What's
New?
the National Surf Schools and
Instructors Association |
| |
| |
Dr.
Bruce Gabrielson |
Letter
from the Chairman |
The
National Surf Schools and Instructors Association Spring 2008 Newsletter
Member News from Around the Surf World |
| NSSIA
News |
| Chairman
Bruce “Snake” Gabrielson is happy to report our organization
is still growing and achieving greater recognition all the time. A
city in the LA basin used the NSSIA to help them address acquisition
issues for a surf instruction contract request recently. This is the
second time we have been contacted directly by a municipality about
how to structure a city surf school contract. On another note, we
have continued to expand our coaching certification program. Now three
universities and many coastal high schools all over the US recognize
our certification for their surf coaches or club advisors. Finally,
thanks to some submissions and suggestions by Kim Hamrock, our instructor’s
manual and training course upgrade was completed in December. The
course material is now more streamlined, making it much easier to
present to groups of potential instructors. All master level instructors
can receive the training materials if they wish to certify instructors
in their own areas. |
| In February,
the IRS requested our first financial audit. The audit went fine and
our organization is financially healthy and growing on a solid foundation. |
| In school
accreditation news, I’m happy to report that thanks to our Director
of School Accreditations, Kali Montaro, we signed a formal agreement
on February 1st with our group insurance provider, Intermarket Insurance
Agency that will enable all of us to continue receiving low cost quality
insurance coverage. In signing the agreement, President Anthony Giaccone
stated that his underwriters had thoroughly reviewed our certification
and accreditation requirements and program and were very pleased with
what they saw. |
A
number of instructor and school renewals are now due. Upon receiving
the renewal application, we will be sending out a new course completion
certificate with no expiration date. We now have individual laminated
membership cards that will have your renewal date listed. |
 |
| Kali,
Chino Sue a Quan and I during EXPO |
|
On
a personal note, I decided to surf waves bigger then I should
in October and got a rotator cuff tear on a big one, took a
trip to Huntington Beach at Thanksgiving, and then went to EXPO
in Orlando in January. I completed the three months of therapy
on my shoulder in January and next will be an operation, unfortunately,
but hopefully not until after summer. Since January I’ve
been busy remodeling my surf shop so I can make boards again.
I have lots of work to complete before spring. |
Now
for Other Member News |
| Director
Lou Maresca has left Costa Rica and moved back to living in Vero Beach
across the street from the ocean. He now has a new school, Jungle
Trail Surf, and has been giving private lessons and holding surf/adventure
camps over Spring Break. He is also getting certified as a ASP judge
and will be judging at a pro/am contest in April. He is still guiding
surfers to Costa Rica, Eleuthera and Bocas Del Toro, plus certifying
new NSSIA surf instructors. |
| NSSIA
Director of Certifications Kim Hamrock went to Santa Theresa, Costa
Rica, in January to coach and certify a group of 15 female surf instructors
from the Surf Sisters Surf School in Tofino, Canada. The sessions
went well and everyone went home with their skills significantly improved.
|
| Director
Skip Savage was the judge for the Robert Strickland Model Shape Off
at Surf EXPO in January. He and Greg Noll presented the award to the
best shaper who reproduced the RS Skip Savage Model shape. He also
reports he has been giving stand up paddle board lessons, and will
be the head instructor at a new surf school that will soon open in
the Cocoa Beach area. It's called Dr Surfer Dude's Surf School (DSD),
and is owned by NSSIA certified instructor Lance Maki. They will focus
on older surfers, mainly beginners, and feature instruction on big,
big boards; mainly standup paddle and tandem. |
| Speaking
of Lance, he is currently looking for a tandem partner. He plans to
return to the Duke Ocean Fest on Waikiki in August and hopes to improve
on the fourth place he garnered last year in the Masters Event. On
another note, DSD is working closely with the National Kidney Foundation
and has secured the NKF/Cocoa Beach Surf Company approval to bring
the World Tandem Tour to this year’s Labor Day Event (Aug 29-Sep
1). The WTT has blessed the event with a six-star rating and will
bring the best tandem surfers in the world to Cocoa Beach. The real
Gidget will also be here to represent the WTT. |
| Aaron
Powell (North Shore, Hawaii) writes it was a very busy winter. He
started out with a new job lifeguarding The training and lifeguarding
took a lot of time and he had to walk away from surf lessons for a
short period of time. He says he did this with the idea that although
he was taking himself away from teaching surfing, he was also gaining
experience that would improve his ability to teach. He says he is
100% confident that his experiences lifeguarding has made him a better
instructor. Then, in October, circumstances changed and he was able
to start teaching again, at least when he isn’t surfing the
big waves. He loves his teaching job. Being out in the beautiful waters
of Hawaii with people who are stoked beyond belief just to see a turtle.
