Ice baths, mental game, video analysis and more at surf camp: it “changed me”

In almost every way, surfing is unlike every other Olympic sport. The lingo. The vibe. 

Here was part of the brief for the four-day International Surfing Association (ISA) Continental Youth Development Programme in May 2022 in El Salvador, at the “famous wave of El Sunzal”:

Break: El Zonte. Water temperature: average 29 degrees Celsius. Wave type: right point break and A frame beach break. Bottom: sand and rock. Best swell direction: south or southwest. And, of course, a link to the all-important surfline.com report, offering live conditions and forecasts. 

All part of a three-year strategic regional development plan aimed at supporting young athletes and coaches from developing nations. A concrete example of how Olympic Solidarity works in partnership with IFs to build bridges between smaller NOCs and support the next generation. 

The programme “changed me,”, 14-year-old Aiden Albada of Trinidad and Tobago said, adding, “At the start, I was a little bit nervous about communicating with the other kids due to my lack of Spanish, but in the end, we would speak some Spanglish with some hand movements, and it turned out to work great.

“Lots of surfing, learning and other activities like ice baths made this programme awesome for me.”

ISA President Fernando Aguerre said, “It’s part of our way of creating a better world through surfing.”

About surfers and surfing:

From space, what is our blue ball, mostly? And the oceans, of course, are constantly in motion. Now, basic physics: what is a wave? Energy, right? How to tap into that energy, the primal energy all around us? If you are a surfer, the question answers itself. Ride the wave. This is the way.

This way meant bringing young people from six nations in the Americas – Uruguay, Venezuela, Panama, Ecuador, host El Salvador and Trinidad and Tobago, one boy and one girl from each. Along with the 12 young people came six coaches. 

The ISA supplied two coaching experts, Gustavo Corrales of Costa Rica and Marcelo Castellanos of El Salvador. Castellanos has been involved in coaching two Olympic surfers, Teresa Bonvalot of Portugal and Leilani McGonagle of Costa Rica.

Also on hand: two professional athlete ambassadors, Bryan Perez, another Salvadoran, and Sofia Mulánovich of Peru. As Aguerre said, “It’s not every day you get to surf with, and be mentored by, a World Champion surfer like Sofia Mulánovich. As an Olympian and the first female-ever Latin American surfer on the World Tour, Sofia brought so much value and insight.”

Base camp: the Puro Surf Training Academy, which trains four ways – body, mind, technique, tactics – and a key element was, in surf speak, to try to “maximise skillsets” for all 12 ahead of the 2022 ISA World Junior Championships. 

Thus a focus on scoring potential, venue analysis, mental game, time management skills, video analysis and more. Days started at 6 a.m. Lights out: 8 p.m. Every afternoon: surf competition and judging. 

“We have been learning breathing techniques, working on planning a strategy and being thankful for what we have,” said 13-year-old Kellyani Flores of Venezuela.

“With lessons on gratitude and respect designed to build up their character, we know that these kids left not only as better surfers but as better people,” Corrales said.

“We hope,” Aguerre added, reflecting on this first edition, “it will inspire future generations of surfing Olympians to represent their nations at the highest stage.  We know that it builds friendships and character, and love for our oceans.”