Category: NATASHA GOULDSBURY

New Day. New thoughts. New strength. New possibilities.

Off to Hawaii!

With Hawaii only a couple days away I am getting super, super excited! I’m getting everything ready to go away and I have also been surfing as much as I can, even if that means walking from school and getting straight out there no matter what the conditions are like. Lately we haven’t had many big swells so it has been pretty small. Its’s such an incredible opportunity to go to Hawaii to train and stay with Carissa Moore at her family home and to learn some new things. We don’t know exactly what we are doing on each day yet, but I do know that we will be doing a lot of surfing which hopefully includes Honalua Bay. It will be fantastic to experience all the culture over there too and each of us will be cooking a traditional dish to share our cultures with Carissa and each other which will be amazing. It’s going to be so awesome meeting heaps of new people.

What’s been happening

Since my last blog , New Plymouth Surfriders ran the 6th event of the 2019 Super 8 series at Fitzroy Beach. The event was held in some challenging conditions. It was pretty solid and onshore winds and we had to run down the beach to paddle out because the drift was so strong. It was also pouring down with rain at some points. At the event, as well as competing, I also judged heats for the majority of the day. At the end of the day I was happy to come away with a semi-final place in the U18 mixed division as well as 1st in the Open Women’s.

Just the other week Taranaki had their sports award night it was super nice to see my family and I all dressed up for once lol. The night was really fun surrounded by all my surfing friends and even though I didn’t get an award I was grateful for just getting a nomination to be there. I would just like to thank Surfing Taranaki and New Plymouth Surfriders for the nominations and to Sport Taranaki for putting on a really nice night.

Something really cool that’s just started happening is the Coral Gardeners. They believe raising awareness is key to building a better future for our oceans. They are telling the story of the reef worldwide through conferences, school lectures, ecotours and social media.

They really want everyone on this planet to know how important coral reefs are. They have scientists that are monitoring the growth of the corals they plant and improving our reef restoration methods and knowledge. Their first step is to collect broken pieces of corals, then put them on bamboo stems. They leave them for one month on their nursery tables before planting them back on the reef. That’s the most efficient way for them to bring new life to the reef. This is really cool because I don’t think everyone knows how much reefs actually contribute to our earth and there are so many species of wildlife that live in our reefs.

Glowing Glowing Gone!!!

Recent Events

Since my last blog, New Plymouth Surfriders have run the first two events of the 2019 Super 8 series at Fitzroy Beach. Both events were held in some challenging conditions. The 1st event was held in small waves and onshore winds and it was also pouring down with rain. At the event as well as competing I also judged heats for the majority of the day. At the end of the day I was happy to come away with a semi-final place in the U18 mixed division as well as 1st in the Open Woman’s. The weekend after for the 2nd event was completely different conditions, offshore winds, big and powerful wave with a lot of sunshine. It was super exciting to see the commitment of all the competitors with the big, powerful conditions. There was lots of carnage with 4 broken boards but some very impressive surfing from the crew. At this event I also judged for the majority of the day. I was super happy with my results once again, with a semi-final finish in the U18’s mixed division and 1st in the Open Woman’s. Both comps were super fun days with my friends and family.

Interesting News

Glowing Glowing Gone…
Recently WSL (world surfing league) have started a new campaign while they have been in Tahiti for stop number 7 of the championship tour. This new campaign is where they are planting more coral reefs to help reverse what has already happened, where the reef has basically died resulting in heaps of fish and other ocean animals having to find a new place to live. WSL’s motto is to leave every place better than how they found it. Over the past few days WSL have partnered up with the ocean agency and have planted little baby reefs on to structures under water and in 20 – 24 months when the reef has matured, they will be transferred over to the main reef to restore it again. This is a big wakeup call of what we humans have done. Some things we can do to stop our reefs from dying is to use reef safe sunscreen as well as reducing our carbon footprint such as on planes, cars and many more.

What I’ve been working on

Over the past few weeks as I said earlier, I have been given the opportunity to do some judging. Judging is helpful as it gives me an understanding of how waves in a heat are scored and how I can potentially get maximise my scoring potential with my turns. Also at local club comps, it’s a good way to help others out particularly if it’s their first comp as you can give some advice on what the judges are looking for. It is fun spending time with all the other judges and it gives me an appreciation of what a long day of concentration it is for everyone.

