Only a few would deny it, but it takes an adrenaline junkie to rise up to the occasion and choose sports like surfing or horseback riding at a nascent age. A little girl from Boca Raton, Caroline Marks, was probably among those rare few who picked surfing for her career. Not only did she choose it, but she conquered it as the sport chose her right back! Marks started off in her tween years. She emerged as one of the youngest contenders at the age of 13 to compete in the World Surf League. She subsequently qualified for the Women’s Championship tour to become the youngest surfer to do so at 15. 15, no less.

The list extended further to being able to compete for America at the Tokyo Olympics and winning a gold medal at the World Championship in 2023, and now it is all set to compete in the second consecutive Olympics, the Paris Olympics in 2024. During all these years of her participation, victories and losses alike, stalwart support was constantly meted out by her biggest allies. Her family. Let’s learn more about these immutable treasures in the life of Caroline Marks.

Meet Caroline Marks’ squad: Her parents and siblings 

Caroline Marks was born on February 14,  2002, to father Darren Marks and mother Sarah Marks. Besides this young surfer, Darren and Sarah have five more children, including four boys: Zach, Luke, Jack, and Dawson, and one little girl, Victoria. While the Marks family are mostly surfing enthusiasts, Mother Sarah is still afraid of the ocean. Caroline’s father, Darren, was a surfer at Miami’s beaches. No wonder his children have a profound affinity to the ocean. The dominant allele trumps everything else after all.

Marks and her siblings have a strong bond and love for each other; on occasion, they are seen supporting each other. Her older brother Zach envisaged and started a company called Grom Socials, and she was 8 when she switched her passion for horses to the lashes of the waves and started surfing. Caroline’s family has been a driving force of energy and support throughout, giving her the room for growth. She was seen saying, ““Ultimately, my parents have always had such a great balance with letting me make my decisions and do what I want and saying, ‘We’ll support you. We love you. It’s going to be a wild ride.,’” The clan was always seen sharing unwavering positivity and support with Caroline from time to time, be it her vocation or her personal choices as well. That begs the question. How did her surfing career take off?

 Who inspired Marks’ surfing career, and how?

Marks was always fond of horses and horseback riding. Then how did she end up pivoting to surfing? There’s a crazy story behind her decision; it was not Caroline who chose to surf, but it was probably surfing that lent her that watchful, guiding hand! Caroline, in an interview, describes how her brother Zach has loved surfing since his young days. She mentions that her older brother used to surf the qualifying series, and she was never into it. She believed that surfing was his ‘thing’ to do while ‘horse riding’ was hers.

 Notably, she further mentions her reason for choosing to surf: “I just really, really wanted to be like them and I really wanted to impress them so that they thought I was cool so in order to do that I was like, ‘well I guess I’ve got to start surfing really good.” She later prioritized being a surfer over a jockey, which changed her career trajectory completely, reaping the seeds she’d once sown. Besides, she tasted success at a very young age, which further honed her keen interest in the game.