CHENNAI: With Mamallapuram hosting the International Surf Open, part of World Surf League (WSL) Qualifying Series (QS) 3,000, for the first time in India, the former South African cricketer Jonty Rhodes believes the sport has a bright future in India. The 54-year-old, who started surfing only after retiring from international cricket, said that surfing is a complete workout and it has even helped some of the Lucknow Super Giants players in the India Premier League.
“There is a lot of Surfing and Yoga that go hand in hand. Surfers use a lot of upper body, upper back, and shoulders, like yoga. And you need flexibility because the waves are not still and smooth. Surfers require hand strength, strong glutes, and a hamstring,” Rhodes told this daily during an informal chat on Thursday. “In IPL, with the Lucknow Giants, a few of us came down to Goa for a break. I got some of the boys surfing lessons. When they started, for the first 2-3 waves, they struggled but later they thoroughly enjoyed it,” the LSG fielding coach said.
If there’s one sportsperson who has seen the evolution of surfing in the country and more so in Chennai, it has to be Jonty Rhodes, the former South Africa cricketer. He has been a regular figure at the Kovalam surfing and music festival and had helped popularise the sport. He felt the sport can be taken up as a fitness ritual as well.
“You are in only chest-deep water, so when you start surfing, you become less fearful of the ocean, it’s a complete workout. Cross-fit is more about strength and power. This is more about flexibility and agility. And it certainly helps the upper body strength. Surfing is a great way to combine all of the workouts.”
Rhodes represented South Africa in 297 international matches including 245 ODIs and 52 Tests and announced his retirement in 2003. After retirement, he chose surfing to keep fit. “I grew up near the coast in Durban but never really got in the ocean. I used to play other sports like hockey, tennis, and football but never surfing. When I retired in 2003, I decided no more to run and bought myself a mountain bike and a surfboard to stay fit. I only started surfing at the age of 33. It is a difficult sport to learn, but a great physical activity.”
As the ambassador of the Surfing Federation of India along with Paddy Upton, who is now working with Indian men’s hockey team as mental trainer, Rhodes has supported the rise of surfing in India. “I have been involved with the Surfing Federation of India, not in an official capacity but to promote the game,” Rhodes said. He also recalled the beginning of the Covilong Point Surf, Yoga and Music Festival, which helped set the groundwork for the international surfing meet.
“On the coast of Tamil Nadu, we had this surf, yoga, and music festival. If it was not for yoga and music, nobody would have come to watch surfing at that time. Now surfing takes priority. The year after the pandemic we realized, surfing alone can stand up, without music as well because the surfing community in India has helped it grow.”
With surfing growing in India and Tamil Nadu taking the lion’s share in it, Rhodes congratulated the SFI and its president, Arun Vasu, on the achievements. “Coming back and seeing the standard of Indian surfing is amazing. It’s lot to do with the administration of the sport as well. It requires a lot of work behind the scenes, too. There was not much of structure there before and that’s the one thing Arun Vasu has changed in Surfing India over the last two years.”
In conversation with Indraneel Das,
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