On Feb. 5 I was honored by the Patriots Day committee as Laguna Beach’s “Athlete of the Year.” I’ve won a lot of trophies and awards before but none more meaningful to me then this one. It sits right there proudly on the mantlepiece above my fireplace and no matter how many great places in the world I have been lucky enough to experience, there will never be another place more special to me than Laguna Beach.
Just as there will never be another place I would rather be in the world on a beautiful day like today than Pearl Street beach. The very beach I was raised on. My whole being, vision and spirit were shaped on that beach by those before me. There was a long list of past surfers, including my brother, who inspired me to surf and then one day become a professional.
Today I dedicate my life to preserving our beaches and oceans. It wasn’t something that happened overnight. In fact it just happened over time, much like anything else through hard work, desire and dedication. My work perhaps isn’t traditional as some may like but that’s not my issue. I do what I do because I believe in it and I want to do it.
I work with a personal trainer twice a week as he puts me through a series of circuits that leave me nearly hurling at the end and I work out on my own another three or four days a week. It’s work. Writing a column is work. I write a different one for each of my sponsors. Being involved with marketing meetings with sponsors is also work, as is maintaining three websites, or finishing a book that you have been working on for five years.
You might be asking yourself what has inspired me to write about all this? Perhaps it’s because in 2011 there is still this perception that surfing is more of a beach bum sport than an actually a sport. I would bet that any professional surfer would have a much easier time adapting to any other sport than another professional athlete trying the sport of surfing. I will put my money on that any time, any place.
The beach is nothing short of a natural playground for all to enjoy and that is why I work—yes ”work”—extremely hard at preserving them for the next generations. So they can dream the same dream that I had of one day being a professional surfer, a sport that in fact kept me away from drugs and other adolescent mistakes. So thank you Patriots Day committee for such an honor and I will do my very best to honor in the best way that I can by leading by example.
Peace.
