Friday, October 17, 1997
Year of the surfer hails a champion
SURF:
By Rocky Salmon
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
El Nino is coming. It dominates the news, an impending doom.
Yet there are people who are awaiting its full-blown arrival.
They stand on sandy beaches and rocky shores, like a Navy SEAL team
waiting to get their chance to attack. Geared up in wetsuits, with
boards scared by wax, dirt, and hours on the surf, they wait for El
Nino.
One surfer stands alone, peering through the morning air at the
rising swells. A national champion in collegiate surfing, she is
ready for another surfing season; an El Nino season. Amber Puha
knows that this year is the Year of the Surfer.
"The surf at the points are fantastic," Puha, a mathematics
graduate student, said. "Topanga and Torrance already have had
great surf. This year the surf will be great."
Desire burns in her eyes. A deep love for the sport drives her
to attempt to repeat her reign as national champion.
In a sport stereotyped as belonging to blond-haired,
unintelligent men like Sean Penn in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High,"
Puha is completely the opposite. She is intelligent, striving for a
doctorate, and a passionate, creative surfer.
Puha’s love for surfing began in high school when, at the age of
16, she began competing seriously. Winning many of the competitions
she entered gave Puha the chance to be a professional surfer after
high school.
"I could have gone pro but I knew academics were more
important," Puha said. "A career in academics is much more
satisfying to me, but I will always surf."
So she gave up surfing and went to UC San Diego to study. It
would be three more years before Puha would hit the waves
competitively again. The desire to hang 10 was still inside her,
but she knew she had to study, rather than surf, to secure her
future.
"My senior year I surfed for UCSD again," the one-time Triton
said. "We had a fantastic team and the waves were unbelievable.
After all, I lived right next to La Jolla shores and could surf
whenever I liked."
With great grades, Puha enrolled at UCLA as a graduate student
to study mathematics.
"I came to UCLA and didn’t surf my first year because I wanted
to get my studies under control before I tried to juggle
competitive surfing in my schedule," Puha said.
But like Michael Jordan, who quit basketball for a few years,
then returned, the urge for the sport she loved swept her back to
the ocean. For Puha, her lust for surfing brought her in contact
with the UCLA surfing team.
Her first year back, she entered collegiate competition with a
bang and ended the year with an explosion.
While the men’s surf team struggled due to a lack of
participation, Puha helped the women’s team win the overall
division at state championships, where she came in second.
Then Puha exploded like a depth charge, shaking the West
Coast.
At nationals, Puha won the championship, once again placing her
on the podium she had always stood on as a high school surfer.
"This year will be hard just like last year," the Bruin said.
"There are some pretty hard competitors, especially from UCSD."
Imagine how Puha feels, defeating teammates she surfed with only
years ago as a Triton. This year they will pose the biggest threat
to her national championship.
Even if Puha can keep her title, she will not go professional
because she wants to earn a doctorate.
So why does she continue to surf competitively and why not just
concentrate on school?
"I love surfing. I love the challenge, trying to be the best
that I can be," Puha said. "It is an individual sport where
everything is up to you and winning depends on creativity."
But even Puha is not guaranteed a spot on the surfing team this
year. Each year the team must have open tryouts where everyone must
earn a spot.
However, winning her spot back should not be hard. Puha gets up
early in the morning every weekday and surfs for an hour before
going to school. On the weekends she spends most of her days in the
ocean.
"I want more people to try out because it will help me to push
harder," Puha said. "We will be hitting all the good beaches,
including Blacks Beach, for the State Championships."
One thing is for sure: This weekend, Puha will be out on Santa
Monica Beach at 8 a.m. living out her dreams on her gleaming, swift
shortboard.
For Puha, this season will be her own personal "Endless
Summer."GENEVIEVE LIANG / Daily Bruin
UCLA graduate student Amber Puha rides the waves.