I surfed competitively from age 13 to 18. Every day, before and after school. I wanted to surf for the rest of my life. It's what all my friends did - I even had it as a subject in school for a number of years.
You have to go into every event with 100 percent confidence and just surf your best because everyone there is there to win, and no one is going to give you the heat. You have to win by a mile to really make a heat.
I became third in the U.S. as a junior pro surfer.
Surfing is such an incredible experience with a huge ego element.
I don't know how long I'll be competing, but I'll always be surfing. I'll be surfing until I'm old.
Surfing is a huge passion of mine. I'm and addict to it in a sense. I think it is a good addiction. I spend about anywhere from two to eight hours a day in the water when I am home. I enjoy competing and traveling. I don't know, I just like being in the ocean and enjoying God's creation. Just the adrenaline you get and its good exercise you get at the same time.
It's the way surfing is - you grow up surfing together, and then you're thrown into a heat at Pipe or a world title bout against one another.
I want to win a world title for sure. When I'm a little bit older, I'll have a lot of time to free-surf in my life. So I would love to win a world title.
Going to contests back to back, World Tour and Primes, I've noticed a lot more things with my surfing that could be improved for my heats to improve. Staying focused throughout all of those events for months at a time is hard to adjust to but definitely fun.
Like, with one arm I know I can surf, but competitive surfing can be really frustrating, and sometimes you don't do as well as you want to. It can be discouraging at times. But whenever I do get frustrated, I just focus on God.
