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The Natural
Chase: I do surfing, skim boarding, boogie boarding, swimming. I like them because theyre fun, and I like to be in the water. I like surfing the best. Most of the kids I surf with are a little older, nine or ten. I guess Im good at it because I have good balance, and I think its kind of easy. Melanie: Chase walked at eleven months, and when he was one and a half, we had to lock our garage door because he would go in and get his older brother Coles skateboard to try out the half-pipe ramp we had in the backyard for Cole. Chase: I go to the beach almost every day in the summertime. My whole family does. My dad and brother taught me how to surf. My brother does all the same stuff I do, only better. Melanie: Chases father taught him to surf and snowboard the same year, when he was four. The whole family snowboards. We have a place in Camelback in the Poconos, and we go up there every weekend from Christmas on. Both Chase and his sister, Alexa, qualified for the national snowboarding competition out in Copper Mountain, Colorado, this spring. Chase did pretty well. In the Ruggies division, for kids seven and under, he finished in the top ten in three of the four disciplines he qualified to compete in. At first he was disappointed with that. Hes accustomed to first place in the Poconos. I told him, Look, youre competing with kids who have ski mountains in their backyards. Chase: Snowboarding and surfing are kind of the same, but theyre also kind of different. Theyre the same because youre riding on snow and youre riding on water. But theyre different because the water moves, and the snow stays where it is. Melanie: He competes in surfing, too. Hes competed in the Brendan Borek Surf Memorial in Avalon for the last two or three years. He placed second in 2007, in the Squirts category for kids nine and under. He also competes in the Nuns Beach Surf Invitational in Stone Harbor. Skim boarding he taught himself. With that you have a slim, flat board. You stand on the shore and watch the tide come in, and run with the board, then throw it and ride along the top of the water, doing tricks, 360s, spin arounds, flips. Unfortunately, there arent any skim-board competitions in our area. Typically, a day at the beach with Chaseand there are many, because we live only about a mile from the beachmeans loading up the truck with surf, skim, and boogie boards. He just goes from one to the other, all day long. Everyone stops and watches him skim or ride the waves on his surfboard, I guess because hes so little and started doing it at such a young age. Up to this point, he hasnt had any serious injuries. He doesnt have fear, but hes smart about it and knows his limitations. He always wears a helmet to snowboard and skateboard. He knows what he does is dangerous and doesnt want to get hurt, because he wants to continue doing these things. Hes a really happy kid. He skips and runs everywhere he goes. Hes compassionate and very strong-minded. He plays soccer, and Ive been trying to talk him into playing tennis, but hes not interested. He has no desire to play basketball, and baseball bores him to tears. This is what he loves, and thats part of the reason hes so good at it, he just loves it so much. Chase: When I grow up, I want to be a professional snowboarder or skateboarder, or maybe a surfer. Im going to try and go to the Extreme Games when I get older. Melanie: I think hed love to pursue surfing or snowboarding as a career. But its such a hard thing, so few people make it to that level. A lot of this is fun, and if something comes of it, great. But I tell him, academics come first. Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com Click here to read the rest of The Natural. If you enjoyed this article, you also might like our other stories that talk about Jersey Shore Beach. |
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