MANILA, Philippines - A major effort to upgrade the teaching skills of Filipino surfing instructors was initiated recently with the Surfing Instructors Certification Course held in San Juan, La Union last February 18 to 22 by the Academy of Surfing Instructors Philippines (ASIP). The course, a stringent series of classroom lectures and actual surfing tests in the sea, seeks to enhance the skills of local surfing coaches by training them to use the best teaching techniques and safety measures employed in surfing education following international standards.
The country has hundreds of highly skilled surfers who teach surfing but, while they may be great surfers, they cannot be considered surfing instructors under global standards because the most modern principles of surf education, including the basic matter of teaching safety in surfing, are not known or available to them. The certification course will not only improve local coaches’ skills and methods, and turn them into better coaches, but will also qualify them as certified and internationally accredited instructors eligible to teach the sport in other countries under different levels or ranks of coaching expertise.
ASIP is the exclusive local chapter of the Academy of Surfing Instructors (ASI), which is an international agency based in Australia that certifies and accredits surfing instructors, surfing schools, and other surfing-related activities worldwide. ASI master coach Garry Palmer, a renowned surfing instructor who holds a Level 4 Instructor certification, the highest possible ranking for surfing coaches, was brought in from Australia by ASIP to conduct the Level 1 and Level 2 certifications for local surfing coaches. Eighteen participants joined Level 1 while four joined Level 2 courses. Under ASI’s rating system, Level 1 certified instructors can teach surfing strictly following ASI established standard lesson plans and teaching modalities while Level 2 instructors, besides teaching students, can also certify surf instructors up to Level 1 status.
All but four Level 1 and one Level 2 candidates completed the certification courses. Surf conditions, which simmered down on the last day, did not allow the five to demonstrate to Palmer different requisite surfing moves and techniques and will have to send Palmer videos showing them performing these for him to decide their final standings. From their completed performances, Palmer expects they will satisfy the certification requirements.
The three coaches who made the Level 2 certification are Lorraine Lapuz, brand manager of Stokedinc; Luke Landrigan, owner of the San Juan Surf School; and Paolo Soler, owner of the Philippine Surfing Academy. Currently among the best, this ranking decidedly makes them the top surfing instructors in the country.
The program augurs well for the future of surfing as a major tourism product for the country. Certification makes coaches attract foreign would-be surfers to learn how to surf in the country. Skilled surfers, who also want the security of having certified coaches in case they might need some help when in trouble while surfing, will also be drawn to surf here. The importance of certifying instructors is shown by the fact that ASI, by and large, has certified Bali’s and Australia’s surfing instructors in order to, among other reasons, make them attract students as well as skilled surfers who naturally prefer to go to surfing destinations that have certified instructors to assist them in case they get in harm’s way.
The program is also in line with the tourism agencies and surfing stakeholders’ growing interest in pushing surfing as a prime tourism product because of its sensational growth as a sport in the Philippines and all over the world. This interest was reflected by the support extended by the Department of Tourism, Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority, and private firms Philippine Surfing Academy, Stokedinc, San Juan Surf Resort, Kahuna Beach Resort and Spa, Circle Hostel, Winternitz Insurance, and Asia Brewery’s Cobra Energy Drink. The students represented four top surfing schools from three Philippine surfing destinations, namely: San Juan Surf School, La Union Surf School, Mahdox (Baler), and Quicksilver Surf School (Zambales).