#5 - Beau's AOS Journal
Saturday 7 February - Journal Entry No. 5 - Day 1 of Competition (Juniors) This morning when I was driving to the beach I started getting a nervous excited feeling that always comes with the start of an event and today is the first day of competition. The pro junior is on today and I'm there for a few surfers I coach. Alex Hayes and Jamie Krups both surfed well however didn't progress in the heat, for them it's about experience only being 17 and building a seed for next year. Holly Wawn did really well getting through in dead low tide tough conditions and surfed solid.
The hardest thing about coaching is that every surfer is different and they all prepare for events in their own unique way and It's my job to help them stay in the best head space possible to compete.
Having competed for years my preparation for a heat used to come really natural, almost like a routine that my body does automatically. This routine changed so much over time but a few things were always the same, concentration and psych. I realised you couldn't just go out with one or the other. Concentration helps with focusing on what you have to do, wave selection, positioning and surfing to your strengths. Psych is the aggression you take into the heat that allows you to compete at you best.
I'm looking forward to putting all this into practice on Tuesday when I compete, it's gonna be fun.
