by Coach Benner

Cecily Kipe has been teaching at

by Coach Benner

      As we become older we tend to lose some of our youthful vigor, including certain creative drives. Yet, despite all this, we do seem to achieve a certain sense of wisdom gleamed from our experiences. It is this wisdom that the youth we encounter often enjoy sharing with us, incorporating the knowledge into their own “can do” attitudes, and in the case of surfing, blending it with their newly developed surfing skills. 

     Later, they go on to win NSSA State and National surfing championship honors for themselves, their schools, their families and their surfing sponsors. These are honors that allow them to be regarded with a certain reverent admiration amongst their peers, with the added possibilities of fame and pre-eminence - perhaps even bordering on immortality - like that of the legendary Duke Kahanamoku.

     This could now be said of Shane Beschen, San Clemente’s only surfer ever to be honored twice, by being admitted into the world championship tour circle of elite surfers. The Greek Euripides once wrote, “The height of fame, to hear the herald cry the victor’s name.” This describes Shane Beschen, who overcame all adversities to achieve this honor for self and family, plus many San Clemente citizens who follow eminent surfers like Beschen, Ward, McPhillips, Baxter - and Greg Long, who surfed a 55+ footer off the Cortes Banks’ winter surf! Certainly the actions of these experienced surfers give gremmies additional inspiration as to what surfing and its perseverance are all about.

 

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