will get ripped off.
Someone will get injured. This is usually a deep foot cut while surfing a reef, or glass on the beach or around the campsite.

The first trip of the year should be a relatively safe one. A weekend to a state park, in the US. Choose a site a few have scouted before.
Save the big trips for later when the group has some travel/camping experience.

On being a mentor

If you grew up surfing you know that there are many challenges to surfers who want to stay in surfing, and also assume the challenges of academia.
Keep them focused on academic goals and check on how they are doing regularly.
Surfers bring their baggage with them like everyone else.

Intervene early when Academic Probation seems probable.
Watch for signs of excessive Alcohol and Chemical abuse/dependencies.

Surfers may rule the beaches but prefer to remain phantoms passing through the academic bureaucracy. They need to learn to work the system. You can help them with this a lot!

Career Planning
Academic, Financial Aid, and Personal Counselling Referrals.
Make a few calls and cut the red tape whenever possible.
Write letters of reference for jobs, grants, awards, graduate schools, etc.

Make sure your boss approves of this role because students love to stop by and catch up on the latest events.
Sound like a lot of work? Yup!
Is it worth it? You betcha!

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Last modified on 10/3/01.