"No, that was a Beach Boys song. We’re talking about USA Surfing."
The Tokyo Olympic Games may be postponed for a year but that doesn’t mean the USA Surfing, the officially recognized governing body, is standing pat.
Following the World Surf League’s lead, which has a standup paddleboarder leading the charge, USA Surfing just announced that Doug Beal, longtime CEO of USA Volleyball and man who has also never surfed, as its new Chairman of the Board.
Excited?
Obviously but let’s turn to volleyballmag.com for the very latest.
Surfin’ U.S.A.?
No, that was a Beach Boys song. We’re talking about USA Surfing.
And USA Surfing’s new chairman of the board of directors is Doug Beal, a volleyball guy who, well, is not exactly a surfer.
It puts a whole different spin on Surf’s Up.
“It’s likely to be a very popular, visible sport on the Olympic calendar in Tokyo,” Beal said.
He may live in Colorado Springs, kind of far from the ocean, but that’s not the point. Beal, the former USA great volleyball player, 1984 Olympic gold-medal coach and longtime USA Volleyball CEO knows how to Get Around the international sports waters.
So when USA Surfing needed someone to guide its Surfin’ Safari, Beal was the guy.
Beal said last fall he got a call from a USA Olympic and Paralympic Committee consultant on behalf of USA Surfing and asked if he would help out.
“I said sure, and they happen to be located in San Clemente, which is where most of my wife’s family is,” Beal said. “So under normal conditions we go out there half a dozen times a year to visit her mom, sisters, and cousins.”
Very cool.
Erik Logan and Doug Beal leading surfing out of the wilderness and into the promised land of Oprah Winfrey respect and multiple gold medals.
Very neat.