Sophomore Alexis Ouart stood on her surfboard in the clear waters off the coast of Atlantis. As she was the only one at the resort she was staying surfing, many people watched as she easily glided along the waves.
Ouart enjoys surfing, and goes to surf in places like this whenever she gets the opportunity.
“Everybody was watching me,” Ouart said. “It was a little nerve-wracking but also like ‘oh my gosh, this is so fun.’”
Ouart first learned to surf at age six when she and her family were in Jamaica as a treat for her first communion. She taught herself how to surf through watching videos of other people doing tricks.
“My first year in Jamaica, they let me surf ‘cause [six] was the legal age you could surf there,” Ouart said. “My dad said ‘sure, go ahead,’ and then I fell in love with it.”
Ouart has surfed in multiple places, such as Cancun, Mexico, and Jamaica. While each place has its own perks, her favorite place to surf is Hawaii.
“The water is super clear and it’s not as salty so it doesn’t get in my eyes,” Ouart said. “And the waves are really nice and smooth.”
All sports require certain traits from participants. Cross country requires stamina, Golf requires patience, Football requires perseverance, and so on and so on. Surfing is no different. Surfers have to be flexible, have good balance, and to have good ankles and knees to make sure they don’t fall off the board.
“They all connect in some way,” Ouart said. “All these gifts have to be there to get the final product of surfing.”
It requires a lot of work to learn a new sport. When Ouart was first learning, she surfed every weekend she could, as well as a lot over the summer. Now, she surfs as often as possible over the summer when she’s on vacation. All of the time and work she has put into surfing is worth it her.
“When I get up there and I’m surfing, I feel accomplished, like I’m on top of the world,” Ouart said. “It’s just a great feeling.”
