Teaching Waves or Coaching People?

The Difference That Changes Everything

Surfing is often taught like a checklist.

Where to put your feet.

When to paddle.

When to stand up.

But the ocean doesn’t work in checklists and neither do people.

At our surf school in Kuta Lombok, we don’t believe that better surfers come from more instructions. They come from better awareness, better timing, and better connection to the ocean.

That’s where the difference between teaching and coaching begins.

Teaching Gives Information. Coaching Creates Understanding.

Teaching surfing usually focuses on what to do.

Coaching focuses on why and when.

Two students can ride the same wave, on the same board, with the same conditions and experience something completely different. One might be tense and overthinking. The other relaxed and flowing.

Our job as coaches is not to force everyone into the same technique, but to read the person first, then the wave.

Less Talking. More Feeling.

in the water, too much information can block progress.

Surfing happens fast. Waves don’t wait for explanations.

That’s why we believe in simple cues, short feedback, and space for students to explore. We let the ocean teach as much as we do.

Often, one small adjustment better timing, a calmer paddle, a deeper breath changes everything more than ten technical corrections.

Coaching Is About Timing, Not Power.

Many beginners think they need more strength.

In reality, they need better rhythm.

Coaching helps surfers understand:

• when to paddle instead of how hard

• when to wait instead of rushing

• when to let the wave do the work

Once timing clicks, surfing becomes lighter, easier, and more playful.

We Coach the Person, Not the Level.

Every surfer arrives with a different background.

Different fears.

Different expectations.

Different bodies.

That’s why progress looks different for everyone and why comparison doesn’t help.

Coaching means meeting students where they are, not where they think they should be. Sometimes progress is catching fewer waves, but with more control. Sometimes it’s simply feeling calmer in the lineup.

The Ocean Is the Real Coach.

In Lombok, conditions change every day. Tides shift. Swells arrive from different directions. Wind plays its own game.

Instead of fighting that, we use it.

We show students how to observe, how to adapt, and how to listen. Because long after the lesson ends, the ocean will still be there and the best surfers are the ones who know how to read it.

From Instruction to Connection.

Our goal isn’t to create surfers who follow instructions perfectly.

It’s to create surfers who understand what’s happening around them.

When that happens, surfing stops feeling complicated.

It becomes intuitive.

Natural.

Fun.

And that’s when real progress begins.