A love for surfing is behind everything the Myers Surf Mentorships undertakes, and that love starts at the top with Matt Myers. He's always eager to share the stoke, so we sat down together and discussed the surfing life that led us to share this sunny afternoon.
As the creator and head coach of MSM, Matt has dedicated his life to giving back to the sport and community that raised him.
This program aims to help high-performance surfers reach their maximum potential while guiding their surf careers and life journeys. Whether it's championship tour mainstays, qualifying series competitors, young groms, or free surfers looking to improve their craft, the MSM program is here to positively impact surf journeys big and small.
Here’s what Matt had to say about falling in love with the sea:
I was lucky enough to get involved with Santa Cruz's junior lifeguard program, which gave me my first push at a young age. The program led me to boogie boarding and spending days on the beach watching the surfers. At nine, my dad got me my first surfboard, and I quickly got hooked, surfing twice daily no matter the conditions.
Those endless hours of work and the joy I felt in the water led me to sponsorships, competitions, and meeting great friends. We traveled around the world, making surf movies, getting photos in magazines, and chasing our dreams of being pro surfers.
I spent seven years pushing my surfing to its highest levels and competing in amazing places. Through the highs and lows of competition, On the board and in the water was always my favorite place to be.
You can't be anywhere outside the present moment when you're surfing, especially when up and riding. Every moment you spend thinking about nothing but the wave in front of you creates a special connection with the ocean.
Eventually I figured out two things; I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life dedicated to understanding that unique connection to mother nature, and I also knew I’d need to get a bit creative to make it happen.
Being a professional surfer is an incredible experience, but it can also be a grueling process. The time came to hang up my jersey for the last time and focus on applying the lessons surfing taught me to work outside the water.
My willingness to embrace every single role you could think of in the surfing world became my unique perspective. I judged, commentated, sponsored, and even ran entire competitions after my professional career before settling down as the team manager for Ripcurl, where I spent the next ten years working as Ripcurl's team and event manager,
It was a wonderful experience helping young groms, top professionals, and world champions pursue their passions. reach their maximum potential in and out of the water, and I stayed on for 10 years living a new dream.
I worked hard and learned so many lessons while watching countless surfers grow, until I was ready to take things up a notch. At Ripcurl, I was looking over a team of 40 surfers, and I felt the next step was to develop my passion by working one-on-one.
That's how the Myers Surf Mentorship was born. I'm here to support surfers win or lose, and encourage each surfer to fuel their pursuit of this sport with genuine love. That's why we get into sports in the first place!
I think that no matter whether you're trying to surf, skate, or calculate, if you have that deep, pure love and joy for what you're doing, you will succeed. Our one-on-one coaching style is here to use that stoke to break through barriers and dig deeper in pursuing a professional surfing career.
I ask every young surfer thinking about the big leagues to ask themselves what they really want. Competition isn't for everyone, but if it's your genuine desire, you've got to keep fighting hard and grinding away. Nobody encapsulates that mindset better than Brissa Hennessey.
She and I spent most of last year rediscovering her self-confidence after a low point at Huntington Beach, culminating in a significant event win at Hossegor. Watching her come from those low valleys, continue digging deep when it seemed like nothing was working, and persevere to the other side was incredible.
Now in 2022, she's winning sunset beach and ranked #4 in the world, a testament to her ability to stay positive and maintain an insane work ethic.
I hope everyone I encourage to get the most out of surfing will pass on that stoke and positivity, making a better world one surfer at a time.
That work doesn't stop outside the water. What you put in your body is essential as a surfer or any athlete. Every year I see how students stifling their sweet tooth and cleaning up their diet translates into increased performance.
It's not always easy to put healthy things in our bodies when you're out at the beach, so Växa bars have become a mainstay in my bag, right next to the camera and coaching equipment.
The surfers come in from their heats ready for a Blueberry Coco bar, scarf it down, and go right back out in the water rejuvenated without artificial ingredients that could bring a mid-heat crash. It's just great to have the support of Växa bars and the legendary Santa Cruz surfing community.