Successes and challenges

I’ve also recently been selected to represent New Plymouth Girls High School in the Chris Arthur Hockey Tournament in Stratford during the first week of September. It’s going to be a full week of hockey and great fun with my team mates but it will also take some good time management to make sure I get my school work done and getting in as much surfing as possible, as well as my strength and conditioning training. At the end of August I have had some coaching opportunities with Matt Scorringe and Daniel Farr. Throughout my forehand top turns I had been getting hung up on the lip of the wave and not being able to complete the turn. Matt and Daniel have been able to identify a small problem in my technique. With one small adjustment with my technique and BOOM what a difierence.

Dream big, stay positive, work hard, and enjoy the journey.

Recent Events

Over the past week I competed in the NZ Schools Surf Champs in Raglan, which is hosted by the Raglan Surfing Academy. The U16 girls division was combined with the U18 girls. When we arrived in Raglan the waves were massive and there was so much current it looked like a mission to get out. On the 1st day of the comp I didn’t surf as only the older boys surfed their  first heats. On the 2nd day the U16/18 girls surfed their first heats right at the end of the day. In my 1st round heat I surfed really well and was stoked to get the highest heat score of our division which meant I went in to the semis. On the 3rd and final day the conditions had changed and it was quite small and sadly I went out in the semis which wasn’t the result I was looking for but I still ended up 3rd in the U16 girls. I learnt heaps that I’ll take into the next comp.

What I’ve been working on

Over the past couple of months I’ve been going to some workshops with Sport Taranaki about sport nutrition, psychology, and much more and everything is super helpful and I cant wait for the next ones. I’ve spent some time watching an WSL event at Huntington Beach, California, where I’ll be competing in the 2019 Vissla ISA World Junior Surfing Championships in October. This event is called the Super Girl Pro. It was super exciting to see a 16 year old not only in the  nal but winning the whole event. This goes to show that anyone can achieve their dreams if they really believe in them and put their head down and work for it. I try to watch as many events at Huntington Beach as possible to watch see how it works.

Challenges and Opportunities

A recent challenge I’ve had is selecting my school subjects for next year which is a really important year with NCEA. The interviewer at my Course selection interview said that since I’ve done really well over the last year there are lots of doors open which makes it really hard to choose but super exciting as there are so many epic subjects to choose from.

Local news

Last week there was a big swell. At Backs Beach a man was walking his dog in knee deep water and a strong wave swept him off his feet, with a rip then dragging him out to sea fully clothed. Luckily the alarm was quickly raised and he was rescued 600m off shore by Port Taranaki staff and has since been released from hospital. It’s a really good reminder of the unpredictable power of the ocean and to be safe around water.

Carry out a random act of kindness, with no exception of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.
~ Princess Diana

Upcoming Events

Some of the next comps that I’m really looking forward to are; the Raglan Secondary Schools event that runs over two days at Manu bay, Raglan in early August and in September the Scholastics, also in Raglan, which is a week-long event of hard out surfing and a whole lot of fun. For the Scholastics, Taranaki take a team up and stay together for the whole week. Each team member gets points for where they place in their event and at the end of the week the team with the most points wins.

What I’ve been working on

Sports Taranaki has started up a program called future champions where they do sessions on Sports Psychology, nutrition, etc. The sessions are about 1.5 – 3 hours depending on the topic and I’m finding this program so helpful and I’m trying different things to see what works for me. I’ve been wanting to do something alongside surfing, so this year I decided to get back into hockey after not playing last season. This year I am playing for my school, New Plymouth Girls High School in the Junior A team. Hockey is great to have alongside my surfing as it helps keep me fit as it involves a lot (and I mean a lot) of running. Hockey is also a team sport so it’s quite fun playing a team sport as well as doing what is mostly an individual sport. With it being Winter I haven’t had the opportunity to do any comps this month so I’ve just been surfing as much as I can to train for all me comps in the near future including the Taranaki Champs and Winter series that should take place locally soon.