And then they catch their first wave and they are really really stoked!
Teaching Surfing is almost as much fun as surfing sometimes. Aloha
guys, |
 |
Bonnie
Preziosi (Maryland) had a busy winter. Besides being an artist
and making glass jewelry during the winter months, she had her
annual trip to Vail to ski with her 72 year old Mom who still
totally rips! Says she is an inspiration to us all! |
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| One
of Bonnie’s recent paintings. |
|
|
| According
to Sonny Owens (Pacific Northwest), they had a tough winter for Old
timer surfing, A few of the spots that hold double and triple over
head swells were going off. There have been several bad wind and rain
storms which knocked the power off for almost two weeks at some spots
on the coast. Says he did manage to run his Big wave Tow-in Contest
in January at Nelscott Reef in Lincoln City, Oregon. He was in charge
of the judging group that Officiated at the contest. It was challenging
but went smooth. |
| Tom
Saulnier (Main/Vermont) has taken on various roles this past
winter in Vermont at Jay Peak Ski Resort. He is a Terrain Park
Ranger, Marketing Coordinator, and Web-Development for the parks
program. They had a great winter for waves up north, plus he
also got in more than knee deep powder a LOT this winter!
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| Elliot
Zuckerman (New York) spent most of the winter in Puerto Rico. He says
that after its first year, Surf Pals has gone world wide with a huge
tour in the UK and the USA. This year he is planning 8-10 surf outing
for the Autistic community, 8 in Europe. Surf Pals was founded by
Elliot and two of his very close friends, Jim Mulvaney and his state
assemblymen Harvey Weisenberg. Both Jim and Harvey have a child that
is effected with Autism. Surf Pals is a grass roots foundation relies
totally on donations from all the worlds great people. If anyone would
like to make a donations they can be sent to: Surf Pals, 830 E. Chester
Street, Long Beach, N.Y. Donations are tax deductible. Elliot also
says his surfing school will officially open the second week in April. |
 |
| The
picture is from the front yard at Camp. It's tough, but
someone has to do it. |
|
Bob
Moe (Washington) spent the winter as a surfguide at Morro Negrito,
Panama again. According to Bob “I find there is the same
astute formula for success in this type of blistering sun. A
recommendation would start with at least ten tanning sessions
before you leave.” He also has some words of wisdom for
surfing in Oregon and Washington “I have defined ‘cold’
as when your feet go numb before you run out of energy. One
of the colder days I can remember started out at 22 degrees
at day light and we got suited up around 28 degrees. There was
a careful march across the snowy/icy rocks to the 41-degree
water.” If he thinks that’s cold, Bob needs to come
to the Northeast sometime. |
|
| Pam
Clark (Pacific Northwest) writes that surfers of all ability levels
in the Pacific Northwest area are eagerly anticipating the spring
season. This winter has been marked by large waves (10-20 foot swells)
and short intervals, creating a messy and potentially dangerous
surfing environment. While some specialty events such as the Nelscott
Reef Tow in Surf Contest capitalized on the twenty to thirty foot
wave faces, most surfers have been waiting out the messy Pacific.
The Pacific Northwest Contest Judges, who judge the eight to ten
surf contests, are lead by NSSIA instructor Sonny Owens. Pam is
helping Sonny coordinate the various events. The Judging group recently
held a very successful blood drive for one of their judges with
Pam coordinated the drive. She will also be a coordinator at the
Classic along with Sonny. We look forward to seeing everyone throughout
the year! |
| Herman
(North Carolina) reports the Kitty Hawk Kayak and Surf School operated
its first season as a NSSIA Certified Surf School in 2007. The training,
education and skills through NSSIA provided for a fun, successful,
and safe 2007 season. We were also an active sponsor with the Surfrider
Foundation's Outer Banks Chapter in organizing their annual Paddle
Board race for scholarship funds and environmental awareness. |
| Longboard
Clinic PTY LTD, an Australian company owned by NSSIA instructor Ben
'Bear' Bennink has been commissioned to write a series of articles
for Pacific Longboarder Magazine on advanced longboarding techniques.
