Three Durban North family members are looking forward to representing the eThekwini Bodyboarding Association (EBA) team at the 2024 South African National Bodyboarding Championships next week.
Dad Darrin Boucher, 47, son Keegan, 15, and daughter McKayla, 12, have all earned KZN provincial colours in the sport.
The competition takes place at at West Beach, Port Alfred, from September 23-26.
The eThekwini Bodyboarding Association (EBA) is a non-profit organisation aimed at growing the sport and encouraging disadvantaged boys and girls to take it up.
Boucher, who will compete in the Masters Division, said competing on such a major platform was exciting and very nerve-racking, but he looked forward to going up against “the best in the country”.
He said he got into bodyboarding in 2020 while taking his daughter for her classes.
Boucher, who is the vice-chairman of the EBA, said he loved many aspects of bodyboarding.
“Every time you get into the water, it is a new challenge and you are pushing yourself all the time. It is the unknown of the sea, the power of the waves and all those other elements.
“No surf is ever the same. It is always something different. You are always pushing yourself and are never in your comfort zone,” he said.
“Starting at such an old age and trying to learn a whole new sport from the beginning has been tough. Sometimes it is a little bit frustrating because you want to do some of the tricks done by people who have been doing this for 20 or 30 years,” said Boucher.
He added that having grown up in Johannesburg and not being too familiar with the sea made knowing how to read a wave and how to get onto one that was bigger made things a little bit tricky for him.
Boucher said he was preparing hard for the championships.
Daughter McKayla has set her sights high in the girls’ division: “I am mostly looking forward to riding, seeing everyone, getting into the water with my friends and competing against them. I am also really excited for the prize giving because I want to find out if I am going to come first or not,” she said.
In the boys’ division, her brother Keegan said he found it fascinating to compete against some of the best in the country.
“It is obviously nerve-racking but at the end of the day, we have trained so much for this and we know how the story goes.
“What I look forward to the most is not actually competing but the fun we always have. All your friends and people you know are there and actually competing, but you are also joking around and playing with your friends the entire time,” he said.