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Silver Dawson
Mrs. Debock
English 4 Honors
13, October 2015
Positive Impacts of Surfing
With surfing, two questions have always emerged throughout history: Is surfing a real
sport? Is surfing actually beneficial to a persons health? Over the years, research has proven
surfing to be a real sport and explain how it is valuable to a persons health. While researching,
the analysts from CSUSM Looks at Recreational Surfing as Viable Form of Fitness found that
surfing actually requires a great deal of effort and energy, making it one of the most physically
demanding sports to exist. Researchers have also found that just being thrown into the ocean to
surf is an excellent way to reduce stress and improve ones physical health. Moreover, surfing is
a significant way to positively improve ones physical and mental well-being.
What impact does surfing have on people? Generally, one would say it is not difficult
and/or it is simply just a recreational sport that people do for fun, but usually the people who say
this have never attempted to surf before. On the other hand, Naval Medical Center in San Diego
has conducted research on returning veterans to see how surfing helps them recover. In one of
their interviews with a man named Elmer Urgate, he mentions how surfing helps build up
strength in their core and helps them find tranquility (Hansen). From his stance, people can see
that maybe surfing is helpful for the physically and mentally distressed. Another veteran, Joe
Sereno, lost both of his legs and all ten of his toes while in Iraq. During the surf instructors
interview with Sereno, the teacher asked how he felt and Serenos response was jokingly how he
was hanging two instead of hanging ten (Hansen). Even with his disabilities, surfing makes

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him not mind them anymore. It has also made him feel remarkably confident to where he can
even joke about his impairments now. He also states that it is challenging to face life not being
able to do the same activities as others, but surfing helps boost his ego (Hansen). Surfing
undoubtedly positively impacts his mental well-being, but it also affects several others as well.
Numerous veterans around the world have been contrived by surfing. The Virginia Beach
nonprofit organization, Wave Warriors Surf Camp, demonstrates this. The goal of their camp is
to help vets and other people with defects such as back injuries, missing limbs, and/or mental
distress enjoy their time and become one with the sea (Hulette). Tons of sponsors (e.g.
Billabong) meet at the event with the people recovering to help them get out into the ocean and
teach them more about the sea. A man named Ken Hunt, who helped introduce the organization,
says that the ocean helps alleviate trauma and stress go away (Hulette). Many others would also
agree that the ocean is like a saltwater treatment. Buster Miscusi, a PTSD patient and participant
in the event, said it is like meditation to him because it keeps his mind from drifting back to his
tough times in war (Hulette). These people have tried other sports to aid relief from their worries,
but surfing seems to work the best.
Another example of surfing assisting recoveries and facilitating ones health would be
what Morning Side Recovery in Orange County, California is doing. They have generated the
nations first mental health and substance abuse recovery surf camp called Swell Life. Every
third Sunday of the month, rehabilitation clients meet at the Clint Carroll Surf School and then
head to Huntington Beach to surf and appreciate the beholdings of the ocean. According to
"Orange County Addiction Rehab Opens Nation's First Surf Camp For People In Recovery,
This intimate and healing surfing lesson helps them develop self-confidence, promotes an active
lifestyle, and ultimately learn how to have fun in sobriety while enjoying the therapeutic aura of

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the ocean. Clint Carroll, the founder and head of the school, conjured up the idea to use this as a
way to encourage patients to become sober because he had a first-hand experience with the
healing powers of the ocean. Carroll states that surfing can help people reach a good physical
well-being, mental state of mind, and spiritual being (Marcus). It is an excellent way to get back
into shape by people pushing themselves after abusing drugs that could have physically and
mentally abused them right back. The Marketing Director, Kevin Ganich, claims Swell Life to be
an option for people to enjoy the outdoors with like-minded people (Marcus). They expect
surfing to be a life changing and fun experience for the convalescents to help build themselves
back up, which is able to be seen from this group and their new investment in the sport of
surfing.
A different way surfing is beneficial to ones health is the physical aspect of the sport.
Research has been provided to show that paddling out against the current, propping oneself up on
the board, and moving your body to maneuver the board, all helps people achieve a more fit
body. As reported by CSUSM Looks at Recreational Surfing as Viable Form of Fitness, surfing
is a real sport because in combines different types of training to exercise all parts of the body. In
the article it describes how California State University San Marcos students research surfing to
find if it is a good way to get in a work out. One of the students, Alyzza DeMesa, says she sends
her colleagues into the ocean with waterproof heart rate monitors to analyze their hearts and the
amount of effort they put in (DeMesa). Students do this to compare surfing to other sports and
determine how healthy it is for you in the long run. The analysts have conducted many trials to
serve as someone who participates in the sport just as a recreational activity and others to get
statistics as if they were a professional surfer who surfed almost daily. Their results proved
surfing to be an excellent way to live a healthy lifestyle mentioned by CSUSM Looks at

