Three Stages of the gentle class
Halfway
End of summer
Gen-tri-fy
Verb
1. gentrify - renovate so as to make it conform to middle-class aspirations;
"gentrify a row of old houses"; "gentrify the old center of town"
freshen up, refurbish, renovate - make brighter and prettier; "we refurbished the guest wing"; "My wife wants us to renovate"
Has our sport been gentrified? Yes. Is it a bad thing. No.
Like the cities that have renovated their downtown's there are negative reactions. Somewhat to the tune of 'we have lost our soul, the Petit-bourgeois has come and ruined everything we had.
Well naysayers I detract from your theory. If surfing was better when everyone was high and the violence in the water was the norm, you can have the good old days.
I clearly remember coming into a classroom and the teacher would tell you 'your a surfer sit in the back'. The change has happened. Us parents who grew up surfing when it was considered a pursuit of the stoned and stupid decided that our kids could enjoy the ocean and still be productive.
We have by a non scientific survey of parents at surf contests, have made sure that our kids are doing well in school and we use the leverage over teenagers that has stopped all trouble before it starts. We use surfing itself. "You want to surf, get good grades". Simple logic has changed everything for the surfers my kids hang with. On both surf teams grades are brought out and discussed openly. In high school surf team homeroom they have to produce and explain anything lower than a B.
The retired successful surf team coach from San Clemente High School is a Grandview regular. He made his team have a 3.4 GPA to compete. He told me he got sick of parents complaining that their kids were becoming surf bums. Some of his kids complained, but he said" I have 30 kids all at the highest level competing for 11 spots. I would rather get some complaints from the kids than hear anything from the parents or my boss the principal"
SDA Surf Team homeroom consistently achieves the highest GPA. Kids not doing well get a full attack from team mates and older kids who are doing well.
Soul or not, now that I am a parent I need to see the grades. They are the first currency our kids will earn. I don't want my guys to miss one opportunity for a quick fix of a few waves. The surfer / athlete paradigm shift is complete. After all you want to get to a place in life where you can surf and live by the surf. A few hours of study afterschool and an activity that looks good on your college app is a ticket to the life they and we aspire to.
Gentrification is not a dirty word.
