<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you\u2019re ever short on inspiration and find yourself in Durban for a weekend, or are happy to just go online, take a look at what is being achieved by the Made for More organisation and some of the people behind adaptive surfing in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s pretty much how it played out for national team coach Scott Messenger, when he and a group of fellow surfers stumbled across Made for More and offered to raise some money at their annual dress-up tennis party. They cobbled together enough money to sponsor a stand-up paddle board and delivered it to the Made for More volunteers at one of their monthly Saturday morning surfing sessions at Addington beach in Durban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI left that place a different person and from that point on we were in,\u201d says Messenger, referencing himself and wife Yvonne, who is also now one of the team coaches. \u201cThe people we\u2019ve met, the experiences we\u2019ve had, and the waves that we\u2019ve helped people catch, have just been epic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Adaptive surfing has existed in South Africa since 2011, but according to Made for More Founder and Managing Director Julia van Zyl, has only had an organised presence in Durban since 2014, when Amanzimtoti surfer Wesley Smith just wanted to offer surfing lessons to two children at his paraplegic son\u2019s school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy son goes to the Open Air School (for special needs) and I offered to take two blind children for surfing sessions,\u201d said Smith to the South Coast Sun in 2017. \u201cIt grew to other children with various disabilities joining. Unknown to me, Dries Millard was also pioneering adaptive surfing in Cape Town. We made contact via Chip Williams of Widenham and the national movement has been growing ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That national movement now totals approximately 100 adaptive surfers, with about 60 in Durban, a small group in the Northern Cape, and an increasing number in Cape Town through the Roxy Davis Foundation, which has only been going for two years, but is growing quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Adaptive surfing is surfing with a disability, including but not limited to paralyses, cerebral palsy, visual impairment, blindness, mental disability, amputations etc, and there are a range of categories. These categories are segmented according to disability and whether or not the surfer is seated, kneeling or standing, or in a prone position on the board, or requires assistance to paddle into waves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first adaptive surfing national championships took place in Muizenberg in Cape Town in 2015, but for the past three years has been run by Made for More in Durban. MFM is a non-profit organisation that runs a number of initiatives, including adaptive surfing, and it recently took the step of setting up \u2018Adaptive Surfers of SA\u2019 to separate the sport from Made for More. That\u2019s due to the need for this new body to be set up as a public benefit organisation and to avoid confusion. Made for More will continue to play an organisational and fundraising role for adaptive surfing in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In terms of the sport\u2019s relationship with Surfing South Africa, Van Zyl says the governing body has provided support in the form of medals and public liability, but hasn\u2019t been able to provide any financial assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t have money, so it\u2019s also just understanding the challenges on their side,\u201d says Van Zyl. \u201cThey have a host of programmes under their banner \u2013 adaptive, short board, long board, masters, SUP etc \u2013 and these are all groups of people looking for support. So, I get the frustration on both sides, and surfing is just one of those sports that isn\u2019t going to get support from government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Government may have bigger fish to fry, but that shouldn\u2019t diminish the impact that Made for More and the sport of adaptive surfing has had on its surfers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThroughout my life I\u2019ve been excluded from everything, and if you go to something, you\u2019re an outcast,\u201d says Dave Williams, a 34-year-old IT quality assurance manager at Mr Price and national champion in the kneel division.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Williams was born without legs just below the kneecaps and was bullied as a youngster, but that didn\u2019t stop him from participating in sports such as swimming and adaptive rowing growing up. That being said, he believes his life changed in 2020 on the very first day he dragged himself down to the beach in Durban and joined up with the Made for More programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This, despite an incredible fear of the ocean growing up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI caught this trashy little \u2018foamy\u2019, but the way that Jules, Leon and the volunteers reacted was like I\u2019d caught a huge wave from Portgual! From that day onwards, before I could bring myself down, there would just be these screams and cheers about how amazing that was, how much better you\u2019re getting etc,\u201d he says. \u201cTo be included and to be made to feel so flipping special, I can\u2019t put into words what it means to us. To get that high-five when you\u2019re dying inside and think you\u2019ve caught the worst wave ever, it\u2019s life-changing, what the guys do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Roughly 18 months after taking up the sport, Williams is a member of the national team, with an eye on Pismo Beach in California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI can\u2019t say that this is a dream, because I\u2019ve never even dreamt it,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s what makes para surfing so special \u2013 people don\u2019t realise how far-fetched this is for disabled people. Watching surfing growing up and going to events like the Gunston 500, I just thought those guys were the coolest guys I\u2019d ever seen. But, as a physically-disabled person, you don\u2019t ever allow your mind to even think, \u2018could I ever do this?\u2019 That\u2019s because you don\u2019t want to hurt yourself and you know it\u2019s out of your league.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not anymore for Williams, who will potentially line up with his team-mates alongside approximately 150 other adaptive surfers from around 25 countries at Pismo Beach in December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The International Surfing Association has hosted the ISA World Para (Adaptive) Surfing Championship since 2015, with the move to changing the name of the sport to \u2018para surfing\u2019 aimed at ultimately gaining acceptance to the Paralympics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat Made for More has given these surfers is freedom \u2013 the freedom to feel like you are not disabled, you are competing on a board like everyone else, and you are not trapped by the devices you use to get around every day,\u201d says Erika Hendrikz, SA Para Surf Team Manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hendrikz has first-hand experience of the impact of Made for More and its adaptive surfing programme on the surfers who take part. Her husband Doug was a surfer before losing both his legs in a motorcycling accident and has been able to rediscover his love for the sport \u2013 just in a different shape and form \u2013 culminating in his selection for the national team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe team took the time to figure out how he could surf again,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was a case of putting their heads together, because you have to adapt your way of thinking \u2013 your traditional surfing is X, so now we have to develop the X-Y and put something together that will work for the various types of disabilities. Being on the receiving end, as a family, of what they\u2019ve done, there really are no words to describe the level of gratitude we have.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, Doug Hendrikz is hopefully on his way to California to represent South Africa with his 12 team-mates, although there will only be a full complement of team members if approximately R1-million is raised to fund the trip for the surfers and their helpers, with most of them requiring assistance in the form of a travelling companion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Erika Hendrikz, the team is roughly 50% of the way there, in terms of fundraising, with about R500 000 already raised, but they obviously still have some way to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In terms of sponsors, Mr Price Sport has already provided tracksuits, t-shirts and towels, whilst a Hawaiian beachwear company, PonoGirl, has contributed financially. Then there\u2019s Velskoen Shoes, Surf Sock, and Switch energy drink, whilst Lizzard have offered wholesale prices for their surfing products, and brands such as Hollywoodbets have chipped in and challenged other corporates to match their financial contribution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Obviously, first prize is to get the entire SA Para Surf Team to Pismo Beach, but for Van Zyl there\u2019s a bigger picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMore than wanting to get the team to the world champs, we just want to get people into the water and have their lives changed,\u201d says Van Zyl. \u201cThe more people we can give access to the ocean to, the better. Access creates opportunities, and it\u2019s a beautiful thing to see.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What\u2019s even more beautiful is seeing what it means to the lives changed by adaptive surfing and Made for More, with Williams summing up their impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGood people will gladly give you money, but what these guys do is give you time, which no-one wants to give anymore,\u201d he says. \u201cThey would rather give you R500 and not be there, than give up their time to be there, and Made for More are there hours before anybody gets there, setting up on their Saturday, not forgetting that they have their lives to live. Scotty has woken up at 4am to meet me and sit in the surf without a board for two hours, just to watch me. You just don\u2019t get people like this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Article by Dylan Rogers. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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