The series is be titled "The Master Class". Bear will be
responsible for writing the pieces and doing the surfing in the shots
to be used. Dane Peterson was originally considered for the surfing,
yet PLB Editor John Brasen felt it would add more credibility to the
articles if the surfing was performed by a certified master level
instructor. It's tipped that the photo's will taken by Neil (Moonwalker)
Armstrong. |
 |
NSSIA
instructor Chino Sue-a-Quan ended up going to Todos Santos chasing
the storm of the year. The swell was amazing with waves a solid
20 foot and super fun. |
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|
| Jill
Nakano (Southern California) recently purchased a home and she’s
been spending a lot of her time by renovating it. She was working
with Director of Certifications, Kim Hamrock, who has been guiding
and teaching her the finer points of instruction. According to Jill
“I'm privileged to have worked with Kim whose passion for surf,
and her mastery and detailed surf instruction has absolutely made
a positive impact on my surfing practices and way of life. She also
wants to say "thank you" for the NSSIA web-site's surf instructor
listing. She has had several contacts for lessons through her listing. |
Debbie
Walker reports that she and Jimmy left the Cocoa Beach Surf Company
Surf School and aren’t teaching at present. Debbie went back
to her old job at the Holiday Inn in Cocoa Beach, not at the Wiki
Tiki Surf School though. Jimmy went back to working on coastal restorations.
Debbie says she gets to surf a lot more now. She also says the new
manager for CBSC’s school doesn’t surf. STRANGE |
 |
NSSIA
instructor and coach Jimmy Johnson in Houston, TX, sends this
note. The picture is a group of members from our high school
surf club (North Shore Surf Club) who are learning to surf.
We have 55 members to date. They are a great group of groms.
We spend as much time out of the water working on safety and
techniques as we do in the water. Hopefully, our water time
will increase soon. They are totally stoked surfers none the
less!! They are heavily involved with Surfrider Foundation,
Surf-Aid International, Texas Adopt A Beach and Galveston Bay
Foundation.
Jimmy's group received the Texas Surfrider's 2007"Keeper
of the Coast" award and Galveston Bay Foundation's 2007
"Volunteers of the Year" award. It is mandatory they
put time in with their Humanitarian and Environmental efforts
in order to earn field trips for surf time. |
|
 |
Jimmy's
wife, Let Johnson, is co-sponsor of the surf club. (A key player
in our success) She also works at North Shore High School and
coordinates all our projects and helps with surf training. Jimmy
says he couldn't make it without her hard work and dedication
to the club. |
|
| Winter
2007-08 update - by gk |
 |
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| NSSIA
glorious chairman of the board Dr. Bruce Gabrielson isn't getting
any younger he found out after taking a horrendous over-the-falls
wipeout in surf pictured above which drove him to the bottom
where he hit his shoulder and injured it. Now he has to get
surgery on his rotator but will be fully recovered by the beginning
of next surf school season. Here's the blow by blow in an email
from Bruce Gabrielson on November 7, 2007: |
"We had some serious hurricane surf this past
weekend and I took a hit right on the tip of my
shoulder. Took off on about a 2x overhead wave and
it jumped up and started to close as I was dropping
in. The tide was low so not much water under me.
I turned hard and tried to kick up over the top
but hit the lip and bounced outward. Shoulder hit
the sand but at least my board didn't break. Doc
says I tore my rotator cup and will need to rest
it for awhile, maybe a month."
|
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| ABOVE:
NSSIA Instructor Chino Sue-A-Quan at
Todos Santos during the big swell of early December, 2007. |
|
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|
| Summer
2007 update |
NSSIA
What’s New Update for Summer 2007
This
is the Summer 07 issue of our NSSIA updates. As you
will see, NSSIA instructors continue to make their mark around
the world. The NSSIA continues to grow and prosper thanks
to your efforts and commitment. We are doing so well
that one of our founders, Jericho Popplar recently
commented that we will need to change our name before long
to the ISSIA (International). That would be a real step
for us. |
| We
have a number of well-known and newly certified instructors
among our ranks, including Gulf Coast Longbord pro Yancy
Spencer IV of Pennsacola, FL. Yancy is the older brother
of shortboard pro Sterling Spencer, and son of East Coast Hall-of-Fame
Member and long time surfer Yancy Spencer III of Pennsacola,
Florida. Other newly certified NSSIA instructors include
women’s shortboard pro Ashley Francis from Cocoa Beach,
Florida (who currently has a broken arm) and Florida’s Michael
Wood, who placed 3rd in the Longboard Pro division
at Easter Surf Festival. |
 |
| NSSIA
instructor Chino-Sue-A-Quan (Wow Surfing School
in Puerto Rico) reports that Surfs-up movie star Cody
(penguin) stopped by and practiced some surfing lessons
before going out to make the movie! Chino also reports
that his camps in San Juan are doing well. |
|
 |
| Another
of our newest NSSIA instructors is Bonnie Preziosi
who works at Snake’s Surf School in Ocean City,
Maryland. Besides a surf and swimming instructor,
she is also an accomplished surf artist with many of her
works appearing at shows and in galleries around the Mid-Atlantic
region. Her web site is http://bpwaves.com. |
|
| NSSIA
Florida instructor Lance Maki writes he is currently
looking for the new Gidget. He needs a very small lady
95-105 pounds, athletic, daring probably a gymnast, dancer,
or cheerleader that can swim. He will pay for expenses
to train the 14-21 July in San Diego including some training
time with Steve and Barrie Boehne, plus will pay for airfare
and room in Honolulu from 21-27 August to do a tandem event
at ITSA with Bear Woznick and the others. By the way,
Lance is a good friend of the real Gidget, Kathy Kohner-Zuckerman. |
 |
| From
Down Under, NSSIA Australian instructor Ben 'Bear'
Bennink reports that both he and his wife
Yoko made it to the finals of the annual Byron Bay Malibu
classic. He finished
3rd in the O/35's, while Yoko (pictured below) took 2nd
in O/30's women's. He
also says that if you go into a US news stand and get
the current issue of "Town and Country Travel "
summer edition 07, you'll find a story on Byron Bay Australia.
