Ask Carroll

[Nick Carroll]

Perhaps we'd best just put this behind us.

[aaarating]

In respect of elite sports persons why is it that some get the timing right on a dignified departure from their career whilst others hang on and risk diminishing past achievements. Two specific current examples come to mind. Michael Clarke and Robert Slater. Your opinion as a sport journo please.

[Wyre]

Nick, are you currently writing anything purely fictional? Is writing the great novel something you are into?

[Nick Carroll]

Ah fcuk, this is just a really hard one for the people involved. They've put so much into their sport and they feel a tremendous attachment to it. Often they have given up on or ignored important things in their lives in order to achieve what they've done in the sport, things most people almost take for granted (peace and quiet, marriage and family etc). I think the process of stepping away must be a lot easier for a team sportsperson; they have their team-mates to rely on for solid advice and behind the scenes truth telling, while the individual is left largely alone with the choice. Cricketers such as Michael Clarke have plenty of examples of dignified departure to draw from, while surfers such as KS are faced with a lot more of a spotty record; most surfing world champs have gone through retirement like it was an extended withdrawal from an impossibly potent drug. Quite a few of 'em are still hooked on it decades later and remain largely defined in their own lives as "world surfing champion".

There might also be elements of luck around how things go for the athlete in the retirement process -- who are they associating with? How is their sport travelling? Are there career opportunities opening up for them? Clarke's future seems paved with golden commentary gigs, the speaking circuit, etc etc etc. Kelly seems like he's been pretty damn busy setting up a whole range of interests for himself off his own bat, how many of them he follows through on remains to be seen.

In the longer run I don't think even the clumsiest retiree ever quite manages to diminish their past achievements, that seems a false risk to me. A far bigger risk lies in continuing to live in that past and failing to find new ways to define yourself as you grow older.

[Nick Carroll]

Nick, are you currently writing anything purely fictional? Is writing the great novel something you are into?

Not at the moment, maybe down the track, I feel a bit more pulled toward it with age, not with the idea of a great novel though. I would rather write successful commercial fiction.

[lostman]

In respect of elite sports persons why is it that some get the timing right on a dignified departure from their career whilst others hang on and risk diminishing past achievements. Two specific current examples come to mind. Michael Clarke and Robert Slater. Your opinion as a sport journo please.

I thought Robbie should have retired a year or two earlier. The last couple of years at Northern Spirit were not his finest and definitely dulled his lustre for football fans who struggled to remember his contribution to the national game.Possibly his experience has had some influence on the lack of our elite players returning to play out their careers in the A-league.
Not sure why you asked Nick about Bulldog though? Football fan?

[lostman]

Are you excited about the upcoming A-league season? Any tips?

[rmb]

Nick have the surf industry and clothing companies discriminated against surfers who speak out against them or have lobbied for better money and conditions for surfers on the WCT. Has the surf industry ever discriminated against surfers reps and have high paid sponsored surfers ever hindered the collective of pro surfers in organising and lobbying for better money in contests?

Well if you don't mind me saying, I think you're pitching the question a bit funny here, I'll have a crack at explaining a bit about it though

When it comes to sponsoring pro surfers, there is no real collective "surf industry" - all the companies are different and deal differently with the athletes. There's also been a huge amount of change in how those dealings are handled over the years, from times when the companies weren't very wealthy and the surfers had no management reps and everyone just sorta blundered through it, to today when every pro surfer has a management structure, deals are highly contracted and sometimes involve a real shit load of money, and a lot of work goes into maintaining that deal so everyone stays happy.

A few things have stayed the same though. One real big recurrent theme is that when the pro surfers stick together, they run the show; the other side of that coin is that when they don't stick together, the money runs the show.

Another is that surfers don't just sorta "speak out against" people who are paying them lots of money, if there is friction between a surfer and a sponsor it's often hard to tell who is responsible, and it doesn't serve anyone's interests to spit the dummy in public over contract issues. It might be entertaining for spectators when someone goes Bobby Martinez postal, but it costs the Bobby a lot more than it costs the spectators. The company looks like a fcukwit if it criticises a popular surfer and the surfer gains a suss rep with potential future employers if he/she starts a war with a previous employer.

There's quite a history of surfers going to bat for better prize money and conditions on tour. Usually the surfers win - again when they stick together. Just a couple of examples of that: The Great Boardshort Debate of 1982 when the pros got together and threatened to boycott events like the Stubbies or the Pipe Masters if the event sponsors tried to force them to wear certain board shorts. The surfers won that one v quickly but it eventually saw the departure of Stubbies and Pipe's old sponsor Offshore Clothing from the tour. Then there was the J Bay Showdown of 2000 when the surfers formed the World Pro Surfers organisation and forced the ASP to double the WCT prize money. That was led by Jake Paterson, Sunny Garcia and Luke Egan and there's no sign any of those guys suffered a backlash by any surf company as a result, even though a couple of the companies had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the deal.

That WPS thing was notable for the part absence of Kelly from the whole deal, he was still on a semi hiatus at the time but could have weighed in but didn't. It didn't stop the momentum of the deal though.

You really saw how this stuff works in the modern world back in 2009. Then, you had one uber powerful pro surfer (Kelly) teaming with his manager and others to promote the idea of a new elite tour. The ASP were obviously horrified but the important players were the surfers; a large majority of 'em were never convinced of the rebel tour's benefits, but they played the ASP off it magnificently and ended up getting a big prize money kick, a reduction in WCT numbers, and a few other things they'd wanted for some time. Kelly was left out in the cold at that point a bit and there's still some coldness between him and some of the old event franchisees as a result.

