August 2008: The Psychology Of Winning Issue

FOREWORD
By Evan Slater

Winning isn’t everything – especially when it comes to riding waves. But for the vast majority of the world’s best surfers and the tens of thousands who aspire to be, the idea of “beating” their fellow competitors can be all-consuming. Points. Stars. Seedings. Ratings. Contest terms buzz around their heads like bloodthirsty mosquitoes, only slowing down (at least for the night) after a long drink from the champagne bottle (or, in the kids’ case, the Red Bull can).

This is only natural. Surfing as sport is similar to any other athletic pursuit. You learn the rules. You set goals. You train for Game Day. And then you go out and put your skills to the test on the playing field. The only problem is, our playing field is unlike any other. It’s like a basketball game with moving baskets that only appear for certain players. Or a football game where the pigskin might fail to show up at all during the allotted time period. These loops are enough to fry the motherboard of any competitive machine, which is why surfers – even those with superhuman skills – have mixed feelings about life in a colored jersey. Yes, they love the thrill of victory. But they also know that surfing isn’t just their sport of choice; it’s a lifelong relationship.

Most other professional athletes don’t really have the option of quitting their team and traveling the planet in search of the world’s best hoops or diamonds or gridirons. But surfers do. And no matter how caught up they are in title races, qualifying quests or amateur smackdowns, they all know they can bail somewhere at any given time, ride the waves of their lives in a contest-free environment and return more in love with surfing than ever.

Winning isn’t everything – even when it is.

Reader Comments 

Posted Wed Jun25, 2008, 7:23 PM — By Jocelyn

I think this article is totally right. Winning isn't everything. I hat it when people say, oh that guy is th best surfer ever because he won so many titles. That means nothing in the end. If you enjoy what you do because it's something you love, then you are a winner. I personally don't give a crap if the guy who has won this contest and that contest if he did it because he just wants to win. There is no point in winning something if it drives you to lose the joy you had in the first place. You can be a winner one day, but the next day be a hardcore loser, so what's the point? Why not do you what you do for the pure love of it, and always be a winner?

Posted Thu Jul 3, 2008, 10:38 AM — By Mark Kleen

I agree with you. Friends always told me why I've never get in a local contest, you know I don't need it to feel like a surfer to do what I love in life, which is a lifestyle and an attitud to me. I don't need to show everyone if I'm capable or not of doing sort of things in the water, as long as I'm with my bros having a great time, I'll have a blast, big time. Of course I admire all those surfers that put their effort and struggle for a win, or for a title like Occy, Lopez, Slater, Irons, Fanning, Burow, etc... They Work hard and that's what they live from. They enjoy every piece of it, they know they don't have to proof anything, they're already winners, they are heroes to many many ones. But the thing is that we're all heroes, no matter if you surf small or big, you just do it. I personally like Free Surfing, but that's me. So I'm a winner, remember: " I'ts not the size of the dog in the fight, It's the size of the fight in the dog"

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