Local news

Earlier this month Oakura Boardriders club hosted a paddle out for WSL Pure #stoptrashingwaves. This was a worldwide campaign where people from all over the world paddled out to show their support for WSL Pure. At the start pro surfer Paige Hareb gave us briefing before the 80 or so of us paddled out and formed a huge circle to splash water to show our support and raise awareness on such an important environmental issue. WSL Pure #stoptrashingwaves pledge is to show support for stopping the use of single use plastic which end up in our oceans and in our beaches. It’s awful to think that if we don’t stop using single use plastic by 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish, so please always remember to reduce, reuse and recycle.

Stick with the people that pull the magic out of you and not the madness.

My first U16 title!

When I go to Hawaii later in the year it’s in their winter season. This is the peak of their swell season so I’ve been practicing for these bigger waves with my coach Jarrod Hancox by working on my commitment and confidence. Last week when I was at school I received a message out of the blue from a friend in Christchurch congratulating me on my selection for the NZ Junior Surfing team. I thought it was too good to be true. I quickly called my Dad who confirmed we had, had an email confirming selection and I was super excited and stoked to have the opportunity to represent NZ at the ISA World Junior Champs later this year in the U16 girls division. The venue and dates haven’t been confirmed yet and I can’t wait to find out where we are going. It has always been a dream of mine to represent NZ and I can’t believe it’s coming true. As we head closer to the shortest day of the year, a recent challenge I’ve had is trying to  t everything into my day. There is so much fun stu to do and just not enough hours to do it all!

Competitions

Early April I travelled down to Kaikoura for the Surfing NZ Kaikoura Grom Comp. The competition took place at a remote rocky beach just north of Kaikoura. It was a pretty cold and wet for the weekend, even getting snow on the ranges behind us. I surfed in the U16 and U18 girls divisions and I was pretty happy to come away with a 2nd in the U16 and a 3rd in the U18’s. It was a pretty fun weekend with fun, powerful and bowly waves. Despite the weather the comp had a really good vibe and everyone was really chilled and happy.

The next weekend I was in Raglan at the world famous Manu Bay for the
Ripcurl Pro. This was an Open Women’s event and is one of the highest rated competitions in New Zealand with 6 stars. In my first heat I was competing against previous NZ title holders and I was happy to make it through to the quarter finals against some amazing competitors and in pretty fun waves. The comp was full of NZ’s top female and male surfers including World Junior champion Ella Williams. It was cool to watch them all ripping whilst also enjoying the local relaxed vibe. everyone was having so much fun. Following this comp I’m 2nd nationally in the U16 division as well as 5th in both the Open Women’s and U18 divisions.

I’m really looking forward to going back to Raglan at the beginning of May for the Backdoor Oceanbridge Manu Bay Pro.

Local news

The Taranaki Scholastics team has just been named. It is a privilege to again be selected for the team, where I will compete in the U16 girls at the National Scholastics Comp in Raglan, in October. This is a really cool, weeklong event with loads of surfing and groms from all around the country. Surfing Taranaki have stated that we have a strong team this year and we are hoping to repeat the 2016 win that Taranaki had.

“Be kind. Be thoughtful. Be genuine. But most of all. Be thankful.”

Latest update

I’ve been working on loading up with Taranaki Strength and Conditioning. This is where I’m learning how to load up specific muscle groups which enables me to have more explosive turns leading to higher scores and it also makes the wave much more exciting. A challenge I’ve been working through is when I returned home from a recent surfing competition my dog Inca wasn’t very well. The news from the Vet was heart-breaking. Inca had been a huge part of our family for nearly 9 years and I miss him heaps. A highlight since my last blog is that I’m super stoked to be playing Hockey again this year after having last year o and being selected for the NPGHS Junior A Hockey team. Can’t wait for the season to start next term.

Competitions

Early April I travelled down to Kaikoura for the Surfing NZ Kaikoura Grom Comp. The competition took place at a remote rocky beach just north of Kaikoura. It was a pretty cold and wet for the weekend, even getting snow on the ranges behind us. I surfed in the U16 and U18 girls divisions and I was pretty happy to come away with a 2nd in the U16 and a 3rd in the U18’s. It was a pretty fun weekend with fun, powerful and bowly waves. Despite the weather the comp had a really good vibe and everyone was really chilled and happy.

