Waves of transformation and development celebrated at Ballito Pro

Ballito Pro ambassador, Sal Masekela kicked off his African Surf Adventure at the Ballito Pro by officially opening the first community swimming pool in Shaka’s Head in KwaDukuza, on 30 June.

The project was undertaken by the KwaDukuza Municipality as part of its commitment to uplift local communities.

The pool will be used by the Ubuntu Learn to Surf and Swim Club to teach young children the essential life skill of swimming.

Children from the club also seized the opportunity to spend a few hours swimming and interacting with Sal, who in turn shared his experiences of learning to swim and how it helped him with his surfing.

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Sal, son of jazz legend Hugh Masekela, has been inspiring young surfers and coaches alike from surfing development organisations in and around KwaDukuza.

Drawing comparisons to his own childhood, Sal said there were no people of colour in his community who surfed.

He encouraged the children and said, “This is one of the luckiest days of your lives. Own this pool like it is yours. Have fun. The skills that you learn at this pool, you will be able to take to the ocean!”

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“I surfed with 30 or 40 kids from Surfers Not Street Children (SNSC) that looked just like me. It was ironically at the same beach (New Pier in Durban) where I went surfing for the first time in 1991, and the cops tried to arrest me. I was escorted off the pier for committing an illegal act. To have this experience almost 30 years later as a grown up, at the very same place, and jumping off that same pier with so many kids…I was fighting back tears. It was such a joyous moment for me,” said Sal.

He added that the future of transformation in the sport looked very bright.

“If this is what is happening now, I can only imagine what surfing here will be like, 10 years from now. The opportunity is there to see some kids performing at a high level as athletes, possibly making the world tour, like Michael February (Cape Town) who made surfing history last year, as the first black person to make it onto the world stage.”

Sal is also the founder of Stoked Mentoring, a non-profit organisation which uses action sports to empower children from underprivileged communities in the USA.

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