FEATURE: HIGH-PERFORMANCE SURFING THE OLYMPICS! SURFING’S NEXT TAKE OFF KIM CRANE, NATIONAL HIGH-PERFORMANCE MANAGERFOR SURFING AUSTRALIA, Surfing has long been a way of life,very much embedded in the fabricof Australian culture. Over theyears however, surfing has progressed from simply being a lifestyle, SPOKE WITH SPORT HEALTHto becoming a fully-fledged industry TO DISCUSS THE HIGH- in its own right, highlighted recently by the inclusion of the sport in the PERFORMANCE EVOLUTIONupcoming 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. OF AUSTRALIA’S FAVOURITE As National High-Performance Manager PAST-TIME: SURFING for Surfing Australia, Kim Crane is poised to help Australia’s athletes perform at their peak, both at the 2020 Olympics and beyond. “High performance surfing has a pathway which supports athlete progression from Many unfamiliar with the sport will ask: junior right through to senior ranks. As what is high performance surfing? How a national sporting organisation, the does it differ from the average joe picking purpose of Surfing Australia’s National up a board and catching a few waves? High-Performance Program is to support Kim Crane explained: our Australian athletes to become the world’s best surfers and people.” “There are various forms of high- performance surfing. Those in the sport As a sport, surfing has professionalised would reference this as, big wave as much as any other the last decade: ‘extreme’ surfing, freestyle aerial style surfing, or simply being a ‘surfer for life’ “The athletes prepare professionally participating in the sport whilst executing and train as hard as any sport I know, the skill at an advanced level. with exhausting and often challenging travel demands,” Crane explained. “However, in context with my role, high performance surfing is when athletes Travel demands are a unique element of transition to elite competition levels. surfing. Unlike many other water-based This includes national titles, the World sports, the environment is a major factor Surf League’s Pro Junior Series, World in the sport. Waves cannot break in an Qualifying Series or World Championship inland area and this can be often the Tour [where the athlete is a professional]. case in certain coastal areas. This also extends to successful selection in representative teams for Australia, As well as location, the composition of competing in the International Surfing the ocean floor can change the type of Association World Surfing Games or wave the ocean produces. Therefore, now, for the first time, the 2020 athletes travel far and wide for training Tokyo Olympic Games. and competitions to find the best 12 VOLUME 36 • ISSUE 3 2018