San Diego area HS seniors Izzy Staples, James Struhs and Kaiden Campbell create surfing club
SAN DIEGO — Finding friends, surfing together and building community are reasons why high school seniors Izzy Staples, James Struhs and Kaiden Campbell revived the surf clubs at their schools after years of inactivity. Staples, from Rancho Bernardo High School, and Struhs and Campbell, from Poway High School, joined forces as three co-presidents to create a unified club of enthusiastic surfers.
Loving the waves and desiring a shared surfing experience was the incentive to begin the club and get others involved. But these savvy surfers and bright young adults are also learning lessons to help prepare them for the next chapter of their lives.
More fun with friends
Echoed throughout the club鈥檚 leadership and its members is the sentiment that surfing is more enjoyable when you can go with others. 鈥淚 could talk for hours about surfing and enjoy talking with friends as we sit in the water and wait for the waves. It helped me meet new people,鈥� Struhs remarks. His twin brother and club member Charlie adds, 鈥淲e knew there were a lot of people at school who enjoyed surfing, and we wanted to find a way to get them together.鈥�
Club members make the most of the high school鈥檚 late-start Wednesdays by arriving at 15th Street beach in Del Mar by daybreak. Together they are building a network of surfers to coordinate treks to the beach at other times. The club also organizes meetings and movie nights and hopes to have future beach clean-up activities.
New surfers are encouraged to attend the surf sessions; more experienced members offer support such as loaner surfboards and surf etiquette advice to those new to the sport. 鈥淓veryone鈥檚 surfing has improved because they are in the water more, and we are all helping each other,鈥� Staples observes.
Running a club, building a team, learning along the way
The club founders have learned a lot about organizing a school-based club. Staples says, 鈥淚 enjoy getting people invested in a fun activity and promoting our club. I can film and edit videos of our members surfing and post them to our social media accounts.鈥�
In addition to the surf club, which is open to all students, there is also a competitive surf team. Surfing hopefuls must try out to qualify for the team since there are limited spots. Campbell, Staples and James Struhs all made the competitive team this season.
Campbell reflects, 鈥淭his experience helped me learn to speak with people in leadership positions, such as the Scholastic Surf Series competition organizers. I had to understand the costs and steps needed to register our team.鈥� Team members competed in several surf competitions with dozens of high schools between October and February. Raising money is also a key component to the club鈥檚 future success. Members organized a fundraiser at Board and Brew to raise money for the competition entry fees and other club activities. 鈥淏oard and Brew told us it was their most successful fundraiser to date,鈥� Staples proudly shares.
Future of the club
With most of the club leadership in their last year of high school, they are looking to the younger students to carry the torch next year. Many current club members will be back and are willing to take on a more active role. The club will continue to have a competitive team. But the current group isn鈥檛 ready to say goodbye when this school year ends. 鈥淲e will continue to plan fun activities throughout the summer,鈥� Staples says, 鈥渁nd keep the group camaraderie. We don鈥檛 want to let that go.鈥�
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