The second time around, team ZoSea were a lot smarter and put a lot of time into wooing the surfers behind closed doors while they were negotiating to take over the tour. The result was that almost all the surfers were into their plans and backed 'em (especially since even they could see where the surf industry was headed financially - they liked the idea of a US billionaire and a crack at the real pro sport deal a lot better than a shriveling pay packet). The surfers' unquestioning public backing of that switch and their subsequent performances remain the biggest (probably the only) real strength of pro surfing.

Thanks Nick I think you covered what I was trying to ask.
Following up on a question SWVIC posted previously you do a pretty good job of answering all questions with the respect they deserve.
Perhaps as a writer theres a book in it somewhere maybe "Ask Nick from Surfing to Sea Shanties and everything in between".

On a more serious note Nick what are your thoughts on responsible drinking, how much is too much and the damaging effects of alcohol? I have found myself getting to a point where enough is enough and I don't get the enjoyment of having a couple of beers and require more and more which results in me occasionally getting reasonably intoxicated and suffering the consequences the next day in being in a depressive mood and anxious. This usually takes a day and a bit to get over. I don't drink everyday and binge maybe once occasionally twice a week where most the time I stick to a couple of drinks but it occasionally creeps up usually on weekends. I am typing this here not as some sort of pity me question but part of some personal therapy becoming more open about my own personal journey and thought it would be a good topic for conversation. Oh and I am not suffering a hangover now and am feeling pretty positive about it all.

[godsavetheking]

Nick, I've had another brainwave. With Jarrad Howse having described Surf Snowdonia as "awesome for board testing" and an increasingly cynical readership growing ever wearier of Surfing Life's advertiser-fuelled jollies to the Telos, what better way to rediscover some authenticity and to reconnect with the board buying public than to relocate the test to the drizzle of North Wales? You can even stay in a little onsite hovel, eliminating any suggestion of high living. Brilliant eh? I'll ready the pork product leis for your imminent arrival at RAF Valley

[Beerfan]

The day Nick does a board test at a wave pool in the UK is the day we all disown him, and reveal he was actually a kiwi all along. We'll keep Tom though, unless he takes part as well

[alakaboo]

I lol'd godsave.

[aaarating]

Well after last nights test performance - all out for 60- the answer is clear that Clarke should have already retired.

[Nick Carroll]

On a more serious note Nick what are your thoughts on responsible drinking, how much is too much and the damaging effects of alcohol? I have found myself getting to a point where enough is enough and I don't get the enjoyment of having a couple of beers and require more and more which results in me occasionally getting reasonably intoxicated and suffering the consequences the next day in being in a depressive mood and anxious. This usually takes a day and a bit to get over. I don't drink everyday and binge maybe once occasionally twice a week where most the time I stick to a couple of drinks but it occasionally creeps up usually on weekends. I am typing this here not as some sort of pity me question but part of some personal therapy becoming more open about my own personal journey and thought it would be a good topic for conversation. Oh and I am not suffering a hangover now and am feeling pretty positive about it all.

I think it hard to gauge "responsible drinking" in the Australian context, drinking seems to me to be a sort of national blind spot; lots of people struggle with the idea that some other people don't drink at all. My little brother is teetotal these days and he reckons people sometimes literally try to force him to drink at social occasions. When he says no, I don't drink, they just say Oh well I'll get you a beer instead.

I get the sense that you have your own idea about what works for you and that you're a bit suss of the role drinking is playing in your life. That feeling of anxiety and slight depression is something you should really pay attention to; drinking, like any drug use, can lead to a range of mental impairments and illnesses, and you really don't want that shit in your life.

There's a lot of good reading on the subject of alcohol use and abuse. I suggest you do a bit of reading on it and try to gain more of a sense of where you fit in the alcohol dependence spectrum, that will help you think about what you want to do about it. One thing I do know and can tell you directly is that you don't need to drink any alcohol at all in order to be a functioning happy adult. It's not necessary. If it FEELS necessary, it might be a problem.

[PeepeelaPew]

...

[aaarating]

Speaking as a 'mature' aged surfer, I'm finding that tv advertisement where the smiling older bloke who drops a few Panadol after having a surf with a few groms (who naturally snake all the old blokes waves) becoming a tempting proposition. Being of a similar vintage, would you partake or recommend pain relief before/ after surfing or just give it up as an example of the biomechanics of TMB?

[Nick Carroll]

Nick, I've had another brainwave. With Jarrad Howse having described Surf Snowdonia as "awesome for board testing" and an increasingly cynical readership growing ever wearier of Surfing Life's advertiser-fuelled jollies to the Telos, what better way to rediscover some authenticity and to reconnect with the board buying public than to relocate the test to the drizzle of North Wales? You can even stay in a little onsite hovel, eliminating any suggestion of high living. Brilliant eh? I'll ready the pork product leis for your imminent arrival at RAF Valley

I have a better idea god save, we are in the process of setting up this year's fabulous tropical junket, why don't I forward you the dates and you can book in to Telo Island Lodge for a week or so (perhaps under an assumed name, I mean nobody is gonna believe you are really called "godsavethequeen") and crack a few awesome rides with me and my team of professional dancing puppets?

Don't tell me you don't want to.

[Nick Carroll]

Speaking as a 'mature' aged surfer, I'm finding that tv advertisement where the smiling older bloke who drops a few Panadol after having a surf with a few groms (who naturally snake all the old blokes waves) becoming a tempting proposition. Being of a similar vintage, would you partake or recommend pain relief before/ after surfing or just give it up as an example of the biomechanics of TMB?

The only thing I might consider down those lines is an anti-inflammatory to reduce pressure from an injury. But if I was in such a state that I needed painkillers in order to surf, I think I would take that as a hint that I was not really fit to surf at that point.

[PeepeelaPew]

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