18 year old was the lone water photog at Waimea.

crustBrother

Kelly Slater status
Apr 23, 2001
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Got to this part of the article - "I texted my coach the night before asking if I could skip practice because there’s a big swell but he said no." - and that brought back a great memory.

So.... about halfway through my freshman year on the swim team at UCSD, one of our very best swimmers (Dave, also a freshman) went missing for a week of practice.

When he showed back up the coach just started ripping him up and down in front of the whole team. Finally he asked Dave what his excuse was. He said that Blacks had been FIRING and there was just no way he could miss it. Coach responded, "You gotta decide what's more important to you, swimming or surfing."

Dave just started laughing, walked off the deck, and never showed up for a practice or a meet again.

A few weeks later I ran into Dave and asked him how he could just walk away from swimming when he had so much talent. Told him I thought he was throwing away so much potential.

He just looked at me and asked me one question, "Do you surf?".

I hadn't discovered surfing at that point in my life, so answered, "No."

He just shook his head and said, "Then there's just no way you could understand".

And he was right. I didn't.

But I sure do now! "Surfing or swimming". "What's more important?".

Dumbest. Question. Ever.