“Raise your hand if you have ever been surfing before…” only the instructors’ hands raised as we looked around and wiggled our toes in the warm sand. Like many of the programs we offer, our annual surfing trip is a brand-new experience for the youth which we serve.
In September, 2022 on a warm, sunny Saturday, we took a group of twelve young men from the Youth Shelter Program of Westchester in Mount Vernon, NY to Long Beach, NY for their first ever surfing trip. Not only was this everyone’s first time surfing, but for some of these young men, this was their first time ever swimming in an ocean.
With the help of Danny Mishkin from Sababa Beach Camps and expert instructors from Skudin Surf, every young man was in the water and up on a surfboard within just a few short hours. Before learning proper technique in the sand and transitioning into the water, we first talked about our “Sababa levels.” The word sababa is slang in Hebrew for “cool” or “worry free.” If your sababa level is a 1, you are fully present in the moment with no worries at all. If your sababa level is a 10, you are very anxious, your mind is racing, and you are unable to focus or be present in the moment.
As we went around the circle and each young man shared his sababa level on a scale of one through ten, the average was about a six. We then spent about 20 minutes talking about the water and completing a brief meditation exercise before beginning our surf lesson. Within an hour, the instructors were working one on one with each young man in the water, making sure everyone had at least one successful pop-up on a wave; some were even able to stand and ride the wave all the way back to shore. After surfing, we revisited our sababa levels one last time before sharing a meal. The average sababa level was a two.
For a young person with typical circumstances, finding ways to clear your mind, relieve stress and be present in the moment can be a challenge. For the young men at the Youth Shelter who are given a second chance as an alternative to incarceration, this task can feel nearly impossible. As we continue to build programming which allows these deserving young men to stay active, relieve stress, and interact with awesome, caring people; we are often reminded that recreation and play is a simple but effective solution to so many of the problems we face in society today. In the words of the great author and mindfulness/meditation expert, Jon Kabat-Zinn, “you cannot stop the waves, but you can learn how to surf.”
We are already very much looking forward to shredding some waves on our next Backyard Sports surfing trip!