The cover shot of that article is Watego's Beach, and
next to that is a photo of he and Yoko at the pass,
a full-page shot. BTW that's the two boards they rode
in the competitions this year. On another note, he receive some new boards for his school, and
some new wetsuits, sent over from Japan since he can't
get good custom suits in Australia he adds “thanks to
the global economy.” |
|
 |
|
NSSIA instructors Sonny Owens and Pam Clark
just completed the largest surf contest in the Pacific
Northwest.It's the Clean Water Classic.Sonny was a judge
and Pam was the organizer.
We had over 100 competitors, over 450 at our Saturday
night party, and enjoyed the awesome support of Global
Surf Industries as our title sponsor. They are also looking
forward to judging the upcoming CSO Shortboard contest
in Oregon June 30-31st. Sonny (at the CWC awards with
Drew Kampion and Gary Smither) writes he has been busy
setting up Judging panels for most all the P. N.W. contests
in Oregon and Wash. I.E. (Clean Water Classic -
West Port WA. / Christian Surfing Org. Annual surf contest -
Lincoln City, Or. / Rogue Classic - Newport, OR. / Nelscott
Tow-in Nelscott Reef Lincoln City OR. He also does an
introduction to Surfing Class or Classes for the Longview,
WA. Parks and Recreation, And do some one of one
and follow up coaching and surf lesions thru out the summer
months. |
|
On
another note, Pam wrote the following short story that appeared
in Women’s Adventure
Magazine - http://www.womensadventuremagazine.com/readerstory.shtm Surfing...by Pamela
Clark Surfing has given me the ability to fail and to fail miserably
with pride. There should be a small line of text on rental surfboards
that notes those learning to surf after age 30 are due for years
of upstaging by pre-adolescents, ungainly dismounts, unappealing
smells (neoprene, etc) and an incursion of novel words into
the personal vocabulary. "Dude, quit dropping in on my
 copier
space! Wait your turn, I'm collating here!" Yeah, just
what the bosses want to hear from once promising employees.
Surfing has given me the ability to not care
about what my middle aged body looks like in neoprene, or that
I smell a bit "off", or that the eleven year old to
my left is dropping cutbacks like crazy while I fall off the
board just trying to trim with style. It's OK- failure is the
only way to progress. In nothing else in my life has failure
been the way to progress, and finding this pleasure in surfing
has been extraordinary for me. I love to fail in surfing. Because,
even in failing, I'm still in the ocean and progressing towards
a goal.
Surfing will remain in my life forever, while jobs will
come and go. Thanks, surfing, for reminding me that practice
does make perfect even if that practice takes decades.
NSSIA Chairman Bruce Gabrielson
is not only a surf instructor, but he is a widely recognized
researcher in the field of Computer Security.
He recently got a big mention in an article “Government
Targets Insider Threat” in the Magazine Dark Reading (see link
below). http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=118419
He has also been doing some serious surf traveling,
spending time in Cocoa Beach with NSSIA Director Skip Savage
during Easter Surf Fest, Huntington Beach during Mother’s Day
in May, and then off to Hawaii for a conference in June. During Easter he presented legendary Florida shaper Sam O’Hair with
an Ironman Hall-of-Fame award, and while in Huntington Beach
he presented the on the beach portion of the NSSIA instructors
course to a group of instructors and high school and college
coaches, including NSSIA Directors Jericho Popplar and
Kim “Dangerwoman” Hamrock (both on the right in the picture).
That’s a
very tough group to teach.
|
LEFT: OUCH! FISHHOOK IN BRUCE GABRIELSON'S FOOT.
