ORIGINAL CURRICULUM
“Writing our own story since 2006”
Everything you’ll see and experience at a SUMMERTIME program has been developed from the creative minds of our directors and staff. Our approach is as unique as our home on the Jersey Shore, and we’ve gained respect from the international surf school community for our unique approach and teaching systems. If “necessity is the mother of invention” (with all due respect to Frank Zappa) then the minds at SUMMERTIME have been busy writing albums and albums of great material for a “Best of” this coming summer. We are always improving our programs and creating new ways to teach the core fundamentals that make up the surf and ocean lifestyle. With SUMMERTIME’s unique mission, come unique practices and unique values, found nowhere else in surfing.
VALUES & PRACTICES
We take inspiration from our own experience working abroad with successful Surf programs such as:
- Mojo Surf
- Hans Hedemann Surf School
- Perfect Day Surf School
- Cheyne Horran Surf School
- Dan Mann Surf School
Character Development
We take inspiration from:
- YMCA
- National Outdoor Leadership School
- Boys Scouts of America
- Outward Bound
As well as theory from educational best practices like:
- “The Art of Learning”
- “How Children Succeed”
- “The Mental Edge”
SPECIALIZED STAFF TRAINING
None of our high expectations/goals would be feasible without a highly trained staff. Becoming a member of the SUMMERTIME SURF team is easy, if you have the ocean knowledge, people skills, teaching talent, athletic ability, and proven character to make the grade. Our ocean staff tryouts are rigorous, testing applicant’s abilities to endure the challenges that an intense summer season of keeping students safe and stoked in the water presents.
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Most surf schools/camps primarily train “on the job” because they rely so heavily on the difference in surfing knowledge and ability between even a novice instructor and any student. We take this as a given, and train for our time tested techniques and curriculum. This makes our instructors much more effective than than the industry norm.
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We take the incredible knowlege base of the average surfer compared to the beginner and run with it. We focus our training on Youth Protection Practices, Character Development skills for all ages, our Incident Management System, Emergency Procedures and Customer Service.
We’ve developed this into our own unique system we call “Safety, Program, Fun”. We keep everyone safe, we provide our time-tested curriculum, and the result is fun.
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Of course, you can’t really teach all this in any one week training…start the process years ahead of time. About half of our staff are made up of former campers, who have been involved with the SUMMERTIME culture from a young age. The others, they’ve proven themselves, with an average age of 21 and average of 3.5 years of experience in OUR organization among our staff, people tend to keep this job for the perks of working in a field that you love, and the rewards that come from sharing your expertise with others.
SURF CULTURE
Surf culture is part of what makes American so cool. Our grandparents invented this stuff, and surfing has been influencing global society since the Beach Boys. No matter who told you otherwise back in grade school, being cool is extremely important. You need to be cool with everyone if you are going to have an impact on the world. We hope to be cool with you and your family, and we hope you are cool with ours.
