CFLsurf.com - Danny's Surf Info

June 5, 2004 - Motion Analysis Training

I started surfing when I was ten years old. On May 22, 2004 I turned twenty one. I taught myself how to surf by trial and error. I started competing nine years ago, and I have never won a surf contest. I have made plenty of finals, I have plenty of trophies, but none of them say first place.

In the summer of 2003, I became a surf instructor to pay for mission trips to Nicaragua and support Momentum Ministries. Ironically, in eleven years I never engaged in any surfing instruction for myself. I work mostly with beginners, and as a surf instructor I have come to recognize how a little help can increase the learning curve a great amount.

In every other sport there are personal trainers and coaches working constantly with their young aspiring professional athletes. Almost every professional and most amateurs have a personal coach or trainer. Many coaches and trainers have turned to Motion Analysis software to assist their students. So you have to wonder with all this new technology emerging is there anything that can be applied to our surfing world.

With the aid of a digital video camera and some very expensive computer software John Holeman has taken initiative to help bring surfing into a new era. Holeman started surfing at the age of 5 in 1968. He advanced through the East Coast ranks and took many NSSA and ESA titles before he turned pro in 1984. He received the rookie of the year, and was known for his progressive approach to surfing. That same year Dugan (ESM Magazine) documented Holeman landing the first 360 air reverse. It took five year before the surfing world recognized the maneuver, and they misplaced credit to Christian Fletcher as the creator. John is still known for his progressive surfing and plans on completing a 720 air after he fully recovers from his heart problems.

Holeman recently had to undergo heart surgery which has taken him out of the water for a while. Life threw him a curve ball, but instead of giving up, he decided it was time for him to give back. John researched into the Australian phenomenon that is taking place in professional surfing and came across Motion Analysis. He started Progressive Surfing Instruction (PSI) and purchased all of the equipment.

I began working with Holeman earlier this month and I have already seen critical improvements in my surfing. His software allows him to break down your surfing into a visual format of what you are doing correctly and incorrectly. It is pretty incredible what this technology allows him to do, but more importantly it is very effective. I saw results immediately and he creates an edited version of the lesson for you to take home and review.

As a teacher I have come to recognize the importance of being a student. I mentioned earlier that I had never won a surf contest in nine years, I also pointed out that I had never been coached for surfing. I am confident that training under the instruction of John Holeman will help me with my competitive goals.

I am going to Nicaragua for the summer to surf and do ministry work. So I will not be able to update this page until late summer. In the mean time, if you are at an intermediate level, or at a professional level of surfing, I recommend that you give John Holeman a call and find out about what he is doing. My personal belief is that this technology will take surfing on the East Coast to the next level. I say that because I have seen it step my surfing up above my own expectations.

John Holeman has naturally been coaching people in and out of the water for the greater part of his life. He is a gifted teacher and an experienced surfer. I have looked up to him as a role model since the age of twelve and I believe in what he is doing. As a surf instructor myself and a student of John, I recommend him to anyone that wants to step their surfing up a notch! John can be contacted at:

Email: coach@psisurf.com
Phone: 321-777-0628
Mobile: 321-917-4326

Link: www.psisurf.com

April 1, 2004 - Journey to Nicaragua

In late March of 2004, seven surfers embarked on a journey to Nicaragua. They set out to enjoy the ocean, and experience the culture. In the midst of their unparalleled adventure, they were presented with the option to assist a local family. Each person made a choice that altered the way they look at life. This story is an account of their trip, and documents the birth of a new battle against indifference.

I expected Nicaragua to feel dangerous, since no one in the group knew the way to our destination near Las Salinas, and I had no idea if our little rental cars would make it through the rivers we had to cross. In spite of that, when I sat down to reflect on the adventure we had just experienced in Nicaragua, I realized the drive to Miami was the most dangerous part of the trip. I had done enough research to know that the Sandinistas are not running around in the jungle looking to take American hostages, but I wasn't completely certain on how the general population felt towards Americans. I was lucky enough to sit next to an English speaking Nicaraguan on the flight to Managua. He reassured me that once we were outside the city limits of Managua we shouldn't have any problems with the local citizens. I took advantage of his English and asked him countless numbers of questions about his country and its culture. We were the only Americans on the plane so he was eager to know why we were traveling to Nicaragua. I took the opportunity and explained to him that we were not just coming to surf or as tourist, but that our group had a mission.