Finally, right before leaving for Hawaii, he managed to step
on a fishhook while giving a lesson at his break in Ocean City.
His students helped him pack his boards up and got him
to the hospital where the docs cut the hook out.
Bruce says between cancelled lessons, expenses, and the
emergency room fees, the hook was a $500 special.
It didn’t bother him in Hawaii though as he surfed several
spots, including one evening with NSSIA instructor Al Mohoe
and his brother at Ala Mona Park. He also had a chance to visit with Surf Legend
Rabbit Kakai and surf with former Delaware longboarder and NSSIA
instructor Aaron Powell.
Next for Bruce, he is scheduled to be one of the speakers
at the East Coast Premier of the surf movie “Shapemasters” being
shown July 14th at Old Dominion University.
By the way, if any NSSIA instructors are near Maryland
on Saturday, September 9th, try to attend his 20th
Annual Luau.
LEFT: Bob Moe is
one the newer NSSIA instructors and he mainly surfs in the
northern Oregon area. Bob has rededicated his life
after the millennium change between his 3 alfalfa farms and
surfing. He does have to literally make hay when the sun shines,
but is able to get to the beach between watering during the
irrigating season. Bob’s father who began surfing in Hawaii
in the late 30’s gave Bob his first surfing lessons in 1964
at California Street in Ventura, California. As I understand the story, Bob’s dad would tie his redwood surfboard
under the family’s Model A Ford and have his father drive
him to the Waikiki area to surf with the “Original Beach Boys”.
Bob
has been able to be a Surfguide and a surf instructor for the
Morro Negrito Surf Camp during the winters. He was able
to take people from not knowing which ankle to put the leash
on to successfully riding 5’ waves at the Sandbar in 5 days.
During his stay, one of the harder problems he found
with some of the better surfers was they seemed to forget surf
etiquette, rotation and manners. Bob found in certain incidents, non-verbal
communication and leading by example was the answer. The approach was after riding a wave make sure to go physically
to the back of the line-up, talk with some of the frustrated
people and make sure you let a few go in front of your turn.
These actions were able to straighten out the line-up
and worked in all but one case.
In the case of the one individual, patients for a few
days, the individual was gone and the camp was back to its mellow
attitude.
|
All
our directors seem to be traveling. NSSIA Director Kim Hamrock
Surf City Surfing Lessons, Huntington Beach, CA) is in Cannon
Beach, Oregon, presenting a NSSIA Surf Instructors training
class, while director Kali Montaro (Big Kahuna Surf
School, Deerfield Beach, FL) just returned from visiting
his family in Hawaii.New
York NSSIA instructor Elliot Zuckerman (Surf2Live
Surf School, NY) recently returned from a trip to Puerto
Rico where he taught a surf instructors course.
LEFT:
NSSIA instructor Phillip 'Puddy' Albright with his
Texas A&M class at Port Aransas, Texas. Puddy developed the course in the Fall
of 2004 as the first university surfing class 'for credit'
in the State of Texas.
Got a note from Julia Hubbard, Intercollegiate
Athletics Media director at Cal-State University Monterey Bay.
It seems NSSIA instructor and coach Dave Eckstaedt
broke his right arm and has been a little out of commission
lately. According to
Julia: “what you have taught him has been very helpful, he has
an assistant and is running his classes a little differently
but he will be back in operation in two weeks.”
The NSSIA instructional team of Debbie Walker (pictured
in black), Jimmy Walker and Brandon Roland recently
made the move from their old school to the Cocoa Beach Surf
Company’s Surf School in Cocoa Beach, FL.
CCBC is a major surf school in Florida.
Debbie reports that lessons are way up this year.
Good luck all.
NSSIA instructor Jill Nakano (Long Beach, CA) is a volunteer mentor
for the non-profit Boarding House Mentors organization that runs
every other Sunday until October. Their mission is to
introduce surfing and other board sports to at-risk youth from
the inner city. Anyways...Father's Day Sunday was the
first-time she got to work with a youth teaching her
how to surf. The instructors were paired up with at least
one student. The beach break was kinda gnarly at times (she
was fearful for both students and herself) creating a nice big
wall of whitewater mixed with shoreline rocks that
rolled in and out. She reports that what she learned from
the NSSIA instructor’s course and manual helped her and her
students get safely through the day without serious injury.
Finally, NSSIA Director Gerry Kantor
of Leucadia
Surf School in north San Diego, California had
a news story done on his surf school by Canadian
Broadcasting. |
|
| February
2007 |
Many
things have happened since our last update. Our certification program,
based on sound international standards for professional accreditation,
leads the way in industry excellence. We continue to prosper, and
our members continue to achieve success and allocates around the
world. Here are some of the things our members have been involved
with since our last update.
