December 10 Archive

Los Cerritos surf duo dominates | www.toacorn.com | Thousand Oaks Acorn

Los Cerritos Middle School sixth-grader Sean Woods, 11, shows off his surfing skill set by blasting a frontside air, above, and then tucking into a backside barrel, bottom right, at northern Ventura County beach break. In the middle photo, Steffi Kerson, 13, a seventh-grader at Los Cerritos, bottom turns on a right-handed peeler. Sean and Steffi both compete for the school’s surf team. In their first three Scholastic Surf Series shortboard contests this season, Sean and Steffi have finished first at each event. AIR TRAVEL—Los Cerritos Middle School sixth-grader Sean Woods, 11, shows off his surfing skill set by blasting a frontside air, above, and then tucking into a backside barrel, bottom right, at northern Ventura County beach break. In the middle photo, Steffi Kerson, 13, a seventh-grader at Los Cerritos, bottom turns on a right-handed peeler. Sean and Steffi both compete for the school’s surf team. In their first three Scholastic Surf Series shortboard contests this season, Sean and Steffi have finished first at each event. If it were baseball, they’d be batting a thousand.

In horse racing it’s called a trifecta. In volleyball, a clean sweep.

Two Los Cerritos Middle School students have been unbeatable through the first three events of the L.A./Santa Barbara Middle Schools Division of the Scholastic Surf Series.

Competing as shortboarders, sixth-grader Sean Woods, 11, and seventh-grader Steffi Kerson, 13, have each opened the season by winning surfing events at Heavens in Malibu, Oxnard Shores and Santa Barbara’s Campus Point.

Six middle schools from Santa Monica to Santa Barbara take part in area SSS contests. Event categories are boys’ and girls’ shortboarding and longboarding, as well as bodyboarding. An area high school division also exists.

Carla Rowland, coach of the Los Cerritos team, raves about Sean’s and Steffi’s abilities in the water.

Rowland, a substitute teacher and surf instructor, said Sean’s aptitude for focusing in on a contest goal and then achieving that goal is uncanny. His old-school, fluid surfing style is a thing of beauty, the coach added.

“It’s really unbelievable, the kind of drive Sean has for being such a young kid,” Rowland said.

“I’m somebody who grew up steeped in that Malibu tradition that was always based around style. For a kid his size and his age, he’s really quite advanced.”

Steffi’s family lived in Costa Rica when she was 2. A few years later, she rode a board for the first time while visiting Maui. Her family’s recent surf adventures included trips to Nicaragua and Baja, Mexico.

Rowland refers to Steffi as a “core surfer” whose style is more substance than pizzazz.

“In the girls’ division, Steffi is by far the strongest competitor,” the coach said. “There’s one other girl who can give her a run for her money, but that’s about it.”

A regular-foot wave rider— his left foot is forward on the board—Sean used to play baseball but fell in love with surfing about two years ago.

Sean now travels from his home in Thousand Oaks to the beach almost every day, sometimes with friends or teammates, and other times with his parents, Laura and Mike, and older brother Kyle.

Steffi Kerson and Sean Woods Steffi Kerson and Sean Woods The sixth-grade standout is a regular at Malibu and Rincon.

His surfing has progressed to the point where Sean now has multiple sponsors: Zamora Surfboards, Ocean Current surf clothing, Revolution Surf Company, Xcel wetsuits and Winner’s Pizza.

Ocean Current, Revolution Surf Company and Olas Mex Grill also sponsor the team.

In surfing, where pecking orders often exist, having sponsor stickers on his board “helps me get waves,” said Sean, whose stick of choice measures in at a minuscule 4 feet, 9 inches.

Although sponsorship offers continue to flow in, Laura Woods has been careful when choosing which companies to align Sean with.

Rowland’s fiance, Ian Zamora, owns Oxnard- based Zamora Surfboards, and the couple has gone out of its way to assist Sean and the entire Los Cerritos team, Laura Woods said. For that, she’d like Sean to stay loyal.

Laura Woods also doesn’t want Sean to get burned out on the competitive aspect of surfing.

“I just want him to have a childhood and have fun,” she said. “He has a passion for surfing, but I don’t want him to feel pressured into surfing. Just go out there and have fun.”

Sean is already charging heavy waves. He can remember the largest day he ever surfed like it was yesterday.

“ Ten- to- 15- foot faces in Malibu on July 24, 2009,” he said. “It was big.”

In addition to his shortboarding exploits, Sean has logged first- and third-place finishes in SSS longboard contests this season. He’s also the division’s second-ranked bodyboarder, having tallied two seconds and a third in three events.

A goofy-footer (right foot forward) whose favorite wave is Trestles in San Clemente, Steffi likes to formulate a game plan before hitting the water for a contest heat. Before paddling out, she’ll watch where the waves are breaking and try to anticipate which moves are garnering the most points from the judges.

“The judges usually like vertical snaps,” she said. “And they don’t want you to be out of control. They want you to keep it smooth.”

Steffi said she feels most comfortable gaining speed down the line and hitting the lip of a cresting wave. She’s still trying to perfect her barrel-riding technique.

“One day I’m going to live on Oahu and surf Pipeline,” the seventh-grader said.

Her dad, Peter Kerson, is a longtime surfer who’s ridden classic waves all over the world. Watching his daughter and 15-year-old son J.J. embrace the sport he loves has given Peter Kerson a renewed energy to paddle out as often as possible.

“When you have little kids, all of a sudden it’s harder and harder to go surfing,” Peter Kerson said.

“My surfing time had gone down, and I was getting a little older. And then all of a sudden I start surfing with my kids, and Steffi is out there like, ‘I want to do this!’ and it makes me feel so much younger. I feel like a little kid again.”

More surf stars

Several other youngsters are having fantastic seasons for the Los Cerritos team.

Eighth- grader Matthew Tomlinson, seventh-grader Tyler Cox and sixth-graders Skylar Weil and Talea Rendon have all shown remarkable improvement in contest waves, Rowland said.

Matthew is ranked fifth in longboarding and 22nd in shortboarding. Tyler is fourth in bodyboarding, 16th in longboarding and 20th in shortboarding. Skylar is 24th in shortboarding, while Talea is ranked 12th in girls’ longboarding and 15th in shortboarding.

Cole Avery, Austin Barry, Conrad Bluth, CJ Cutter, Dylan Denton, Nick Harmon, Matt Harmon, Michael Raven, Luke Taylor, Samira Bell, Bianca Heintz, Lea Inhaber, Caroline Staller and Jeremiah Brucell are other up-andcoming surfers for Los Cerritos.