Grumpy locals losing war against VAL invasion as respected mental health expert declares learning how to surf “improves self-esteem!”

Do better, please.

The VAL, or vulnerable adult learner, invasion is well and truly upon us, a proper war between the aforementioned and grouchy locals who began their surfing experience somewhere between 1970 and 2000. Lineups cluttered with soft top. Going left on rights, or vice versa, a proper new “move.”

Oh we are out there, you and I, fighting the good fight and maybe, sometimes, imagining that we are winning this grand conflict. I, personally, have yelled at least three Covid babies near tears over the last three months, others, braver, have picked up rocks and bashed away but, alas, it appears as if it is not enough.

For a new just-released study published by Roxy Davis, a qualified surf coach and registered psychological counselor currently completing a PhD in surf therapy, the battlefield is “cultivating self-esteem” amongst beginners.

Per healthline.com:

Never thought you’d be able to stand up on a surfboard and ride a wave? Trying activities you once considered “impossible” may help you:

cultivate self-esteem

trust yourself more easily

feel more confident in your own abilities

Davis says she’s noticed, over the past 2 decades, that learning to surf seems to foster self-esteem among her participants.

“Say you’re a child who’s come from a school where, maybe, you’re not the top of anything in academics or sport, and your coach says to you that your goal is to stand up. When you stand up and ride the wave, you feel like, ‘Wow, if I can do that, I can do anything,’” she says.

A small 2021 studyTrusted Source with nine Australian teenagers found that an 8-week surf therapy program seemed to improve their self-esteem and resilience.

Shit.

Do better, please.