To start off the spring semester, CapU’s newly branded Surf Club held a lettuce-eating contest to promote nutrition
Bridget Stringer-Holden // Contributor
To start off the spring semester, CapU’s newly branded Surf Club held a lettuce-eating contest to promote nutrition. Surf Club president, Tom Balog, joked around last year about either starting a lettuce-eating group or a surf club, so he found a way to combine the two and ensure that members are well-nourished. “The surf club is actually just a veil for Tom to pursue his lettuce-oriented agenda,” joked Theodore Abbott, Surf Club VP.
Balog had thought for a while about starting a club on campus. “This is my last semester here and I’ve always wanted to put a club together. I’ve really gotten into surfing in the past while and thought it would be an interesting endeavour,” he said. Surf Club was officially created mid-October when Balog registered the club and began to put up posters. Later that same day, Balog ran into Abbott, who was keen to participate.
There will be two surf trips to Tofino planned this spring: one early-mid March and the other at the end of April. “It’s a great opportunity to get out of town and get to know people on a more personal level and I think those experiences are priceless,” said Abbott. There will be costs associated with the trips, but various social events held around campus which will be free.
“Being a part of the Surf Club doesn’t mean that you have to be an avid surfer, you don’t even need to come surfing at all. If you wanted to just come hang out in Tofino for a few days and experience the raw beauty of the pacific northwest, then you can totally do that… if there’s some timidity around it, then you can just come and sus out the waves and the whole landscape of Tofino,” said Abbott.
The club collected over 40 email addresses during their first meet-and-greet. “We have a lot of people interested that have never gone surfing before, honestly that’s awesome. It would be great to have all skill levels, if we need to hire some instructors from a surf camp then we can look into doing that. The more the merrier,” said Balog who has been surfing from a young age but really got into it during a trip to Costa Rica in 2017.
“The first time I went surfing was not that long ago, it was actually Spring 2019,” said Abbott who had been skateboarding his whole life and found surfing to be a natural progression. He and Balog have gone together to Tofino. “I just enjoy the ridiculousness of it: throwing on a cold wet suit, paddling out in the freezing cold water, and just waiting out there in the lineup in the rain,” added Balog.
So far, meetings have been held on Thursday during the open block from 12 to 1 pm. However, the meeting time and location is dependent on member availability and could be modified to member’s schedules. The best way to get more information about future events is to check out the CSU Surf Club Facebook page. There’s also a WhatsApp group and students can be added by sending a message through Facebook.
Since CapU is a known commuter campus, people seem to come and go. Although Balog feels a sense of community on campus, it seems to be dispersed. “I’ve met a lot of great people here and I think it would be cool to try to build and strengthen those relationships by going on a bit of an adventure with people. Just try to enjoy our time together while at this school ‘cause time goes by pretty fast and it’s nice to build a memorable experience,” said Balog.