Somewhere during the 45-minute ride from Manhattan to Long Beach along Route 678 — the major highway that connects Queens to the beach towns of Long Island — the scenery changes from urban industrial to something that resembles California’s Pacific Coast Highway.
For the 12 inner-city school children who made this trip in the last two years as a part of the Manhattan Academy of Technology Middle School surfing team, they may as well be on the North Shore of Oahu in Hawaii.
It was here two years ago, located in the small town of Long Beach, that the Chinatown school’s physical education teacher, John DeMatteo, accompanied two of his students and their parents to teach surfing lessons. With help from the local surf shop, Unsound Surf, DeMatteo was able to secure two foam starter boards and three wetsuits to use for the lessons.
“I basically just went to the beach with two kids and their parents, brought some boards with me and taught them how to surf,” DeMatteo said. “We took very small baby steps on the first couple of days, starting with the kids just learning how to ride laying down on the whitewater close to the shore. Once they had proper form and were able to paddle with balance, they rode that same whitewater and took the next step: standing up and riding the wave on their feet. Within the first couple of days, all of my students were able to do this. I was amazed, considering I couldn’t stand up on a board for a week.”
M.A.T. holds its surfing club for a few sessions in the summer but with the majority of sessions in the fall, when the water is warm and the beaches aren’t crowded. With a wetsuit, children can be in the water until late November.
With a parent-mandatory policy (parents are required to come and stay in the shallow water with the children) and lessons that start in water up to the knees, the team focus is on safety, instruction and fun — not competition. The children are taught to watch each other in the water and buddy up, cheering for their partners when they stand up and ride a wave.
“Most people don’t even realize that there not only is a beautiful beach located 45 minutes from Manhattan, but that there are waves as well.” said DeMatteo, also M.A.T.’s athletic director. “Surfing is such a dynamic sport, and at the very basic levels it’s a lot of fun and very safe and such great exercise. Once I taught one child how to surf, they loved it and it caught on. Now a lot of kids at the school want to try it. I wish my middle school phys. ed. teacher would have taught me how to surf!”
The surf team at M.A.T. is more a club than a team that can play other schools. The team’s top surfer, Daniel Sexton, who is also a standout soccer, basketball, baseball and track-and-field athlete, is currently the only surfer on the team who can paddle out into real waves and ride them, not just the whitewater. Other surfers who have stood up already on whitewater include Nick Karam, Sean Barton, Jenny Acosta, Ellen Mullan Jayes, Natasha Holtz, Blaise Holtz, Parade Stone, Jonathan Sexton and Ben Karam.
“Daniel picked up surfing his first day and was a natural,” DeMatteo said. “He impressed me so much I gave him one of my surfboards. I hope to continue to work with him and enter him in some small competitions next year.”
DeMatteo cites the surfers’ parents as a big reason for the program’s success.
“The parents drive their children to the beach, bring water, food, blankets and take great pictures,” he said. “There’s no better way for them to spend a Sunday afternoon with their children.”
There are still no other teams to compete against, but DeMatteo plans to change that.
“I have a lot of friends in physical education from other middle and elementary schools in N.Y.C. that would love to try this,” he said. “Someday, just like we did with the track-and-field series, I hope to collaborate with other schools and get more kids in the water, and maybe have a real surf competition someday. It will happen.”
