A friend of mine grew up partially on the Gulf of Florida and he made the CT. Some areas of Florida produce poor surf in general. We rode what was put in front of us and we tried to ride the slop with zest.

Having an attitude of putting in the time no matter the conditions leads to bigger things later.

Great article Martin!

The new generation is coming really strong too. I think the youngsters do profit from the vast amount of information available on the web and on youtube.

Emma, I totally understand the different situations people are in with their location, type of break, and financial situations. The point of this post is to highlight what i know to be true. The surfer has to work hard and on a consistent basis to make the big time. There are no excuses in the end. You either do it or you don’t. As for people who choose to “home school” their child – I’m sure it is a big decision and one made for the right reasons. Just be aware of the warning signs that cab creep in. The child doesn’t want to continue with the program, they want to sleep in, they turn their nose up at some surf conditions. It may not be their world they want to create for themselves. Check out a book – “the talent code”, by Daniel Coyle, Its a great insight to the way talent is being developed. A really good read.