COACHING PHILOSOPHY 

What Initiative Surf is interested in is surfing well, because enjoyment comes from surfing to the best of your ability, and in continually improving your ability.

The best way to do that is with the assistance of an experienced coach who can provide targeted, technique specific, drills and exercises and utilize tools such as video analysis to drive learning.  There is no such stigma attached to receiving coaching in sports such as golf or tennis, and there is no reason why the same shouldn’t be true for surfing.  There is no shame in seeking to improve your abilities in a chosen pursuit.

WHO IS SURF COACHING FOR

Currently, surf coaching is most prevalent at the two extreme ends of the surfing ability range; when first learning how to surf, and then at a competitive level.  The vast majority of surfers fall somewhere in between these two poles, and although many of them get by perfectly well, improvements in their surfing and enjoyment are slow and sporadic.  Initiative Surf offers high level, objective led coaching based on a wide base of experience to surfers of any experience.  Over the course of their career career Alex and Ane taught countless clients how to surf, worked with intermediate level surfers to improve their technique, and Alex coached competitive junior surfers in contest surfing techniques and tactics

Video analysis is one of the most valuable resources in the surf coach’s tool kit.  Being able to sit down with a surfer and deconstruct their technique with them, highlighting the positive points and suggesting areas and methods for improvement is the fastest way to improve surfing.

Video analysis allows a surfer to surf the way that they want to before sitting down to go over their performance in that session to either inform their next surf or to generate drills and specific performance enhancing exercises.

The other benefit of video analysis is that at the end of a coaching course or surf trip a great deal of footage will have been amassed which can be used to demonstrate improvements and can also be edited into a short surf movie

As well as video analysis, as coaches we uses our vast experience to provide focused coaching both on the beach and in the water.  Small, technique specific tweaks are delivered in bite-size chunks during a surf session, and drills and exercises are implemented to provide focus for specific manouevres and techniques. All relevant and related to the observed surf conditions

In the case of competitive surf coaching, drills are often in combination with video analysis to hone performance, focusing on condition specific manoeuvres.

A large element of gaining a competitive edge in professional surfing is the mental and physical preparation before competing.

We have a great deal of experience in managing competitors preparations for an event and coaching them through their heats, from developing a positive and winning attitude to pre-event surf training and rests and warm-ups