Surfing

Surfing, historically, has been and still is one of the most popular sports at the Ross School. Students continue to choose this activity every fall. The Hamptons are also a very nice place for surfing, so it makes sense why a lot of students from Ross School take surfing classes. Besides that, I think that the temperature of the water during the fall allows students to surf as much as they want. Also, most of the international students at Ross don't have that kind of opportunity in their countries, so many of them may be curious about what it it feels like to surf for the first time.

Mark Tompkins is the coach for the surfing team. He is a very experienced trainer that has coached many sports in the past. One of the reasons why students might have a really big interest in surfing is actually because of Mr.Tompkins and his way of coaching, since he is always trying to be very positive and helpful . When I asked him how is he planning to improve as a coach each year, Tompkins said, ‘’[By] sticking to the basics—positive energy, sticking to the basics, and being a teacher first.’’ This statement illustrates how positive he is with his students. As I mentioned in my previous article, surfing is not a part of the varsity sports at Ross, which means that there are no competitions between schools. However, an athlete who surfs may still receive an award at the end of the fall season. The 2017 season had a lot of good surfers, so by the end of the season there were three athletes who receive the awards. Coaches award went to Cameron McAuliffe ’21, Heaviest Wipeout was awarded to Gabe Verde ’22, and Hardest Charger to Leif Wood ’19.

In conclusion, Ross School is very proud that they can give the opportunity to all the students to explore something new for themselves.