The next weekend I was in Raglan at the world famous Manu Bay for the
Ripcurl Pro. This was an Open Women’s event and is one of the highest rated competitions in New Zealand with 6 stars. In my first heat I was competing against previous NZ title holders and I was happy to make it through to the quarter finals against some amazing competitors and in pretty fun waves. The comp was full of NZ’s top female and male surfers including World Junior champion Ella Williams. It was cool to watch them all ripping whilst also enjoying the local relaxed vibe. everyone was having so much fun. Following this comp I’m 2nd nationally in the U16 division as well as 5th in both the Open Women’s and U18 divisions.

I’m really looking forward to going back to Raglan at the beginning of May for the Backdoor Oceanbridge Manu Bay Pro.

Local news

Locally over Easter we had the Fisher and Paykel Easter Masters with competitors from all over the country. The first two days were held in South Taranaki at Arawhata Road which a rocky point break and the final day was at Fitzroy Beach. So many of the competitors have helped my along my journey and continue to do so and I was stoked to be able to give back to them all my helping judge over the weekend. Everyone was having a ball and the weekend was full of sweet vibes, laughter and good times.

Happiness is not about getting all you want, it’s about enjoying all you have.

Billabong Grom Series Rounds 2&3

The second stop of the Billabong Grom series in Whangamata didn’t go to plan, with the waves just getting more challenging throughout the day. And with my heat being one of the last heats of the day, it was so hard to get out. Once I caught my first wave I struggled to get back out and though I only needed another wave to get through to the next round, I didn’t find one which was really disappointing. However at the third stop of the Billabong Grom series in Piha I went so much better. I placed 2nd and the waves were way more manageable as well. I was also super stoked to get back to scoring high wave scores.

Barrett Homes Surf Open, Mount Maunganui

This event was Open Men and Women’s, rather than my normal U16 division, so it wasn’t easy. But I was happy to surf with Ella Williams and tie with one of the ladies for the advancing position. However I missed out on going through based on a wave countback. One of the highlights of the trip was going to Breakers with the rest of the Taranaki crew. We had such a fun evening together with some awesome meals. The owners of the Mount Breakers Restaurant also bought their family down to the competition to support me and I was stoked to have them there. Overall it was a really fun weekend in Papamoa with good waves and heaps of people ripping. Also was super happy to get a article in the recent NZ Surfing magazine. I had heaps of fun doing the article and was amazed that I was asked to do it.

What I have been working on

Recently I have been working on recovery from an ear and throat infection and have been feeling a bit flat. I’ve been using bluetac as ear protection and a lot of antibiotics. I first got my ear and throat infection just before the Nationals back in January and basically haven’t really got on top of it until now. I like using bluetac because all the other ear plugs I’ve tried are either too small or big, so bluetac is the next best thing, even though Its harder to hear when wearing it!

Local news

It was super sick to see the Surfing Taranaki HQ open this month down at Fitzroy Beach. The high performance hub will be used for coaching the next generation of surfers who want to compete on the world stage. Also it will help others with confidence, self belief, motivation, resilience,  empowerment, ownership and belonging throughout their lives.

Smiles are free … But they are worth a lot.

Mount Maunganui

One of my last comps was stop No 1 in the Billabong Grom Series at Mount Maunganui. While we were there, I got the chance to catch up with the Breakers crew from The Mount and had a little bit of something delicious to eat. The staff were really friendly and helpful and I also got to meet Bloom, the manager’s daughter, who is a really keen little surfer, which was cool! Even though the waves were quite small and a little hard to ride, it was still good fun on my 1-DA 5”4’ epoxy Mass Destruction. I was super happy to take out the Under 16 Girls’ division on my last two waves of the heat, getting five point rides on both of them.

Work-ons

Recently I have been working on speed generation, which means I have more options of what I can do on the wave. It makes my turns more dynamic and I can come out of my turns with more speed. Also in small waves it is a big help as I can do more than just one turn per wave, which gives me higher wave scores. Another thing I have been working on is my judging. I recently had the chance to judge at the Taranaki Micro Groms at Fitzroy, which is a grom comp with push-ins, Under 9’s, Under 11’s and Under 13’s boys and girls. It is a really fun comp and is a great way for kids to get competition experience and judging helps me get better with my surfing, as I learn what the judges are looking for.

Special visitor

It was super sick to have my board shaper Gavin, from 1-DA Shapes, come over from Australia recently to catch up and discuss what we next need to do with my boards. Also he gave me a few pointers of what I could do better with my surfing. We talked a lot about getting a bigger board for the more solid surf, and also a slightly bigger board as I am growing out of my current boards.

