“We failed to inspire the next generation.”
It was only seven months ago that a landmark study from
Bond University revealed what anyone who spent any time in the
water knew, that surfing ain’t the plaything of kids
anymore.
Craig Sims, a former South African pro surfer turned magazine
publisher and university academic, said the peak participation age
for men is 45-to-49 and 35-to-44 for gals.
A few weeks before Sim’s report, I went to
the premiere of The Greatest Surf Movie in the Universe, the
most significant thing to happen culturally in Australian surfing
since Kai Neville’s films, and the cinema was a sea of
polished skulls and silver manes, paunches harnessed by Quiksilver
tees, overblown hams in Billabong denim.
So many wizened winter apples. The median
age would’ve been sixty.
In lineups, there’s a few kids here and there, mostly tweenies
getting pushed into waves by their daddies, but the absence of
teens marauding the surf is stark.
In a new post from Matt
Biolos, who is currently at some sorta trade show, he
writes about the dramatic ageing of a sport that was once hailed as
rebellious and something a decent parent must fear.
There’s not much youth to take the torch and run with it.
It’s rare to see someone under 40 walking the aisles. When we got
going, in the early ‘90’s, it seemed like every brand was a
start-up, run by guys in their 20’s. Brands like ours, Volcom,
Counter Culture, World Jungle, Ezekiel…and so on. Just to name a
few. Making it up as we went along. No white beards.
The old guard legacy brands, like Quik and Billabong, Reef,
etc, were run by “old” guys in their 30’s…maybe ‘40’s.
Today’s “new” brands are headed up by guys in their 50’s n
60’s! It’s like we’ve failed to inspire another generation. No
wonder there’s no rambunctious groms, young pros or pretty bikini
girls, running throughthe aisles anymore. No loud music. No skate
ramps, no bricks of firecrackers or surf pool parties with punk
rock bands and girls gone wild.
Matt Biolos’ fans, all of ‘em over thirty-five, most over fifty,
and with a few middle-aged former pro’s including Taj Burrow and
Jake Paterson thrown in, supported the premise.
A culture of comfort and conformity. The far left and far
right are so repulsive that the intelligent middle ground is too
frightened. Groomed by AYSO participation merit mentality, our
feeder group has become enamored by the safety of
mediocrity…
Here’s to the pursuit of inspiring! You have this 60 year
old Grom’s attention!
Absolutely right Matt, some of us started when we were 20
years old with a lot of passion for skateboarding or surfing,
hunger to achieve and grow and travel, meet and many crazy parties!
But now the world or the youth is asleep, only phones and social
networks, without words, I don’t want to say what I think! Lucky to
lived!
Ay Mayhem don’t feel bad, skateboardin is in the shitter
too!!!! When the people who are in charge DONT SHReD. That’s all
that’s happening. People who don’t shred are in charge. Everywhere.
It’s a world problem right now
Where do you stand on this demographic shift?Do you like the
lack of urgency in the lineup and the sedate conversations with
hat-wearing Gen Xers?
Or did the fighting and fury and sting of trying to muscle a
wave off a kid keep you young etc?
