For those of you who follow ASP, you know that our mission is to inspire and nurture inclusive communities that improve lives through adaptive surfing. One of the main ways we do that is through supporting other adaptive surf groups around the world through outreach trips where we connect with locals who want to host (or are already hosting) adaptive surf events in their own communities.
And through a crazy series of events, that's what we were able to do in Puerto Rico.
If you remember, back in June a number of ASP volunteers and participants went to Hawaii to compete in the Hawaii Adaptive Surfing Championship. But what you may not remember is that some of the board members slated to go, did not end up getting to go because of last minute injuries and illness. Thankfully, American Airlines gave us credit for those tickets to use for future travel as long as we used them by March. And out of that situation, this outreach trip to Puerto Rico was born.
So on short notice, our very own Erin Sharp, travel expert extraordinaire, was able to connect with Adaptive Surfers Puerto Rico, assess their needs, and coordinate timing and arrangements for the ASP board to put on an event for a growing cohort of Puerto Rican adaptive surfers.
They've got a fantastic group of surfers who compete at the highest levels. But they're also committed to growing awareness and accessibility at their local beaches so that new people can be introduced to the magic that is adaptive surfing. We were so stoked to be able to support that by taking new surfers out for the first time, delivering a beach wheelchair to be used at Playa Jobos, and connecting some locals to work together on installing beach matting at Jobos too!
We're so thankful to our growing community for making all of this possible!