Competing Theories

The 2010 pro surf season is well under way, with a good half dozen WQS events completed. Both CJ Hobgood and Taj Burrow have already won and are looking in good shape for the start of the Dream Tour this Saturday with the Quiksilver Pro at Snapper on Oz's Gold Coast. We thought this would be a perfect time to break out some pearls of wisdom from old & current pro's on heat preparation & competition.

Luke Egan on preparation: "Eliminate everything from your mind except what you need to zero in on. Your board, food, heat time, leashes, wetsuit, girlfriend and personal issues should all be taken care of way early. When your heat comes you just need to focus on strategy and conditions."

Occy on staying in a groove: "Competition will make you superstitious. Every athlete in every sport does little things to give himself what he thinks is an edge. I'll start out with a routine, with a certain pair of boardshorts, a way of putting everything in place. And if I win, I just keep doing the same thing; I won't change my boardshorts or tee shirt colour, I'll stay with that same routine, the same board. And I'll change it all up if I'm off. People won't usually talk about it, but they all have something they use to get in the zone. If it works, use it. And keep winning."

Taj Burrow on winning: "Here's a key thing I've learned - you only need to win 6 heats to win the contest. One thing you don't want to do is look at the whole pack. I get to a contest and see the top 44 and it can psyche me out. I look at everyone's form and it's intimidating. They are all so good, it's easy to get down on yourself if you aren't surfing in perfect form. The secret: just surf your heat. I've had victories when I wasn't the best guy in the contest. I just concentrated on beating six guys, not 44. That's all it takes."

Kindly taken from Jim Kempton's "Surfing The Manual: Advanced"