Luring kids back to a healthy lifestyle with surfing

MANILA, Philippines - Listen up, kids: Young Filipino students are physically inactive! This can be gleaned from a study done by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) in collaboration with the Philippine Association for the Study of Overweight and Obesity. Charina A. Javier, FNRI-DOST science research specialist, reports in the FNRI Digest that 86 percent of students in selected high schools in Manila are “physically inactive” and present a growing problem that requires early attention. The study aims ”to provide a basis for formulating effective local school intervention programs that would address the increasing prevalence of obesity and other lifestyle-related diseases such as diabetes and heart diseases that might arise later on in life.”

It is a fact that physical activity promotes cardiovascular health as well as increases muscular strength and skeletal fitness and strength, not to mention that it is the best enhancer for physical endurance and body flexibility.

Passionate young entrepreneur and TV game show host Paolo Soler came up with an idea that was bound to make waves and lure these dormant kids back to a healthy lifestyle — get them to surf. There is logic to this: Surfing offers among the most facile but effective modes of cardiovascular exercise; is one of the easiest ways of attaining physical buildup, strength, and endurance; enhances self-confidence, boosts self-worth early; and fosters physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being found in few other sports. His own experience and those of his students prove these surfing qualities right.

Soler knows whereof he speaks. He owns and runs the Philippine Surfing Academy (PSA), the largest surfing school in the country which, in just its first year of existence, has trained over 3,000 new surfers in the country.

Says Soler, “Surfing is easy to learn — students can learn how to surf in a matter of hours. Surfing is also the most environmentally friendly sport around —nothing in surfing affects the natural ecology in any way. But most important of all, it is one of the least costly sports one can engage in — one doesn’t need to even own a surfboard, the only equipment needed, as most surfing sites have this for rent.”

He adds, “Surfing offers a thrilling and different way of life that will eliminate the lethargy young kids are suffering from. It will enthuse them to engage in a fun and exciting lifestyle where they can make new friends easily and enjoy an exhilarating sport that gives them a sense of freedom, accomplishment, and adventure, something not found in the usual field or court sports that easily bore them.”

Soler believes that surfing will reduce the number of overweight and obese children who are at risk for developing lifestyle-related diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases even at an early age.

With summer already here and with all the social, physical, and psychological benefits surfing offers, Soler feels that parents and adolescents themselves should seriously consider surfing as an activity to start engaging in now. Parents should encourage their kids to engage in regular exercise and kids themselves should consider the healthy advantages of this.

Soler’s friendly word of advice to all parents out there: Instead of your kids just surfing the Net, why not let them surf and be on the move?

To make it more convenient to learn the sport, PSA holds regular beginner classes in a surf pool, Ocean Waves, the gigantic pool of Club Manila East in Taytay, Rizal, only 25 minutes by car from the Ortigas Center. This pool mechanically produces perfect, point-break waves every two seconds, more than in any natural surf spot and with more consistent forms. PSA turns this surf pool into the ultimate surf treadmill and utilizes surf-training drills that cover paddle strength and stamina, wave catching and timing, surfboard control and maneuvering, and the other factors that will ensure most learners will be catching the surf and riding their boards in just the first lesson.

A minimum of 30 minutes of exercise is recommended daily for adequate physical activity. Soler thinks that just a weekend day of surf training may be equivalent to a full week’s physical activity requirements.

For information on surfing or PSA surf lessons and tours, call 631-2805 or 357-5452, text 09175807844 or 09175827878; e-mail info@philippinesurfingacademy.com or visit www.philippinesurfingacademy.com.