Champion surfer tells MRHS students to write own code, starting with ‘I will …’
LINWOOD — When you can hear a pin drop in an auditorium filled with 250 high school juniors and seniors, something powerful has captivated them. At Mainland Regional High School, surfing legend Shaun Tompson held the students’ attention.
Originally from South Africa, he now calls Santa Barbara, Calif., his home. Tompson won his first surfing competition at 17. Throughout his career, he won 19 major pro events across the world, including the Pipeline Master and the World Professional Championship. He has also encouraged thousands to harness their power by writing their code.
On his global surfing journey, Tompson spent some time riding the waves here in South Jersey. While surfing in Atlantic City in the late 1970s, he struck up a friendship with one of the lifeguards, Richard Sless, the current coach of the Mainland surf team. Sless invited the surfer home for dinner one night and Tompson’s mother knew he had nowhere to stay, so she insisted he stay with the Sless family. They have remained friends ever since.
A professional surfer, Tompson is an entrepreneur, author, environmentalist and motivational speaker. He created two clothing lines, Instinct and Solitude. He has penned three books and produced and co-wrote the screenplay for “Bustin Down the Door,” a documentary about South African and Australian surfers who created professional surfing and built a multi-billion-dollar industry. He is also the author of “The Code, The Power of I Will.”
The message that Tompson brought to Mainland on a recent morning was about the adrenaline of riding a wave and conquering fears. More importantly, he spoke about making positive choices.
He shared with students the darkest day in his life when he lost his 15-year-old son to what he called a poor choice.
Tompson travels worldwide and speaks to groups of students and employees at major firms like General Motors, Google, Price Waterhouse and Gap. His mission, speaking at Mainland, like in other places, is to help individuals activate their own personal code to live a more purposeful life.
Tompson boomed, “‘I will’ equals power.” He repeated it several times, and soon, the students joined in. His simple message is to use “I will” to create a personal code or mantra to face life’s challenges and help students achieve their goals.
He explained how everyone should write their code, just 12 lines, all beginning with “I will.” He shared other students’ work with examples: “I will always be myself. I will always try my hardest. I will think before I act or do something. I will finish what I start,” Tompson said. “All of us have power. You have the power and can use it for good or evil; it is your choice. It is a ripple effect and the power to influence others. You can drop a stone and start a ripple that can build into a wave, but you have to decide if it will be a positive or negative wave.”
In his book, “The Code: The Power of I Will,” Tompson lays out a path to finding the personal power to make changes and help achieve goals. Tompson concluded that all one needs is to be encouraged to find their voice and commit themself to positive values.
He shared cards printed with the surfer’s code.
Tompson was asked to help with an environmental problem near his favorite beach in California. At a rally near the beach, Tompson handed out cards with the surfer’s code. He said it raised awareness of the problem and encouraged others to get involved. That collective energy helped resolve the issue.
After the assembly, the Mainland surf team members stayed behind to ask questions and gather some positive mojo from Tompson, who was named one of the 10 most influential surfers in the world. He gave the Mainland surf squad some pointers, signed posters and left them with some food for thought.
“I believe that while winning may be perceived as being an athlete’s primary purpose, I think inspiring others through how you win or lose is equally important,” he said. “‘Win like a gentleman and lose like a man’ are the words of my father that have been embedded in my heart, too.”
– STORY and PHOTOS by SUZANNE MARINO/For the Sentinel