Instructors Michelle Richards and
Chino Sue-A-Quan both competed in the World Surf
Games in Huntington Beach this fall. When the contest ended, Michelle
headed south to Nicaragua to work at a surf school in the tropics
all winter. Chino reports there is significant interest among the
tow-in professionals regarding our certification program. He says
we should be getting some more applications from those pros that
own surf schools shortly.
Pacific Northwest News - Sonny
Owens reports from the Pacific Northwest that after another
successful summer of lessons he has been judging some major surf
events, along with another of our certified instructors, Pam
Clark. Pam and her husband also report that they have adopted
a child. Good luck Pam. Finally, Buffalo Bob sent a picture saying
this is how he got his nickname.
News from Tom Saulnier in Maine
is that it’s cold. Other then it being cold, he has just been
named the Northern New England Surfrider Chapter media coordinator.
He is also just beginning classes at York County Community College
majoring in Digital Media, a good fit for a media coordinator. For
his lesson program, he is looking at the logistics of moving forward
and introducing a camp format for this next summer.
Besides teaching new instructors and regular lessons,
NSSIA Director Lou Maresca recently purchased the
Robert August Surf School in Costa Rica. Lou, who
translated our manual into Spanish, plans a major marketing campaign
to promote his school. He also says that he now spends about 15
minutes at the start of each lesson explaining what the NSSIA is,
its purpose and objectives. This awareness raising issue is something
all NSSIA instructors should also incorporate into their own current
lesson format.
Something else about our instructor’s manual
happened in December. The US Copyright Office reviewed and approved
a copyright for our formal training manual: Teaching Surf instructors
to Teach. The new (current) version of the manual combined advance
coaching and instructor training techniques, and is now used for
both certified coaches and instructors. Instructors who were certified
under our previous (non-coaching) format may re-apply when their
annual NSSIA renewal comes due to have the coaching certification
added if they wish.
Some tough times for yours truly. I returned from
a week in South Florida at Thanksgiving and found I had contracted
a rare (and serious) illness. Had some difficult days and received
some strong meds for about a month and still not out of the woods.
Besides keeping me out of the water for 6 weeks, I had to cancel
my annual trip to Surf EXPO in Florida during January – Bummer.
On a brighter note, despite the illness, Snake’s Wave
Trek Surf Shop finally was able to open the doors for the
new building in January. Glassed my first two boards already.
Another item of interest is NESMA,
the North East Surf Music Alliance. NESMA has a
vision and goals similar to NSSIA, but is focused entirely on the
surf music industry in the North Eastern US. Member bands play some
major concerts, and they are now working with us to help spread
the word to potential students about our member instructors and
schools.
Corky Carroll Surf School owner
Rick Walker is sending another off-season down
in Costa Rica. He reports that CCSS is considering having its 40-50
instructors become certified this spring – WOW. He also reports
that Quicksilver has now become one of his school sponsors.
|
| Melody
DeCarlo reports that she will be giving free beginner
lessons during Easter Surf Fest in Cocoa Beach
with Peter Pan as part of an East Coast Surfing
Hall-of-Fame promo. NSSIA will also be giving an instructors
clinic during the event, hopefully through Wiki-Wiki
Surf School. Speaking of which, Rick and Debbie
Walker have has some legal problems
with a non-certified instructor and school in Cocoa Beach. Some
instructors just don’t understand what a surf professional
means. |
|
| Debbie
Walker, snowboarding during the off season for surf schools
in Florida. |
|
| Elliot
Zuckerman (Surf2Live Surf School) will appear on the
Discovery Channel next month. He is shown doing a piece
on learning to surf with Don Ho.
If you checked our web site lately, you will have noticed that
we are quickly moving our certification program into the international
arena. We receive requests for information from around the world
and now have accredited schools in Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, and
Canada. We also recently certified an instructor in Australia. In
fact, our certification program will soon be submitted to the Australian
Government for evaluation and formal recognition. Additionally,
according to our NSSIA instructor in OZ, the Surfing Gooroo, the
NSSIA instructional manual is being translated into Japanese. Check
out his site at http://surfing-gooroo.com/
We
got a nice mention about our manual by Joel Tabler
in his surf books newsletter this past month. |
| October
11, 2006 |
All
One of our directors was recently asked the question about why surf
instructors should consider us instead of the competition when certifying
themselves. He asked me how I would respond. I have had to answer
many emails with the same question. Most instructors and schools realize
that certification is needed and they strongly support affiliating
with a professional organization, just why NSSIA. There are many reasons
we excel, but here are a few responses that we can use if asked.