On March 28th, we left our comfortable lives in Florida, and embarked on a journey that would change the way we look at how blessed we are to live in a place of such abundance. I had arranged for the team to lay a concrete floor for a family that was literally dirt-poor. The materials to do the entire house only cost two hundred and fifty dollars. When you divide the cost among the seven of us it only took thirty six dollars each. The entire house was done in two days thanks to the help of about ten people from the surf camp that came and worked on the project. We mixed all of the materials right there on the ground inside of the house and it was back breaking work. A five gallon bucket of concrete weighs around one hundred pounds, and it took one hundred and seventy five to do the floor.

With such a small amount of money we were able to help a family in a great amount of need. The mother, Francesca, suffers from arthritis in her knees and has trouble standing. It is very hard for her to care for her 14 children. The father Ernesto works on the salt flats for three dollars a day. None of the children had shoes and when the rainy season comes every year, the inside of the house turns into mud because of the poor roofing. I am only scratching the surface of their poverty and it is something you would have to see personally to better understand.

The purpose of putting a concrete floor in their house was mainly for sanitation. The children walking around bare foot on the same muddy floor that they use as a bathroom allows them to get parasites. This is one of the reasons life expectancy is so low in Nicaragua. The parasites they pick up through their feet as children rob them of their health and can take ten or more years off their lives. The concrete can be swept and cleaned very easily. We also put a slope in the floor so that water would not remain in the house during the rainy season.

The work was hard, the day was very hot, and no one on the team ate before we started. Nevertheless, none of them complained to me while we worked. No one could complain because we understood as soon as we stepped into the house, that it wasn't about us. When the guys picked up the shovels to begin, they looked around at the children and lost the ability to think of their own needs. They could no longer pity themselves over temporary discomforts. Most importantly they had lost the ability to have an absence of emotion when they looked at the poverty in Nicaragua. It is easy for you not to think about how bad some people have it, until you have been there and seen it with your own eyes.

I acknowledge that going into their house and putting the floor in will be a great blessing for Ernesto's family. However, they remain in destitution with no shoes, and a poor diet. I knew in advance, before I started putting this trip together, that putting a floor in his house was not fixing their lives. It was simply a step in the right direction. We did what we could with the week we spent in Las Salinas, Nicaragua. The team accomplished the mission set before them. I was especially happy because not everyone in the group came with the intentions to work on the house. They all had the option to surf as much as they wanted and no one was asked to work. I simply provided the opportunity to go help someone in need and not one person at the camp turned it down. Many of the people working at the house were not even in our group. They were staying as guest at the camp and choose to come along to help.

The concrete work, the children's vitamins we passed out, and the toys we took for them were all good things but they were not the true purpose of the Journey. I had two different motives driving my passion to create our Nicaraguan experience. The obvious one was to help out some one less fortunate than myself. That was the motive the team knew about and understood. I want to be honest and tell you it was the lesser of the two motives that drove me. Previously I mentioned putting a floor in that house was not fixing their lives. I could have gone down by myself and paid some construction workers to do it. The labor would have cost about fifty dollars. My true motive behind this trip had to do with the six individuals that came with me.

I was attempting to rob them of apathy, to take from them the ability to feel indifferent toward those around them that are in need. My mission was to instill in those six a passion to help others. On my own I can do only so much, but if I inspire those around me to do what I am doing. Then, they pass the fire on to those around them. Before you know it, entire Nations are being affected. That may sound impossible but I will do the math for you.

By the end of July, twenty four people from all around will have gone to Nicaragua with me on what I am calling Surfing with a Purpose. So in one year, one person will have impacted directly twenty four people. If each one of those people come back and have an influence on only 10 people in an entire year, one person will have influenced indirectly two hundred and forty people. If you continued that trend, in six years it will have impacted almost two and a half million people. That number is equal to the number of Nicaraguans living in poverty at the moment.

My motive is not to help people, I am not that good of a person, but my mission is to influence individuals to help people. Leadership is a gift I did not earn but it is one I have accepted and decided to use. If you were to tell me that it is impossible for one leader to affect millions then I would ask you about the role of our president. I have chosen my battle and developed a plan. My fight will be freedom from indifference and my plan starts with this generation.

Danny's mission activity is called "Surfing with a Purpose". If you would like to contribute to mission efforts in Nicaragua, or if you would like to participate in a combination surfing/mission trip to Nicaragua, contact Danny Cruden. Please reference "Surfing with a Purpose" as the subject of your e-mail. Since Danny will be in Nicaragua most of the summer and will only have access to the Internet when he visits the nearest city (which is several hours round trip from the surf camp), please be patient waiting for a reply.