Help me help a kid go surfing

what kind of board?

 

Tell her to show up and blow up. Long hair, big air!

 

Swim with board and her, same speed as if you were paddling. Don't 'push' as wave passes. It will spin her out. Swim her into wave, don't push her into wave...... Good luck!

 

No not quite the technique.

 

No one wants to hear, or will read you technique so save it turd.

 

Works for my 7 year old daughter. Save your technique for those sites that none of us are on u sick F%#€!

 

If it is a big board and a small child make sure to put some pressure on the tail as you release it to prevent pearling.

 

If there is any shoulders, push her in the right direction instead of straight in.

Keep it light and fun and if she seems nervous keep her engaged in conversation/words of encouragement so she focuses on that instead of her nerves

 

If you have time to go out before the contest that would be helpful. You could gauge her ability/confidence level. If she's timid and not real stable get a board that she can just stand on and get her in a tidal pool or something and just have her practice balancing on it while you push it. Then progress to pushing her into a wave. Helps at first to tell them not to try to stand up, just get used to the board and how fast it takes off. Just ride as a boogie board and tell her to stand when she feels comfortable.

If she's past that then see if she can handle an angled take off. Prob not at this stage, and no shame in just keeping her straight. Kids confidence goes up from catching waves. They'll be more stoked riding 10 straight into the shore than nailing 1 angled take off and falling on 5 more.

Biggest challenge I had was learning when to push (meaning get her to try diff/harder stuff) and when to just STFU and let her have fun. Sometimes she needed kick in the butt to get to the next level, sometimes I just left her alone and she either figured it out or came to me and asked how to do it.

I've also found that talking to them about all the other stuff involved helps. Makes them feel more like they know what they are doing. My lil one and I watched Chasing Mavericks and she was locked in, even was taking notes when they'd talk about wind\currents\waves\etc...Learning how to read waves, count sets, count the period, time the period between sets, how to spot rips, what to do, what the tide does to the waves, etc. etc...kids are sponges and will soak this up even if it seems they aren't listening. Again just finding balance between too much info and letting them do their own thing.

Awesome that you're doing this. Not your kid but I'm betting you'll be really stoked to see her go. Mine is thinking about getting into some contests this year. Good luck!

 

How did I know MY SAVIOR would jump on this thread? I need an alcohol bath with a wire brush.

 

This! And make sure you have a big smile on your face on the verge of laughing after she wipes out and comes back up for air. That way she smiles back and she knows that she is ok. Remember when you were learning every wipe out felt like you were gonna drown...imagine that as a kid.

And you have to push her in straight. Its by far the toughest thing to do because you see the wave peeling off and want to send her in the right direction, but throwing that element of board control into the learning process is to hard at the very beginner level. I learned the hard way and we have reef out here where i live, blood equals crying kid.

 

this is probably job one.

 

Yup, I'll second that.... Larger the wave, the more important!

 

don't forget to just have fun too