My name is Faye Zoetmulder, I am 16 years old, and I have
a huge passion for surfing. I live in Bluewater
Bay, Port Elizabeth. I
have lived there all my life and it’s where I started my surfing career a few
years ago. At the age of ten my best friend, Philippa and I decided to try out
the sport our brothers and fathers loved and had so much fun doing. When I
stood up for the first time, it got me all excited and from that day on I would
say I was hooked on the sport!
I had been doing lifesaving, karate ( black belt), hockey
and swimming from about the age of six which got me into the physical and
competitive side of life. I made a number of E.P teams in all the sports and
won a World title in 2004 for karate.
After the age of 14 I had had enough of karate and
decided to focus a bit more on my surfing. My swimming led to waterpolo, which
I am currently in the 1st team for at school (Collegiate High
School) and I still do lifesaving with Summerstrand Lifesaving Club.
For me doing a number of different sports gives me the
confidence, ability and drive to do my best in my competitive surfing. All the
sports compliment each other so I’d say I keep pretty fit throughout the year.
After getting a few results and getting sponsored by
Lizzy in 2006 I started to take my surfing pretty seriously. This meant going
to as many comps as possible, trying new boards, missing school, haha, starting
fitness programmes, getting coached and mainly, having the TIME of my life.
I get to miss a lot of school which is cool in a way but
after comps I make sure I catch up work missed and keep my grades at a good
level. It’s hard and people say I should just do home school but I try keep
positive about it and know its all for the best, it gives me a grounding in
life.
Surfing to me now is like a way of life. I live for those
days waking up knowing I have an amazing God, awesome family and the talent and
ability to be out there in the water, surfing. Every surf is different, every
wave is different and it’s that, that makes the sport so much more exciting. Us
surfers can’t seem to get enough of it and are always amped to try harder and do
things the pros like Kelly Slater, Melanie Bartels, Jordy Smith and Dane
Reynolds are doing.
I have learnt so much through surfing, been around the
world and made lifelong friends. I go to Australia every December for about 2
months and stay with my best friend Philippa.
We do lots of competitions over
there, and surf all the well-known spots. I get to meet lots of the top junior
surfers like Sally Fitzgibbons, Laura Enever and Coco Ho. It’s an unbelievable
experience, and teaches so much more about your surfing.
I’ve had a number of good results this year, making the
SA Junior and Senior squads to do trials for the SA teams, coming 2nd
in U20 at the 2008 SA Senior Champs, and winning the SA U19 longboard title for
the second time.
In the future I hope to pursue my surfing as a career
and make the WCT. I believe that anything is possible if you are hungry for it!
It’s probably most surfers dream to become world champ, and I know that if I
have the physical ability, talent and the right driven mind, anything is possible.
One of the things that’s really helped me with my surfing
is the awesome support from my parents and brother. They play a huge role in my
life and are always there backing me up and encouraging me to do my best. It’s
a real privilege to have such an amazing family and I look up to them a lot.
I hope to see lots more girls surfing in the future and
to see the sport really grow. I believe that if you want to get somewhere in
life all you need is a driven mind and believe that you will make it! All you need
is Peace, Love, Happiness, Faith and SURF!!