Apr-2018
Creating Connection and Common-unity
My husband calls what I do (as the Director of NW Women’s Surf Camps) in creating the space and opportunity for women to learn, connect and excel in surfing my “big medicine”. He sees in me after every event the deep satisfaction, joy and passion I have for what I create and do. I feel so happy and grateful that the Universe has blessed me in finding my personal calling, to teach women of all ages to surf.
Connection, empowerment and transformation are our mantra. It came to me after our first few summers of camps when I realized what we really were creating. You see the first thing we as human beings really desire is connection. My surf coaches and I create this in each of our camps in numerous ways; during our circle introduction, tea talk discussing the “recipe for a perfect wave”, mindfulness beach yoga, on-beach skill building circle, close teaching ratio in the water with coaches and students, group lunch, car pooling to the location and sharing personal surfing stories with students from our own NW and world surf travel experiences. After either a day or two days of this, our students discover that not only have they learned the essentials to put them on the path of surfing but they have new surf sisterships to carry and support them along the way.
Empowerment is delivered to our students by deeply listening to their fears, concerns, and desires to learn surfing and then individually addressing them in our coaching. Each student in our camps comes with these and therefore understanding them as coaches allows us to make sure we deliver the best instruction possible to them. By the end of each camp, we hope we have given each student the essential knowledge, confidence and strong attitude necessary to pursue their surfing path in their lives.
Ahh and now to transformation. This is what happens when you create a nurturing, supportive and skilled environment for students to learn one of the most challenging life activities there is, surfing. It’s difficult to express in words but it’s a more visceral experience when we witness it as coaches and teachers. The moment when the light grows bright in our students is sometimes subtle and other times dramatic. It’s when they get it and then they can seize the feeling of success they are striving for in catching a wave. It’s one of the most satisfying rewards of coaching. To know that you’ve changed a student’s perspective and even their life in what you have generously offered.
Connection, empowerment and transformation await you in this summer’s Day Surf Camps and Surf Weekenders. Open to women of all ages, 13 to 70 years young. They start June 23 with our first Day Camp and end the season September 8-9 in our last Surf Weekender. Check out all details and book online from our website www.nwwomenssurfcamps.com. See you in the water!
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