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Recreational Surfing as Viable Form of Fitness. Even as a recreational sport, surfing can clearly
significantly improve a persons physical health as well as mental.
Surfing can also profit a persons wellness by affecting your cardiovascular system,
giving you an intense core and upper body work out, and give a people a sublime connection
with the water itself or even maybe life. In the article Hello Waves, surfer Keith Cavelli states,
that surfing is extremely difficult with the altering ocean. With the continuously changing sea, it
is a constant battle to stay up and keep control of oneself and their board. To keep up with the
waves, people have to use their lower back, leg and abdominal muscles (Giraud). Not only are
these muscles used when surfing, but being in the ocean may make oneself feel a sublime
connection, which is to reach a high degree of spiritual purity with life and the swells. Surfer,
Keith Cavelli, also indicates, "You become part of the ultimate body of fluid, the most dynamic
thing on earth. You're part of the waves, the rips, the fish, the sand, the little drops of water. It's
an ocean thing. This connection could be life changing and make a person feel admirable and at
peace with life, which is always righteous for the mind.
In Surfing and the Meaning of Life the author, Ben Marcus, collects multiple
statements from surfers to describe their experiences and how it may move others too. The
various surfers enlighten people on the positive effects of the sport and how it has affected them
personally. A Tahitian native named Dave Rastovich said how he felt the most supreme pleasure
while he was driven on so smoothly by the sea. Surfing makes one feel content and as if they
are being helped effortlessly by riding the waves in. Another surfer, Patrick Swayze, declares,
Its a state of mind. Its that place where you lose yourself and you find yourself. You dont
know it yet but you got it. Its right there. It is like when one goes out into the ocean, they leave
everything existing in their life behind on the shore and the waves wash everything bad away, so

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a person can really find out who they are. One more quote the author acquired was from Billy
Hamilton and he said, To become the energy of the wave, thats the main idea. You take when
the water gives, and you give when the water takes. Its a constant interplay of bold
confrontations and the mellow respect. It helps people feel majestic and complete with their life.
Feeling this way will comfort the mind and put ones life in ease.
Surfing positively impacts ones overall physical and mental health. It has certainly
evolved throughout history, but one thing, for sure, has not altered. The entity that has not
changed is the fact that it is significantly good for a persons well-being. From research
conducted on professional surfers to traveling, hippie surfers, they have all provided practically
the same information explaining how all the aspects of surfing can make people feel better about
themselves, have a stronger mental stability, and become more fit. They would all also agree
upon the statistic that surfing is an exceptional way to make life more optimistic and enjoyable in
general.

Works Cited

Hansen, Liane. "Surf Therapy A Wave Of Relief For Returning Vets." Weekend Edition Sunday
(NPR) (n.d.): Newspaper Source Plus. Web. 22 Sept. 2015.
Hulette, Elisabeth. "Surfing at Va. Beach Oceanfront helps vets cope with injuries." VirginianPilot, The (VA) 30 May 2015: Points of View Reference Center. Web. 22 Sept. 2015.

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"Orange County Addiction Rehab Opens Nation's First Surf Camp For People In Recovery." PR
Newswire US 17 Sept. 2014:Points of View Reference Center. Web. 22 Sept. 2015.
"CSUSM Looks at Recreational Surfing as Viable Form of Fitness." PR Newswire US 10 Apr.
2014: Points of View Reference Center. Web. 21 Sept. 2015.
Giraud, Antoine. "Hello Waves." Alive: Canada's Natural Health & Wellness Magazine 313
(2008): 84-87. Alt HealthWatch. Web. 21 Sept. 2015.
Marcus, Ben. Surfing and the Meaning of Life. St. Paul: Voyageur, 2006. 8, 16, 17. Print.