Surfing Always Come First

Surfing is my obsession. I can't help it, it just is.  So when I started getting paid to surf and travel the world, everything else began to pale in comparison.  But life is big and knowledge is important, so going to college became a priority to me as well. Trying to balance both simultaneously, surfing and school, that’s where the real challenge lies. Being a student-athlete is one thing, -- competing in intercollegiate athletics as an amateur -- but as a professional athlete competing for a world title every year, the demands and expectations are that much more complex. It hasn’t quite been insane, but certainly a lot harder than I expected.  
When I first started college my motto was "Surfing always comes first." Yeah, that worked out well, for about the first month. After that though, I had missed so much school from surf trips that I had to play catch up non-stop. Surf? Forget about it. I remember spans when I wouldn’t, and couldn’t, think about surfing for at least a week. Thankfully, my professors were understanding and started allowing me to take extra work with me when I traveled.  
As soon as school ended for summer vacation, I got back into my routine of surfing two to three times a day. I was able to start getting my overloaded and throbbing brain refocused on the pursuit of a world championship. When I won the world title this past July, I had about a month and a half to celebrate and then, you guessed it, back into college mode for an unthinkable and deadly amount of units.  
It was horrible. I dragged myself through the semester trying not to check the surf and hoping that no one would mention anything about the soon-to-hit swell that I knew I’d have to miss out on. Not cool. So there I was, sitting in class again learning about the cultures of the 12th century and how long to keep a photograph in developer. Not exactly how I thought I’d be spending my first months as a newly crowned world champion. College had taught me my first practical life lesson -- no more unit-heavy semesters.
I want to enjoy my college experience and make the most out of my time at school. I'm having a great time with friends and it's exciting to be studying Art and pursuing a college degree.  The thing is though, I keep coming back to the fact that now is my time as the World Champion and surfing really does, and should, come first. Winning a world title was incredible and this July I will be back in France working towards a repeat. Until then, I get to juggle a three-week trip to Australia with a course-load full of ancient civilizations, contemporary art history and creating art.  It's all right though; in the end it all just ends up feeding the obsession.