This week, Australia surfer Sally Fitzgibbons won the Rio Pro in Brazil.
And that’s kind of a big deal.
Fitzgibons managed to beat reigning world champion, Hawaiian surfer Carissa Moore, with a score of 16.27 to 14.17. The two have been rivals for years, with both surfers drawing a lot of attention on the world stage.
Fitzgibbons – often referred to as just ‘Sally Fitz’ – is one of the best surfers currently representing Australia on the world circuit. She’s young, she’s driven and she’s one of our hardest-working athletes.
If you looked at Sally’s Instagram page, you’d probably be thinking that the life of a professional surfer is pretty cushy. After all, you get to surf all day, every day, in exotic locations such as Rio de Janeiro and France.
But what you don’t realise is that being a professional surfer requires endless early mornings and very few late nights. You have to be at the top of your fitness game, which requires cross-training in the form of running and weights. There is a lot of travel. And not the fun kind of travel. It’s the kind of travel where you are stumbling from one location to the next, barely managing to keep your eyes open.
There’s a lot of eyes on you when you’re on the cards to be a world champion. Your sponsors, your fans and even your friends and family all want you to win. And it’s already so difficult for women to be taken seriously as professional surfers, so you don’t want to do badly.
And Sally puts special pressure on herself. She’s been the runner-up for the world title three times, so it’s finally time for a win.
Recently, Red Bull decided to put together a number of videos called “Sally Stories”, which highlight just how hard Sally has been working to do well as a surfer.
They’re awesome to watch if you’re inspired by powerful surfers. And they’re great to show to kids if, say, you have a wannabe world champion in your midst.
