Nature and nurture

Bicker

My first post guys wish me luck.

I had a conversation with a man yesterday, who, together with his immediate family, makes huge personal efforts for the benefit of the Irish surf team. Basically the conversation started with what the chances were of Ireland, at some time in the future, achieving major success in competitive surfing on the world stage. We came to the conclusion that lack of funding was always going to be a major issue. Nature has given us fantastic foundations, great waves and talent. But all talent is raw and needs nurturing. Only then can that talent be used to hit a target such as a world championship. The level of nurturing needed in this case is great: and so is the resultant expense. While commercial funding (think Denny) is much appreciated and greatly received, it is not a very reliable source, and a lot of the money spent by the sponsor goes to pay the public relations companies whose job it is to ensure the public see the sponsors brand. And we all know how much the PR industry can inflate the cost of something simple like a photo shoot. So what’s left for the team is probably enough to pay for flights and accommodation to the events and maybe some wetsuits and blazers. But to make a real impression, to field a team that has the best chance of competing professionally and successfully against the best from Hawaii, Australia, America etc. etc, much more is needed. These guys (and girls) need the preparation, training and back room support that we would give a team representing Ireland in soccer, horse riding, athletics or any sport you might care to mention. Without that we are not giving these professional athletes a fair chance. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not writing off the current, excellent, efforts of the team and those who provide the necessary hard work and support that is needed to field a team onto the world stage. I would be the happiest man in the world if we pulled off a major win, but the fact is, much more is needed to go into a competition with our heads and hopes high. Now it has been bandied about for some time in the media that surfing is the fastest growing sport in Ireland, that there are 50,000 plus people who surf. It has occurred to me that, in the nearly four years that I’ve been completely consumed by the passion that is surfing, not once have I been asked for a donation to the great cause in question. What about the other 49,999 who set magic seaweed as their home page? How many of you, like me, have no interest in GAA, but have made donations of one sort or another to, lets face it, what is an extremely well funded and well oiled organisation. They have the art of fund raising down to a tee: and it starts at the very bottom, the root and branch of every sport, the supporters. So my question to you is simple and twofold: how much would you contribute towards the creation of a professional Irish surf team that was capable of success on the world stage. And how would an efficient, reliable and consistent means of securing funding from the root and branch of surfing work. This is not a begging letter, I told my friend I would put the problem and the need to you guys and see what your response might be. At the end of the day, surfing is a cheap activity for us all, in terms of not having to pay anything towards the cost of the facilities we use on a daily basis. Surely we can give some of those savings back so that we can show the world we are capable of producing great surfers as well as great waves.

cue

Interesting post.
If those 50000 surfers saw surfing as a sport you might be on to something, but surfing means different things to different people. How many of those view surfing as just splashing about in the water on a board?
I cannot really comment on competitive surfing as I have never witnessed it apart from clips on youtube, and I found them boring, but that could be down to a lack of understanding about what exactly was going on. BTW I'm a learner.:D

If you want a world class team you have to get them into it young. In schools in Sligo there are surfing leagues. That is not going to happen in Offaly so it does not have the same grassroots spread as GAA and i imagine that is a big problem when you are looking for support for a national team.