South African Bodyboarding Association

While we wait for the busy guys on tour to deliver some insights I would like to get started, so you can be prepared for the new year of competing.

The first thing I would like to say about competitive riding is that in a SABA run competition there will always be two waves counting in your total heat score (The only time this changes is when there are tied final heat scores). So usually you either make it through your heat or win a final with a score out of twenty from each judge. But the point I am trying to emphasize is that “regardless of how many waves surfers ride during their heat, only their highest two scoring rides count in the final wave tally that decides the eventual heat winner”.

I have seen guys making it through heats on one score but in tight competition this will usually never happen.

Dr Mike Martin is widely acknowledged as the leading expert in surf psychology. He is author of Six Steps to Surfing Success: How to Create Heat Winning Strategies, and Head Honcho at SurfSuccess.com, after studying one of his papers, “Heat Winning Secrets” How to Consistently Win Heats by Fine Tuning Your Thinking, I would like to share the highlights with you.

Here are four mental processes that any aspiring competitor should be aware of before and during any competition.

• Technical Thoughts
• Tactical Thoughts
• Positive Self-Talk
• Mental Practice or "Virtual Surfing"

But for now we will only discuss the first aspect of his teachings:

Technical Thoughts (Make it ‘slow-mo’ in your mind)

Often when you are watching a heat or even a free-surf, you will look at sections and decide what move should be done on it. In a free-surf there isn’t the same amount of pressure to complete moves as there is in a competition. And this pressure is why riders often sacrifice style and smoothness/fluidity in order to simply ‘stick’ the move and look for the next section. As a judge I can’t explain how many time competitors have complained after a heat because they were the only ones in the heat doing ARS’s or flips and they didn’t win. This is because execution is pivotal to the judging panel, you cannot expect to be scored highly if the move doesn’t look good, is messy or legs are dragged. So, in order to combat this, riders should realise that there are different phases in every move and these can be broken up “into small chunks”.
For instance, a roll should consist of:

• Entry Phase: a hard bottom turn (focussing on maintaining speed throughout and the section you have chosen to launch off of or through)
• as you get to that section move your weight into your chest and arc your neck to assist your rotation (the weight distribution may sound funny but it works – watch Hardy air reverse and see how ‘heavy’ his fins appear, ensuring his fast but fluid rotation)

• Action Phase: hitting the section you can decide what you like best to do with your arms and board, while still paying attention to where you will be landing (some guys like to extend the arms, tweak a bit of tail or ‘hug’ in tight. Bear in mind that this can influence the score, for example extending arms might make a small roll on a small wave look bigger, hugging or holding the board in tight on a big section might focus everyone’s attention on the power and your control [Rawlins does it well])
• Your weight distribution is critical to your rotation. (if you force it too much you could over rotate – digging rail and loosing points)

• Recovery Phase: As you approach your landing you should decide on your weight distribution and where the impact will happen. The landing of a move can often be the deciding factor that determines it scoring low or high with the judges, so make sure you let them see that you are in control. (On heavy landings it is often better to spread your weight, making sure that there’s not too much weight in-front – that’ll ensure a nosedive and you don't need that)

“The major key to success when attempting aerials is in the Entry Phase. You need to have good speed before launching off the wave. This allows you to stay connected (Action Phase) and centred over the board (Recovery Phase).”














So, you can see how one move can be broken down into four parts and possibly even more if you want too. This “Slow-Mo” approach doesn’t mean that you slow your riding down or do less moves on the wave. It simply means you should be focussing almost entirely on each ‘chunk’ of that move, in order to ensure that the final combination is fluid. However, Dr Martin does suggest that too many cues “would simply over load you”, so it is important to decide what works for you. Some riders might not need cues for simple moves like spins and cutbacks, others might.

The problem comes when actually riding in a heat and attempting to concentrate on these cues under pressure. Competitors start thinking how much this move counts if they ‘land’ it or how they got the harder heat, but “these thoughts are actually “off task” and irrelevant to riding a wave and nailing high risk major manoeuvres.” Because these ‘pressure’ thoughts are not focussing on the components of a move it is less like that the rider will complete that move in the finish they would’ve wished too.

The addition bonus to having these cues in your ‘back pocket’ is Confidence through control - “Your perception of control is one of the primary keys in boosting your self-belief, and with clear “tech” focusing cues you know exactly what to do to get results in critical situations. You know what cues to focus on and you know that by focusing on those cues you will nail difficult manoeuvres on a regular basis.”


Next we’ll discuss ‘Tactical Thoughts” and how catching the best waves in the heat can assist you in acquiring the best scores of the heat.
If you want to read more, Gareth White has posted some really helpful stuff on Sixty40... check these out:
Judging series
Competition series


(photos from www.sixty40.co.za (Vaughan Deacon), www.fluidzone.com)