Surfing has been a part of my life for about five years now, and I have not regretted a single session. The reason I started surfing was mainly because I found my older brother's board lying around our attic. When I found this, I knew that it would be something that I would love doing for a long time. I started bringing the board with me when my family and I would go to the beach every weekend during the summer. Learning how to surf was by far one of the most frustrating things that I have ever done.
I never thought that surfing was going to be as difficult to learn as it was. I figured that it would be like learning how to play baseball or football or any other mainstream sport. I was definitely wrong. My reasoning behind this is because surfing is in no way, shape, or form like these other sports. It requires an extremely high level of coordination and perseverance. I cannot even begin to count the number of times I paddled for a wave and ended up with the nose of my board burried in the water. Once if overcame this, however, surfing became much more enjoyable and easy to get the hang of.
Once I became better, eventually being able to turn and do a variety of maneuvers, I started following professional surfing more. I would, and still do, constantly find myself going online to check the surf report and watch videos on a daily basis. Eventually I learned about many of the surfers whom I idolized. Watching the videos is also a great way to learn new moves. Just like any other sport, sometimes the best learning tool is to actually watch your heros in action. Surfing is still my favorite sport, not only because of how much fun it is, but because of the time it gives you to just think.