Building self-esteem … through surfing

A group of children from the Martin Luther King Center gathered on the Long Beach Boulevard Beach on Tuesday. Some seemed scared, nervous and anxious, and many had never been in the water before.

Nevertheless, they took a couple of giant steps, surfboards in tow, into the ocean to learn something new.

The outing was organized by Surf for All, a local nonprofit organization created in 2010 that focuses on helping people with special needs, disabilities and others through surfing. Surf for All worked with visually impaired people on July 11 as part of the city’s third annual Surf Week.

The organization’s founders, Cliff and Will Skudin, along with Long Beach resident Jim Mulvaney, reached out to the MLK Center with the idea of providing underprivileged youth surf lessons. “What’s unique about this outing is that some of these kids have lived in Long Beach their whole lives and they haven’t had an opportunity to learn how to surf,” said Will Skudin. “This is what this town is standing on now, and a lot of attention is going in the direction of the ocean. It’s not just the ocean anymore, it’s a giant trampoline for all of us to play on.”

The outing took on added significance after the MLK Center — which provides youth and family services to residents in the North Park area and other parts of the community — lost its funding from Nassau County on July 5 (story, page 13). As a result, the center was forced to cancel a number of its after-school and summer programs.

“I’m very appreciative of the Surf for All camp for giving us the opportunity to come down,” said the center’s co-chair, James Hodge. “It’s a great opportunity for the young people from the MLK Center to learn how to surf and have a chance to do something over the course of the summer, when so many of our kids didn’t have a chance to do a summer program at all.”

Hodge added, “The children are very excited about it and looking forward to surfing. I think I’m going to get in also. I’ve never been surfing, and I’ve been in Long Beach my whole life.”

Although Hodge and his young colleagues had their share of wipeouts, they were cheered on when they stood on their surfboards and caught waves.

“Our name is Surf for All, so if we don’t do everything and try to help everyone out and give our time to as many causes as we can, then the name doesn’t stand true,” Skudin said. “The ocean does amazing things to people. These kids are going to overcome something that they might be doubting. Sometimes it’s not even about surfing, sometimes it’s about bringing confidence … they overcome a fear or an obstacle that they never thought that they could do.”