Surf camp for kids with cancer
embargo for 4:30 a.m. Friday.
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HULL – Children playing in the water on a beautiful summer morning on the A Street end of Nantasket Beach is a sweet but not unusual thing to see on a Monday morning.
Walking along the sand towards the sound of their splashing and excited voices, it's hard not to notice that those in the water are surfing with varying degrees of success. The few kids who were on land wore wetsuits.
That would explain the covered tent with "South Shore Surf Camp" written on it a few hundred feet away.
What no one could guess from just walking by is that this group of kids who seem so carefree and energized are each dealing with cancer.
The young ones came from around the state. They were brought to the scenic summer town by Lucy's Love Bus to enjoy a few hours of what the South Shore Surf Camp has to offer.
Founded in 2006, Lucy’s Love Bus provides free integrative therapies to children with cancer, their siblings and caregivers. The therapies include massage, acupuncture, music therapy and more, all of which aim to improve the quality of life for children and their families both during cancer treatment, and beyond, said the group's executive director, Jackie Walker.
“We are incredibly excited to partner with South Shore Surf Camp,” Walker, who lives in Pembroke, said. “We’re based on the North Shore but serve a large number of families in the South Shore, and we are finally able to answer the call to bring some fun to childhood cancer families south of Boston.”
She did some research on places around the South Shore that could offer a similar experience to the New Hampshire outing. She soon found a very receptive partner in the South Shore Surf Camp and its owner and director, Greg Jenkins, who took on the role just this year after working as an instructor for the family-owned business for 13 years.
"We jumped at the chance," he said. "This is such an awesome thing to do for the kids – and for us."
The seven kids who signed up for the surf camp were joined by five young instructors who have plenty of board time as both recreational surfers and trained instructors. The ratio of students to instructors allowed for a nearly one-to-one learning experience.
Paddling on land
The instructors begin with the boards on the beach to get the kids comfortable with standing on them and practice their paddling on land before trying it out on the water. The instructors offer them more training and tips in the ocean.
"But really, they are quick to do it on their own once they’re in the water," Jenkins said.
A quick glance towards the ocean more than confirms his assessment. About halfway through the three-hour session, all the kids were in the water, and some could seen standing tall, if not a little wobbly, on their boards. Those who were not had their boards besides them as they sometimes practiced and sometimes just splashed around.
The few kids out of the water planned to go back in after a breather.
Among them was Charlie, an 11-year-old from Pembroke, who glanced down shyly at his feet, watching the lines and waves he was making with his feet in the sand. Despite the torture of an interview, Charlie did not hesitate when asked if he was enjoying the morning so far.
"it's fun learning how to surf," he said, "but the paddling was a lot easier on the sand."
The camp runs throughout the summer, and there are 32 kids enrolled in the program. The camp takes a break the week of July 4, which allowed Jenkins and his staff an opening to host the kids on July 1.
Jenkins and the instructors obviously can't guarantee good waves – or any waves – from one day to the next, and 19-year-old instructor, Hull native and Penn State student Mattie Tachmann said she and her coworkers were a little nervous when they first arrived at the beach to find the ocean water calm and flat.
As the morning progressed, however, the waves woke up and reached a point where the water was certainly surfable without being too intimidating.
"These are really good waves to train on," she said.
Tachmann was a longtime surf camp member before becoming an instructor.
While she said she always loves being able to teach young people to surf, knowing she can help give this small group of kids something special and fun far from any doctor's office is a feeling she hadn't known before.
"I think we're getting as much out of this as we hope they are," she said. "This really warms my heart."
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