O'Neill Past and Present
O’Neill Surf Academy - History and Future
The O’Neill Surf Academy was the brainchild of Californian and O’Neill
rider Richard Schmidt.
Thankfully for the children of Europe, O’Neill thought his idea to
promote the sport of surfing at a grassroots level by offering children
free surf lessons was a great one and so the "O’Neill Surf Academy" was
launched in 1996. It was first introduced to the UK in 1997 and has
become O’Neill UK’s premier event. The Surf Academy is hugely
successful across Europe and continues to grow in success year on year.
2006 will be the event’s 10th anniversary and will herald an exciting
new development in the history of the the Academy.
Traditionally, top O’Neill riders, headed by O’Neill surfers from Santa
Cruz, travelled across Europe for one month during the summer offering
a series of day-long surf tutorials designed to give 8-16 year olds
their first taste of the art of surfing.
To date, 9,000 children from across Europe have graduated from the
O’Neill Surf Academy and many have gone on to forge successful surfing
careers.
UK grommets Stuart Campbell and Alex Baker had their first taste of
surfing at the Academy. Both are now sponsored by the brand and making
huge waves on the National circuit. Stuart Campbell is the current
Under 14 British Champion.
In order to keep the event fresh and the talent coming, O’Neill plan to
usher in the next decade of the event with an exciting new concept.
2006 will see O'Neill launch the first all year round O'Neill Surf Academy in conjunction with West Coast Surfari specialising in providing all age and all ability professional surf courses.
West Coast Surfari are a world renowned and well established Surf School
based at Watergate Bay, Newquay, Cornwall.
The school did an amazing job hosting the first ever O’Neill Adult Surf Academy sponsored by FHM there in 2005, making
it the ideal choice for the Academy’s first permanent home.
O’Neill is excited to be working with West Coast Surfari and looks
forward to another decade of the O’Neill Surf Academy.
