Hard work and dedication payed off last year during the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing. Photos: WSL
Surfing is widely acknowledged as an individual sport. But if you look deeper, you will find a much different story than videos, live webcasts, and the media portray. If you get to know today’s top seeds, you will find that their success is largely owed to the team of people in their corner. Look at Gabriel Medina’s entourage, for example. The guy flies out his entire family to each event so they can be there to support him. And with contest prize purses reaching all-time highs, and the incessant pressure from sponsors to perform well, athletes must approach every competition with the focus and determination of an NFL quarterback during the Super Bowl.
Training in surfing was primarily used as means of recovering from an injury. For example, several years ago Mick Fanning severely tore his hamstring. He was forced into a stringent rehabilitation program that transpired into performance enhancing training regimens and clean eating habits. Now, Mick is considered a trailblazer in professional surfing for demonstrating the benefits of training in order to maximize surfing performance.
Success, however, is not limited to deep focus and intense training. Keanu Asing is a perfect example of this very belief. With the help of his family, friends, shapers, management, sponsors, coach, and training staff, Keanu defied the odds and qualified for the 2015 World Championship Tour at the youthful age of 21 years old.
Keanu gets a few encouraging words from father Tommy at Sunset Beach. Photo: WSL
Family
Keanu’s lovely family is his rock. I had the pleasure of meeting his parents Tommy and Paulanne, and it’s evident where Keanu gets his good looks and athletic build. Aside from the fact that Keanu hit the genetic lottery, it’s the positive, loving support that has cultivated a hard working mentality in Keanu that began at a very young age. His mom and dad encouraged strong self-esteem and confidence, which is vital when Keanu finds himself in the high-pressure situations in a heat. While Keanu is comfortable in his own skin, he is also extremely humble. Having a beautiful, supportive girlfriend Kailin Curran – who is also a UFC professional fighter – who wouldn’t be?
Management
Being a professional athlete is like having your own business. Without proper guidance and hands-on assistance, it would be easy for a young surfer to lose their way. Keanu is fortunate to have a solid team in place, lead by his manager Greg Fernandez. In addition to Greg, Keanu is supported by a number of people, including Frankie D’Andrea, Jensen Young Sik, Ian Walsh, Bede Durbidge, and Damien Hobgood, to name a few. Keanu also benefits from the support of his other sponsors, including Fox, Rockstar Energy, Prolite, Local Motion Hawaii, Vertra, Fitted, Sol Republic and ATH Organics.
Technical Team
After our first season of training together, Keanu added a substantial amount of strength and power, which left many of his boards too thin to handle the force he was putting into his turns. Keanu’s long-time shaper Wade Tokoro responded, “Good, you need to be stronger. We’ll just make a few tweaks and put more volume under your feet.” The surfer-shaper relationship is a very unique connection. That is, it’s a surfer’s responsibility to communicate the intricacies of a particular board’s performance, and it’s the shaper’s responsibility to translate those messages into surfboard design.
Training
Keanu is easy to train. His youth, genetic makeup, natural talent, and enthusiasm have fostered excellent mobility, endurance, balance, coordination, strength, and power. Due to these natural abilities, we’re able to focus on training specifically designed towards making him a better athlete. This includes advanced deceleration techniques, improved body control through rotational plyometrics, total body explosiveness, and heat-specific conditioning.
Keanu’s road to qualification illustrates the necessity for young athletes to surround themselves with a support structure that can guide them toward success. From family support to the more technical operations, each play an integral role that are interdependent on each other, and the absence of one pillar can dramatically effect the other. Congratulations to my good friend Keanu Asing for achieving his dream and qualifying for the 2015 World Championship Tour. There’s not a more deserving or well-respected young man in the sport of surfing today.
To learn more about the workout programs that will get you in great surf shape, visit NAKOA Fitness and Physical Therapy.