1. Competition: Our program was created through consensus by a group
of perhaps the most experienced and recognized surfing instructors
and coaches in the surfing world. The ISA backed program was not created
by surfing instructors, but by traditional sports coaches. It was
adapted by the Australian Surfing Association for use in their surf
instructor certification program and has gained popularity primarily
through ISA's endorsement. The other international certification program,
also created in Australia, was the product of two surf instructors
and a young surf school owner who graduated in education. There is
one small US program created by a single surf instructor in Florida
and has no foundation other then what that individual provided. None
of these programs have the depth of recognized surfing authorities
that our directors have. This depth puts us a cut above ALL the rest.
2. Certification criteria: Our certification program can be met in
two ways, either through a formal training course, or through a combination
of references, self study, and passing an exam. The ASA and other
ISA sponsored certifications require a series of training courses.
The other Australian program requires the individual to buy printed
study guides and workbooks that are filled in and returned for each
level of certification.
3. Costs: In all cases where formal training/study is required, except
for the Florida certification, our program is less costly then other
programs.
4. Recognition: Because of our stringent requirements, our program
is more widely recognized by other government, educational, and recreation
industry organizations then all other similar surf school programs.
Much or our recognition has to do with the format we used for our
creation since it conforms to the international standard for all professional
certification organizations. None of the other programs were created
or are organized in this way. Additionally, we are the only officially
recognized non-profit surf school industry organization.
5. Informational material: Our program is the only program offering
a tailored surf instructor handbook providing significant information
about not only the sport, but how to actually "teach" surfing
and perform as a surf coach. The workbook courses have some similar
material, but aren't arranged in a textbook format as is our handbook.
6. Instructor recognition: We provide visibility for our instructors
and accredited schools through listings on our web site. In case you
haven't noticed, we are ranked high on the search engines.
7. Educational outreach: We are currently coordinating with a number
of educational institutions around the world as a premier source of
surf instructional information.
8. Currently certified instructors: If you take a look at those we've
certified so far, there are some "big names" on the list,
plus a few Hall-of-Fame members and current pro surfers. There are
many other currently becoming certified.
9. Insurance: Our blanket insurance policy is the least expensive
offered for both schools and single instructors in industry.
10. Safety and professionalism: Our mission statement is clear, we
promote safety and other recognized professional ideals. Take a look
at the other mission statements?????
I'm sure there are other reasons, but this is plenty.
Bruce "Snake" Gabrielson
NSSIA Chairman
|
| JULY
21, 2006 |
Great
news - Certifications and
accreditations are progressing well. We currently have over
20 individual applications in process, one of whom is a top
ranked professional longboarder, Josh Mohr. Additionally,
Chino Sue A Quin, a professional shortboarder
and tow-in surfer from Puerto Rico has just completed his certification
process. Both these individuals will greatly enhance the prestige
of our program.
| |
|
| Chino
Sue A Quin -
Hammer Heads outer reef, Hawaii, 2006 - photo by allen
mozo |
Chino
Sue A Quin - Chino
gets some serious air in this shot. Did he make it? Or
just launch? |
Speaking
of Chino, he is in Costa Rica for a film and some tow-in work.
Also, we have received our first application to accredit a
surf school in Canada. The owner of the school, Michelle
Richards, is nearing completion of her certification
requirements at this time.
On
another note, Lou Maresca
has converted our instructor's manual into Spanish, and is
now in process of teaching our instructor's course to Witches
Rock Surf School in Costa Rica. Also, Kali
Montero is getting feedback from insurance companies
about a good blanket coverage policy for NSSIA accredited
schools. He now has a quote (per student) that seems very
reasonable for smaller schools. This will hopefully reduce
the costs that our current schools pay now with individual
policies. Contact Kali for more information.
Pamala
Clark (Pacific Northwest) received a nice write-up
and endorsement about her instruction activities. Pam is also
the surfer pictured on the Travelocity web
site currently.
|
Speaking
of magazines, Elliot
Zuckerman (New York) will be featured in the September
issue of Men’s Health Journal.
The article will cover both his surf school and his work with
Autistic kids.
Finally,
Jericho Popplar has bee traveling all over
the place lately. She is in Honolulu this month for a female
“Stars of Surfing” reunion.
Not
so great news - Director Gerry
Kantor suffered a heart attack last week but is recovering
well and will soon be back out in the water with his school,
Leucadia Surf School. Director
Skip Savage is at home after recent surgery
and contracted an infection. We wish you both a speedy recovery.
Tina Wann's husband was sent back to Germany on assignment.
