“Overall this was a great course that showed me a side of surfing that I had not considered before. I would absolutely recommend this course to any surf instructors, as the lessons learned can be applied to more than just adaptive surfing.” – James
A review from James, a participant on the ISA Adaptive Instructor Course, run by Ben at Caswell Bay in March 2022:
“To start things off, Ben made us feel like this wasn’t a strict course to be on by getting us to tell a funny story about ourselves. This helped to set the tone for how we would go about the course, which meant that it was a more enjoyable and memorable time. Once we had made our introductions, we spent some time on how to communicate with people. This was one of the things I was most nervous about, having not worked with people with additional needs before.
After we had talked for a bit, we moved on to get some experience with how to transfer people and how to tandem surf with them. This really helped to give a deeper understanding of how to do these things in the best way possible, as before coming on this course I had not given any thought to how much the different positions on the board would change the ability to surf.
Coming back the next day we moved on to talking about the specific needs people would have for a range of conditions and how best to help those people while allowing them the freedom to go surfing. Being able to hear from Ben and his experience, as well as from surfers directly, gave us a greater understanding of exactly what this course is for: helping people who would otherwise not be able to go surfing, go surfing. And not only helping those people but doing it in the way that they want to be helped.
After a spot of lunch, where we learned that Ben’s toasties are interesting, to say the least, we got some practice on how to guide and surf with someone who is visually impaired. This helped us to build empathy and to get a deeper knowledge of what help someone might need.
Overall, this was a great course that showed me a side of surfing that I had not considered before. I would absolutely recommend this course to any surf instructors, as the lessons learned can be applied to more than just adaptive surfing.”
You can find out more about the course content at: https://isasurf.org/learning/para-surfing/isa-adaptive-surfing-instructor-program/
And, if you are interested in becoming a qualified adaptive surf coach, please drop Ben an email at info@surfabilityukcic.org