Lauren Wilson will be moving down under this fall to get work experience and to surf. The recent SDSU grad and MBAC surfing instructor is looking forward to spending our winter months (the southern hemisphere’s summer) surfing the waves off the Australian coast. She has come a long way since taking her first class at MBAC where her goal was to confront her fear of the water.
Growing up in inland Redlands, CA, Lauren never thought of herself as the beach type. She made the trek to the sand in Orange County once or twice a year. Despite her ability to swim she had an unexplainable fear of the water which kept her firmly planted in the sand.
When she was a sophomore at SDSU, where she studied design, she saw that watersports classes were available to her at MBAC and decided that it would be a good opportunity to confront that fear.
“I was first trying to decide between sailing and surfing and in the end chose sailing because it seemed like I’d be in the water less,” Lauren explained. “But the next semester I took surfing and it was love at first wave.”
In the two years following her first experience on a surfboard Lauren took several surfing classes and acquired a collection of 4 surfboards to support her 4 times a week surfing habit. Lauren’s rapid immersion into the surf lifestyle and ever increasing progress caught the attention of her advanced surfing instructor, Justin Baar, who is also MBAC’s Lead Surfing Instructor and hired her as a summer camp surfing instructor.
“Lauren’s quick dedication to the sport and enthusiasm made her stand out,” Justin explains. “She is a great role model for people who want to get into surfing.”
Lauren has also progressed to teaching adult classes and private lessons in addition to teaching youth camp. As for the fear of the water that challenged Lauren before her class, she points out that while it never completely goes away, it can be overcome.
“When I’m looking out and there are big waves there is always that little bit of fear that tingles in the back of my head. But when I get out there and overcome that feeling it feels great. I really enjoy myself and it kind of feels cool like I’m fighting dragons.”