She will be there for at least a year. Our own NSSIA Director
Kim “Dangerwoman” Hamrock was
upset in her first heat at the world championships
in inconsistent waves. She had just returned from a trip for
a surf camp in Cannon Beach, Oregon.
Other updates -
Florida now leads the way with the most NSSIA certified or
in process of certification instructors. Snake's Surf
School has the most certified or in process instructors
of any NSSIA school with Wiki Tiki Surf School
a close second. Wiki Tiki was also recently asked to be the
official surf school for the County of Brevard Parks
and Rec. And finally, five of our instructors now
post updates on the worldwidesurfers list serv: http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/worldwidesurfers/
 |
| 2006
HUNTINGTON BEACH 4TH OF JULY PARADE |
| LEFT
TO RIGHT:
Chuck
Linnen, Bob "The Greek" Bolen, Bruce Gabrielson,
Huntington Beach Surf Museum founder Natali Kotch, Rabbit
Kekai, David Nuuhiwa, and Mike Spence (Coalition of Surf
Clubs President). Chris
"The Waterman" Ryan is in the back on the right,
and
Bushman (first name unknown) is kneeling. |
|
PAMELA CLARK IN THE TRAVELOCITY
AD
Another Pacific Northwest instructor,
Soni Owens, reports that he is head judge
for the Newport Oregon Longboard Classic
and is nearing completion of his ISA judging certification.
He will also be working at the Nelscott Reef Tow-in
event this winter. |
| Snake
(Bruce Gabrielson) was in the Huntington Beach July
4th parade with David Nuuhiwa, Rabbit
Kekai, Greek, and a few other notables.
While he was there he stopped to visit the crowds at the Corky
Carrol Surf School. He also has an article on the Surfrider
Toes on the Nose Longboard Team Challenge coming out
in the next Longboard Magazine, plus
he received a short write-up in the People section of July’s
Insight Magazine. Josh Mohr is on
the cover of the current Longboard Magazine. |
|
| |
| Leucadia
Surf School featured on the Fine Living Channel |
|
LEFT:
A clip from the tv show. Gerry Kantor demonstrates
the ride-behind method of surf instruction.
Director Gerry Kantor's Leucadia Surf School, in north San Diego,
California, was featured on a special about family camps on
the Fine Living Channel. VIEW
THE SPECIAL by clicking
here.DSL
or better connection required.
for 56k click here.
|
|
| |
| The
Shaping Room |
 |
LEFT:
Bruce Gabrielson and surfboard shaping mentor, the late (and
great) Dale Velzy. |
|
| Take
a look at Bruce Gabrielson's personal History of Surfboard
Shaping, with more historical surfing photos. |
| |
| Who's
a Local? |
 |
LEFT:
Bruce Gabrielson's family house
in the late 60's, on Garfield and Beach Boulevard, Huntington
Beach, "back in the day." See more of these great
historical photos of Huntington Beach on the Bruce Gabrielson's
personal History of Surfboard
Shaping page. |
|
| Not
that the NSSIA endorses localism, but it's difficult to get more local
than this: Bruce Gabrielson's family house on the corner of Garfield
and Beach Boulevard in the late 1960's. |
| |
| Testimonial
from Surf 2 Live Surf School owner, Elliot Zuckerman |
All,
I am very proud to say both my school and myself are certified by
NSSIA,I have been approached by the others and to be honest, I found
that NSSIA was a certification that stood for the leading certification
in our field.
I have been a proud owner of a school for many years. Today there
are so many people trying to start a school,trying to give instructions
it is insane.
When I ask these people about their qualifications they all say
the same thing,"I do not need any certifications, I can teach
anyone to surf as good as you"Then I ask a few questions,who
are you insured with?Most if not all the time I am told "I
do not need insurance,"NSSIA makes it a requirement",Then
when asked what is the name of your corporation name I am again
told I do not need to be a business then I have to pay taxes.NSSIA
requires this.
I can go on and on but to be frank and honest being a member to
NSSIA is a honor, it stands for total professionalism in our field.
I have had many of my students say they are very comfortable knowing
that my school and myself are certified and many have checked.
And talking about owning a school for many years I must give big
thanks to Kali for finding a GREAT and fairly inexpensive insurance
policy.My insurance is now less expensive and my coverage has increased
100% and I owe that to one of our great directors.
We stand strong and proud as a leading certification school and
I am proud to be a part of it.
Bruce and all our fine directors I thank you for letting me be a
part of the team and if you need anything from me or my school,
please just ask and I will be there.
Respectivly yours
Elliot
Surf2live,Inc.
Elliot Zuckerman
Master Surfing Instructor
www.surf2live.com
|
|
