Is Surfing a Art or a Sport?

A common question by some people both in the surf community and outside of it is whether surfing is a sport or an art. A sport is "an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.” According to the dictionary, and a art is "the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power”. So according to the literal definitions surfing is a sport, but I believe that the meaning is deeper than that. In surfing there are many contests ranging from youth ages to the ASP World Tour events with countless variations in between, so it is a competition. I believe that the reason why people express that surfing is not a sport is because of its individual competition. Surfing is predominately an individual sport with heats of people competing, much like track, however track athletes represent an overall school or team. The Individual competition aspires athletes to be creative and independent in the way that they preform which I believe has contributed to the amazing creativity seen today in new maneuvers, the most recent one being the back-flip. It is this amazing individualism that I believe has also made surfing an art form.

            The way a painter may start with a blank canvas, a surfer starts with a clean wave that is his blank canvas, in which he can perform whatever comes to his imagination. Some of these artistic qualities can be contributed to the nature of the sport, literally. Unlike most other sports, surfing is in nature, no wave is the same. Another reason for the artistic qualities of surfing are the athletes themselves. Surfing has people of all different ages, different backgrounds, and from different parts of the world. When combining these different people you get a result much like the Renaissance Art Movement in the 14th to 17th Century, a collaboration of different thoughts and art, of in this case, surfing.

            So is surfing a sport or an art? To me it is both. Art and Sport goes hand and hand in surfing, without one we would not have the other. But one thing to me is sure, the combination of art and culture has made surfing what it is today, and I am thankful for it.