Happy Olympic Year!

Welcome to the first week of 2021 — surfing’s first Olympic year!

USA Surfing board chair Doug Beal shared his resolutions for 2021, built on the lessons of 2020 and decades of experience in sports and the Olympic movement.

DO MORE ____ to appreciate the value and need for real human interaction.

DO MORE ____ to realize how fortunate many of us are to be engaged in sport, and appreciate the real value of PLAY.

This will put us in a position to view the world through a lens of humor (especially the self-deprecating kind, where we don’t take ourselves or small inconveniences as major dramas/traumas).

DO LESS ____ wishing instead of doing. At least try!!

DO LESS ____ focusing on what we passed on or passed us by and more planning to “seize the day”!!

Beal coached Team USA’s men’s volleyball team to its first gold medal, which set Team USA on a path of winning every major international competition for the next four years.

After coaching Team USA volleyball to gold, Beal became the CEO of USA Volleyball and grew the organizations budget, staffing and was the driving force for establishing a full-time, state-of-the-art training center.

USA Surfing is stoked to have Beal’s strong leadership and Olympic experience!

His resolutions for 2021 reflect the tough year sport and athletes have faced with the postponement of the Olympics and hopes for a 2021 reset.

Beal is excited about surfing’s first Olympic Games and its power to exponentially expand surfing’s audience, introducing them to an incredibly beautiful and athletically demanding sport.

At USA Surfing’s Olympic Training camp at BSR Surf Resort wave pool in Waco, Texas, Beal shared what a special experience the Olympic Games is and encouraged surfers to absorb all the historic moments.

In the days leading up to 2021, surf fans sent USA Surfing their own list of resolutions for a happy, healthy, successful 2021:

MORE

– gratitude
– kindness
– going bigger, pushing my edge
– critical sections
– flow — connecting turns
– humility — acknowledging what I don’t know
– volunteering
– imagination
– letting go
– empathy
– laughs
– action — get it done
– sunscreen
– presence
– health: mind, body, and environment
– love
– surfing!

LESS

– missing sections
– wishing
– fear
– resentment
– holding back
– stressing
– living in the past or future
– focusing on what we can’t control
– negativity
– mindless eating and scrolling
– apathy
– recklessness
– entitlement

Bring it on 2021 — the year to do more of what you love by spreading love and kindness (which of course always includes surfing)!