Leveling Up Through Surfing

Belly button-height. His. That used to be the limit of our youngest Azek‘s courage in the water. I know swimming, or surviving in water, is one of life’s necessary basic skills so I have asked my siblings to teach him to be drown-proof in our pool, with little success. I have tried teaching him on my own with the same result.

Then he got his first taste of surfing when we brought the Tres Barakos to Baler, Aurora — their first visit there.

He was hesitant to try. He kept on insisting I be his instructor, in my mind I was scratching my head. I assured him the surf camp’s instructors are more qualified than me.

Azek stoked at Baler, with his mentor: the champion Paquito.

As fate would have it Paquito of Aliya Surf Camp (where we stayed) was assigned to him. We later found out Paquito has won quite a few surfing competitions. His fellow instructors kept on reminding us Azek has a surfing champion for a mentor.

After that trip he now braves waters a foot deeper than his height; pounded home by their enrollment at the Philippine Surfing Academy’s Grom Camp at Club Manila East (read what he says about the grom camp here).

That’s one of the positive effects surfing has brought to our family, and I am grateful. 🙂

Grom Camp at PSA

My mom enrolled us in Philippine Surfing Academy’s (PSA) Grom Camp.

The first session was canceled because of bad weather. So what was supposed to be our second day became our first day.

On our first day Coach Migui led and taught us a few yoga poses to loosen our muscles and help us with the flexibility we need for surfing.

We learned the history of surfing, how to line up properly, proper form when paddling and surfing, and pop-up techniques. We also learned a couple of tricks, like Switch Foot and Cross Stepping. Then Coach Earl told us to do both tricks in one wave. It was hard. I need more practice, that’s why I can’t wait to go surfing again.

My favorite sport is surfing.