“Make today so awesome … that yesterday gets jealous.”

Off to Hawaii

Aotearoa Women’s Surfing Association recently offered an incredible opportunity of a scholarship from the Carissa Moore Foundation, where one girl aged between 11 and 16 would win the chance of a lifetime to go to Hawaii later in the year to train for a week with Carissa and other girls from Bali, Fiji, Tahiti and Australia. Carissa Kainani Moore is an American professional surfer and the 2011, 2013 and 2015 WSL Women’s World Tour Champion. To enter I had to complete a video answering some questions as well as doing my Pepeha, singing a Waiata, and talking about the Te Ao Maori values that I weaved into my surfing and why. I put a lot of time and effort into really thinking through and recording my answers. I learnt a lot while doing the entry and this was so rewarding in itself. I also can’t thank my coaches Jarrod Hancox and Chris Luke enough for their kind words on the video in support of my application. It was a nervous couple of weeks waiting for the results as I knew there were some really talented girls that entered.

On Friday I went to Waitara for a surf before dinner and when I arrived I was surprised by one of the judges with a Hawaiian flower leis and the amazing news that I had been selected to receive the scholarship. I am so excited to have been given this opportunity and can’t wait to travel to Hawaii to meet and train with Carissa and the other girls. It will be such an incredible opportunity to learn new skills that will help me with my surfing in the future!

Christchurch tragedy

I was really excited to go to Christchurch for the New Brighton Duke Festival of Surfing and the first day started really well with good fun waves and I advanced through my heat in the U18 Girls. We went back to the house we were staying at until my next heat later in the day, but just as we were heading back everything changed within a split second and we went into lockdown in the library. I was scared and didn’t have much idea of what had just happened. When we found out about the awful attacks on the two mosques, I couldn’t believe this had happened in New Zealand and my heart goes out to all the families affected. The competition was called o for the rest of the day and we spent a very quiet evening listening to the updates and helicopters flying overhead. After a restless night all the competitors and families met on the New Brighton beach for a Karakia and a minutes’ silence before starting the comp again. To catch up the organisers ran three arenas, which took a huge amount of organising. Unfortunately I didn’t make it through in the U20 Girls but I progressed to the finals of both the U18 and U16 divisions. Sunday was finals day and unfortunately the surf was small, soft with an onshore wind making it really challenging. I finished with 3rd places in both divisions.

Local news

This month I was featured in NZ Surfing Magazine for their Rising Grom article. It was a really amazing opportunity and it bought back some pretty cool memories while answering the questions, from starting out as a little Grom in Levin, all the fun opportunities I’ve had over the past 5 years, through to where I am today. A big thank you to Cory Scott and NZ Surfing Magazine for giving me this opportunity and to everyone for their support after reading the article.

“What will the New Year bring us? 365 opportunities …”

My first U16 title

I had a really great start to the year at the New Zealand surfing nationals in Taranaki this month. I was super happy to get 1st in the U16 girls final, 3rd in the U18 section, as well as make the quarter-finals in the Open Women’s. The nationals went for seven days, five of those at Stent Rd and the other two days were at Arawhata Rd and Graveyards. What a big week it was with 5am starts, long days, lots of sun and pumping surf. But the rewards were huge! I would just like to say a huge thanks to Breakers Restaurants for all their support. The yummy lunches and dinners I had at the various restaurants while I was away competing in 2018 were awesome. The opportunities I had this year wouldn’t have been possible without the Breakers team. Bring on the rest of 2019!!!

Other recent results

In early December I went over to Hawke’s Bay for the Backdoor Bay Bash, where I made the final and came 3rd in the U18 girls division and won the U16 girls division. While I was there I got the chance to catch up with staff and customers at Breakers Napier and Breakers Taradale and give out some cool goodies, which was so much fun!

Also in the Super 8 series (club comp which was run over 5 months) I won the Open Women’s expression session and the overall Open Women’s title. Also I got 3rd overall in the U18 boys division with wins in a couple of the events. At the new Plymouth Surf riders Club’s Christmas function, we had a ‘Santa Surf Off’ where you had to ride a longboard (which I had to borrow from the club) while wearing a Santa hat. If you lost the hat while surfing,
you were disqualified. This event was the most fun I had had in ages!