The unseen struggles of the Samo surf team
Samo students have a plethora of opportunities and communities available to them through the school; many of which provide room for freedom and expression that aren’t necessarily centered on campus. The Samo surf team embodies all of these qualities and offers students a chance to represent their school up and down the California coast, still without being considered a CIF sport.
The Samo surf team was instituted in the 2011-’12 school year, led by active coach Marion Clark. Beyond holding practices before school multiple days a week and participating in a wide spread of surf competitions, the team also prioritizes a community aspect. Team members engage in a multitude of volunteer opportunities with Heal the Bay and Surf Bus Foundation, the latter of which allows the team to teach the inner city youth learn how to surf and further develop their way around the ocean. Despite this diverse set of experiences the team offers, not all schools have equal access to these kinds of activities. Conference sports require a certain percentage of equity, and this has kept surfing from being considered an official sport at Samo. Many of the involved students, including co-captain Sierra Pacifici (’25), feel as though their sport deserves far better representation.
“All in all, I would like to see the Athletics Department be more accepting. They include us, but I still wouldn’t say we are accepted into the Samo sports culture,” Pacifici said. “We’ve made so much progress over the years and yet we’re still far behind the surf teams at other schools and the other sports at Samo. There are always extra steps we have to take in order to get what other sports get automatically, to me that’s not accepting.”
Because surfing is not considered an official sport, the school district does not provide the team with any form of transportation to and from school. The involved students are forced to rely on themselves, their family and their coach to transport them to and from practices and competitions in the early hours of the morning as well as during school and work hours. Additionally, this “unofficial” form of transportation has led to students struggling to clear their absences during competitions, a privilege that all other student athletes get while attending away games.
In terms of recognition at school events, the surf team has only ever run out during a pep rally once during their 13 year existence. Despite getting the action permitted for this year's January rally, surf team social captain and ASB board member Tegan Blaine (’26) faced criticisms after the fact surrounding their inclusion.
“I run the spirit committee in ASB so I was able to get surf into the rally pretty easily, but I did face some backlash after,” Blaine said. “My ASB teacher was very excited about including another sport, but I received emails from teachers asking why surf was in the rally if it wasn’t an official Samohi sport. I just focused on working with the team as a captain to make sure we were spirited and cooperative!”
While the largest factor at hand is that there is simply a lack of opportunity for schools farther from the coast, it is worth considering whether the team is doing enough already to warrant further admission. Surfing is the only sport at Samo that is entirely co-ed; the roster is nearly a 50/50 ratio between boys and girls, but isn’t separated into two separate teams. Additionally, surfing is one of the few high school sports that allows you to experience the unpredictability of nature. While other sports require boundaries, no wave is predetermined. Surfing allows for the opportunity to develop better instincts and intuition instead of planning for the obvious. The argument remains whether or not exceptions should be made for the Samo surf team, and Coach Clark emphasizes that the team is doing more than enough to deserve some additional involvement.
“Surfing is the state sport of California and it’s finally in the Olympics, yet it’s still seen as a very niche, counterculture activity,” Clark said. “The very first captain of the Samohi Surf Team didn’t have her own equipment until she was a sophomore in high school - she was a state ranked surfer, still borrowing stuff. It would not be hard to bridge these equity gaps. Samohi could do something really rad by giving its surfers a little more and making it easier for them to surf in the morning. My hope is that at 15 years in, they're seeing that we’re not a high risk sport.”
Marion Clark / Contributer
The Samo Surf Team celebrates after completing the SBSSA Kick
Off Classic finals on 11/21/24 at the Santa Monica Beach.