At Gwithian Academy of Surfing we are an A.S.I Accredited Surf School. For us the A.S.I has been the way to go – they are really well organised, have amazing back-up in terms of resources and their lesson plans, indeed their whole approach to teaching surfing, is spot on.
But surfing, just like all other walks of life, is riddled with politics. The current British governing body (Surfing Great Britain – SGB) is currently on the up after a few fallow years and is trying to get all the surf coaches from all the rival factions – ASI, ISA, SGB, BSA! – and bring their coaching qualifications to the same level.
And good luck to them, I genuinely wish them well.
Last night all of our surf coaches attended a workshop in Newquay to see the direction that SGB are taking. My ultimate hope is that they don’t get too bogged down in the politics of it and recognise that the surf coach award workshops are remarkably similar (the Level 1 Beginner coach award is virtually identical whichever path you take) and ultimately have skill progression and safety as their core values.
We will be staying with Australia’s Academy of Surfing Instructors (ASI) coaching network for the foreseeable future as they are proactive, have amazing coaching and learning pathways and are backed up by a dedicated team who respond to my queries immediately. This last point can’t be overlooked. When I have a question I know I am only a phone call or promptly replied email away from my answer.
They are the main reasons why the ASI framework has been adopted by the Australian school education system and why we will be staying with them. If it’s good enough for the Aussies it’s definitely good enough for us.
