Beginner training plan
Your first lessonBeach Safety & Fundamentals: Start on the sand with essential ocean safety (rip currents, wave etiquette) and board handling.
Pop-Up Mechanics: Break down the pop-up technique step-by-step on dry land before touching the water.
Drill (The Dry-Land Pop-Up): Have students lie flat on their boards in the sand, place hands flat by their ribs, push up into a plank, slide their back foot forward into a stable stance, and freeze to check posture. Repeat this 5 to 10 times until muscle memory starts to form.
Lesson 2-3Transition to White-water: Moving from the sand directly into waist-deep water to catch broken waves.
Timing & Paddling: Learning how to read approaching foam, paddle efficiently, and time the pop-up as the wave picks up the board.
Drill (Prone Paddling & Timing): Practice paddling parallel to the shore to build endurance, followed by instructor-assisted pushes into small white-water waves so the student can focus entirely on the timing of the pop-Up.
Lesson 4-10Green Waves & Positioning: Transitioning from white-water waves to catching unbroken green waves on the outside.
Stance & Steering: Refining foot placement, maintaining a low center of gravity, and learning basic bottom turns to control direction across the face of the wave.
Drill (The Trim Line Drill): Focus on looking down the line (the direction the wave is breaking) rather than looking down at your feet, practicing gentle weight shifts on the heels and toes to steer the board.
Lesson 11+Advanced Maneuvers & Independence: Fine-tuning style, paddling out through the impact zone unassisted, and selecting optimal wave peaks.
Maneuver Introduction: Introducing foundational maneuvers like top turns, cutbacks, and turtle-rolling larger boards.
Drill (Duck Dive / Turtle Roll & Lineup Positioning): Practice safely punching the board through oncoming waves and maintaining proper right-of-way etiquette in a crowded lineup.
