Captain Spencer Bridges is Athlete of the Week

Author: Tim Remick

It's a Pleasure to have you, Spencer. How has your 2016 been and what were some highlights from it?

Its been amazing! Last March, I trained for two weeks on the Gold Coast of Australia at the Surfing Australia High Performance Center which brought my game to a whole other level. In May, I travelled to France with the Great Britain Surf Team for a one week training program. We stayed in tents right on the beach and ran mock heats. In June, I competed in the NSSA Nationals in Open Mens Shortboard, Explorer Men’s Shortboard and Open Longboard. The highlight of the contest and one of my career, was winning my maiden National Title in the Open Longboard division. The highlight of my year was competing in the ISA World Junior Games. I competed for Great Britain and we finished 13^th our of 29 different countries represented.

Awesome! So you're coming off a win at NSSA Nationals in both shortboard and longboard divisions. That must’ve been difficult to go from one style of surfing to another, especially in the competition setting. Tell us how that event went, from your perspective?

Yeah it was one of the best days of my career! The waves were super fun for long boarding in the finals. I found a magic board right before the contest started after surfing with past champion Steve Newton. I was confident going into the final and trusted my equipment. I started off pretty strong and build a house over the course of the heat. I couldn’t really hear the situation when I was out there so I actually didn’t know I had won until I got on the beach and saw people running towards me haha. It was an amazing feeling.

That's rad, man! You also competed at the ISA world Junior Surfing Games in the Azores islands this past September as part of the U18 Team. Sounds like that was quite the experience. How did that go?

Yes it was easily the best contest I’ve ever been a part of and an experience I’ll cherish forever. I surfed for Great Britain and we had a very strong team. We were all very close and had a great camaraderie which helped us surf the the best of our ability. We ended up placing 13^th out of 39 total countries represented and individualy, I placed 49^th out of 128 U18 surfers.

Coming into 2017, How have you been preparing and getting contest-ready? Any places you’ve visited or special programs you’ve adopted during the off-season?

I have been doing a lot of dry-land training because I have been really busy with school and college applications. I am a big believer that your overall physical fitness can improve your game in the water dramatically. I plan on going back to Australia in March to train at the High Performance Center again to get ready for some QS events that I’m going to do over the summer.

Right on! So what does a Normal day of Surfing look like for you back home?

I live an hour from the closest beach so I have to pack up everything including water, lunch, and snacks to be prepared for the day. I normally go to Belmar and surf at the 17^th street Jetty. If the waves are good I’ll shoot with a photographer or film with a videographer. I like to do two, two-hour sessions before heading back home.

Favorite pre-contest tunes to help get you hyped and focused?

“Next level” by A$AP Rocky

Awesome! Thank you for Joining us, Spencer. We wish you the best in accomplishing your goals in 2017. Anyone you would like to thank before you go?

My parents for Traveling with me and always being positive and supportive! And you guys at Monster for Being so good to me!

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