Quincy Symonds: surfer, skater, hero.

This is a great story, and this girl, Quincy Symonds, is one hell of a person. (Via the wonderful, spectacular, government-funded, nationally available, Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

A small surfer makes big waves from ABC Open on Vimeo.

From the online article:

“It just doesn’t make sense to me, how she’s able to do what she does,” says Jake [her dad]. “I’m amazed by it. I’m really proud of it but, to be honest, I can’t comprehend how she does it.”

“She has no fear,” offers Quincy’s coach Anthony Pope. “And she just doesn’t fall off. She has incredible balance and her ability to judge the conditions and adjust is at a level I’ve never seen in someone her age.”

When the waves were too big for her to surf, Quincy took up skateboarding. As you’d expect, she took to a board on land just as deftly as in the surf. Looking over the edge of the 12-foot skate bowl as I filmed one of Quincy’s skating sessions, I felt immediately uneasy. But there was Quincy with her back foot planted on her board ready to drop in, with a smile from ear to ear.

She just loves it so, so much. She reminds me of my niece, who just can't ever get enough and who has no fear at all. It's awesome. The way Quincy's body moves that board around is so impressive. She totally knows what she's doing.

I like that her folks and her coach directly talked about whether or not they'll head towards competition - they seem to have clear thinking on that. And it's great that her coach knows that people can lose their stoke for it if pushed too hard, which he doesn't at all want for her. At the same time it's a bummer to know that's the first thing that comes to mind for us all.

But for now, she's stoked and she has all the encouragement and support possible so she can get in the surf and to go skating, which is so great to see.