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Surfing
Brothers Teach How to go With the Flow
If you can stand, you can surf. Balance
isn't necessary, or precision or strength. It's more
positioning. So goes a beginner's tutorial in wave riding
by the Willis brothers. Michael and Milton Willis have
worked all the angles of their vocation from building
boards to competing on them since they were kids. The
twins learned to surf at Fletcher Cove when they were
about 9. Now, more than 30 years later, the Willises
give surfing lessons based out of Solana Beach and Hawaii.
They teach seniors and children, beginners, pros, the
blind, disabled, and anyone else who wants to learn.
"We've done every facet of the business,"
Milton Willis said. "But there's a difference between
surfing and teaching surfing. You have to slow it down,
analyze it, take it apart step by step. "One little
word we could tell you could prevent a lot of angst.
Surfing is all about going with the flow." The
brothers seem to live "in the flow."
Just as the new program director for
the Lomas Santa Fe Branch of the Boys & Girls Club
began thinking about ocean education classes, Milton
Willis walked through the door. That was about two months
ago. "Milton just happened to stop in at that same
exact time frame with ideas for a surf camp, lessons,
environmental programs -- everything," said Nathan
Fristed, program director of the branch. "It was
exactly what I was looking for. It's been great and
it's working toward being amazing." The brothers
say they teach "more than your average stingray
shuffle." "The last time they spoke here,
they talked about believing in what you can do,"
Fristed said.
The brothers offer their positive philosophy
wherever they go. In private lessons, on their Web site
and at the Boys & Girls Club, the Willises talk
about enhancing a connection with the environment, finding
confidence and generating a positive attitude. If they
see someone in the water who needs help, they give advice,
said Milton Willis -- free of charge. "What does
that cost me?" Milton Willis said. Michael Willis
explained their theory. "In tennis, somebody's
going to win or lose. In the ocean, you're free,"
he said.
The brothers have surfed the world and
been the subject of stories in surfing magazines. They
both tow surf -- where a Jet Ski tows the surfer into
a wave too big to paddle into -- and they both graduated
from San Dieguito High School when surfing was first
offered as a physical education class. "There hasn't
been an aspect of surfing we haven't touched on,"
Michael Willis said. Or that surfing touches on, the
pair said.
The kids at the Boys & Girls Club
are soaking up this information. They ask a lot of questions,
Fristed said. "If you would prevent them from asking
questions, it would take away a lot from the experience,"
he said. "And it's kind of funny to see these guys
who have surfed some of the biggest waves in the world
get a little flustered when a 6-year- old asks a difficult
question."
For more information about the Willis
brothers' surfing camps and lessons, call (760) 591-2944
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