“I Have Never Seen This Many People Start at One Time” Surfing Star Joel Tudor Discuss the Unfortunate Progress of Once Tight-Knit Community

Surfing is emerging as one of the most widely accepted and enjoyed sports. The popularity of the sport has increased drastically during the past few years. It has emerged as a family sport instead of just a competitive engagement in certain parts of the world. However, excessive participation can sometimes lead to deteriorating levels of competitiveness. Surfing star Joel Tudor recently raised concerns about the increased participation of unskilled players in the sport. 

A surfing YouTube channel, Surfing Splendor, hosted an interview with Joel Tudor and discussed various factors influencing the sport’s popularity. Tudor further described the bane of excessive participation. 

Joel Tudor worried about the implication of rising popularity on the quality of surfers

Joel Tudor focussed on the major beaches getting flooded with surfers. Tudor witnessed the mass influx of people in the sport for the first time in his life. “I have never seen this many people start at one time,” the surfing star admitted. He added that one can’t blame people as they are just expressing their love, and everyone should be free to participate in the sport. 

The surfing veteran explained that surfing equipment has become more accessible than ever before. However, he highlighted that mass inflation has led to the development of a careless attitude in new-age surfers. “If there’s going to be that many people doing, you’ve got to be paying attention”  

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Tudor highlighted the role of the pandemic in the mass inflation of people in surfing. He explained that shutting down all other activities contributed to people’s inclination towards surfing. He said, “every gym was closed, and all activities with the exception of the beach were shut down all around the world.” The first-time experience of riding on the top of the waves thrilled the youngsters. It resulted in more and more people buying boards and hitting the waves. 

Tudor believes in the hierarchy to save surfing culture

The 46-year-old surfer believes people nowadays are using the sport to be a part of the trend. Youngsters can buy surfboards from almost any sports shop and equip them with modern cameras. It has led to a rise in accident cases as people focus less on safety and want to make exciting videos.

Tudor believes there is an urgent need for hierarchy in the sport to counter the development of such an attitude. However, he thinks the senior players have lost their command as people can record and upload everything on social media platforms, and it can tarnish their reputation and create a notion of dictators for them, which he does not want.

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However, as per Tudor, the need for the hierarchy is rising, as the veterans aren’t getting equal opportunities as they have limited their speed to think of everyone’s safety. What do you think? Should there be separate beaches for the veterans? Do let us know in the comment box.