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Daily Wildcat (2012-05-02)

Posted by John on May 2, 2012 in News | 0 comments

From The Arizona Daily Wildcat: Original Article (2012-05-02) & View of the Arts and Life Page UA’s Surf Club brings desert dwellers to the beach By K.C. LIBMAN Published May 2, 2012 at 3:19am Updated May 2, 2012 at 3:19am   The gold-flecked Californian water is ice cold as we slowly submerge ourselves in it, wading out until we are forced to mount our boards and paddle through the breakers. Our dawn patrol pack finally makes it to the lineup, greeted by groomed 4-foot swells and a perfect offshore breeze. We start dissecting waves, each of us taking turns left and right down the line as the morning sun rises. While this sounds like paradise to some, it’s a common weekend morning for any member of the UA’s coastal-minded club Arizona Surfers. Composed of curious adventurers and a smattering of Californian ex-pats, Arizona Surfers is one of the most eccentric official clubs on campus. There’s no formal structure or headquarters. Meetings are even less structured, when they occur. While this sounds more like a social group than an 8-year-old organization, members of the club are likeminded in their active pursuit of waves. Officially recognized in 2004, Arizona Surfers brought ocean-hungry students together to organize trips to various West Coast beaches. Initially made up of a small group of Californians, the club’s ranks have swelled considerably. While there’s a revolving core group of 10 to 15 students who plan trips, any one of its 100 Listserv members is welcome to join the camping trips that the club holds throughout the year. Though most excursions are beach camping trips, Arizona Surfers maintains a close connection with Imperial Beach’s YMCA Camp Surf, usually making a trip each semester to stay at the camp while engaging in surf lessons. It’s the best way to get the most out of the club, and will better prepare the land-born member for the weekend trips to places like San Onofre and Jalama Beach. While the idea of conquering an oceanic sport may seem daunting to some, it’s often a venture that leads to a newfound passion for club members. “I went on the club’s spring break trip my sophomore year, kind of on a whim,” said Arizona Surfers president Kristen Williams, who is a senior studying Spanish and business management. “That trip ended up being one of the most incredible experiences I had in college.” For more info Contact Arizona Surfers … or...

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The Arizona Daily Wildcat (2004-09-24)

Posted by John on September 24, 2004 in News | 0 comments

From The Arizona Daily Wildcat: Original Article (2004-09-24) Surfing, sans waves, sans water By Allison Dugaw, Arizona Daily Wildcat; Friday, September 24, 2004 Astronomy senior major and founder of the Arizona Surfers club John Mizell shows off his board with club vice president, freshman Liz Ellerson, in front of Old Main. The first question people ask surfer John Mizell is, “Where do you surf in Arizona?” Despite the lack of waves in Tucson, Mizell and 60 other UA students have banded together to share their desert fate in the Arizona Surfers club. “As a surfer attending the University of Arizona, you’re always kicking yourself,” said Mizell, who founded the club last spring. “The Arizona Surfers gives those students an opportunity to exercise their enthusiasm for surfing while not having a readily available ocean to dive into.” Part of the reason the club was created was to give students an easy way to find other surfers who want to travel to the ocean together, Mizell said. “We have members who surf up and down the west coast, northern and southern California, Oregon, Washington, mainland Mexico and Baja, up and down the east coast, the Carolinas, New York, Massachusetts and around the world,” said Mizell, an astronomy senior. However, Mizell said, members of the Arizona Surfers don’t have to be surfers. They just have to have a love for the beach. “Members of the club include both surfers and non-surfers, pros and amateurs, longboarders, shortboarders, onmiboarders, body boarders, body-surfers, windsurfers, scuba divers and all sorts of other beach dwellers,” he said. Mizell said when you get all these different people together in an “open forum of surfing talk,” the experiences shared and knowledge gained can be “far out.” Liz Ellerson, vice president of the Arizona Surfers, said the club is “a cool opportunity to get to know people that share the same interests as you.” Ellerson, an undeclared freshman, has been surfing for five or six years and said it was hard to be a surfer growing up in Tucson because the only time she could surf was when her family took trips to Mexico. “We definitely would like to go more than we do, living in Tucson,” she said. As vice president of the club, Ellerson said her job is to plan and bring people together at the meetings. She said at the last meeting, members watched the surf movie, “Step Into Liquid.” “We all come together to share our past experiences,” she said. “It’s really laid back, but it’s a lot of fun.” Lauren Bianchi, a general biology freshman, said she joined the club to meet other surfers at UA. “We try to get to know each other and talk about the surf community,” she said. “We want people to open their minds up to surfing.” Bianchi, who has been surfing for 11 years since her uncle taught her when she was nine years old, said she looks forward to future trips with the Arizona Surfers. “The fall, October and November, is the best time to go,” she said. “The water’s warm, the air’s warm.” Bianchi said the club has even talked about getting a group of young kids together and teaching them to surf. Mizell said he would like to see the Arizona Surfers work with other clubs on campus, like...

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