The Search for Freedom Page #4

Today we watch the Olympics,

and the number-one rated event at

the Olympics is halfpipe snowboarding.

I don't think anyone thought

it would grow to that size.

Now you have the first,

or probably second by now,

generation of people

whose expectations are

"I want to be a pro athlete."

Ladies and gentlemen, you've just seen

some magnificent surfing

out here in the Pacific Ocean

and Santa Clara River Mouth.

Here with me I have Kelly Slater.

Kelly comes along. He's this

beautiful little kid from Florida.

We met him when he was...

I don't know, 15 or 16 years old.

Walked up to us

at the trade show and says,

"I'm going to be the best surfer

in the world one day."

And we just looked at him. "Really?"

Then other people told us that this is

the guy, and we're like, "OK."

I think he stands head and shoulders

above anybody else.

He was the guy that took it

from a core activity

to a mainstream consciousness.

Probably by the time

I was about ten or 12,

I was pretty sure I'd be a pro surfer.

That's what I wanted to be.

You know, I didn't know how,

or if it was going to make a living

for me or anything like that,

but I knew that was what I wanted to do.

I woke up this morning

and realized I had this long dream

about a barrel all night.

And it's just... it's my passion.

I don't know if there's anything

I would have been as passionate about.

11-time World Champion

paddling in. He's up.

There he goes, Kelly Slater in the pipe.

Riding in the barrel, can he come out?

It's basically a desire, you know?

Having a passion for it

and having the desire to keep learning.

No matter how much you think you know,

there's a lot more that you don't know

than you do know,

and if you keep that idea in your head,

if you perceive surfing that way,

then you're always going to have fun.

You're always going to keep

learning things.

I mean, you look

at the young generation of kids

and they're surfing a lot better

than we were at that age.

With video and film, they could sit

there on a rainy day when it's flat

and literally watch surfing all day.

By watching something,

it's learning by example, you know.

You're getting taught visually.

As far as, like, videos,

that is so important.

I think just as important, if not more

important as winning any contest.

That's really where the progression

of skateboarding gets pushed to.

People, they devote years

to making a video part.

That's how important it is.

All their efforts of skateboarding,

as a pro skater,

if they're not competing, are going

to making an amazing video part,

and breaking themselves off

in the process.

That's what kids ask,

"How do you do this trick every try?"

I go out there and I do it

every single day for this many years.

You're eventually going to be able

to do it almost every single try.

And, I mean, obviously it takes failing.

It takes falling a lot to be able

to get to that point, you know,

falling a lot, and falling hard,

and getting hurt, and all those things.

But that's just part of the game.

Yes! Finally.

We're definitely

in the age of the sports vid.

And I think it's changed

the sports big time.

If you look at the films,

they are the history books.

They do show you

what the progression is.

The most important part of documenting

these sports are watching the films.

What we've seen happen

probably in the last ten years

is what we're living in right now,

the digital revolution.

You never know you're inside

a revolution when you're living in it.

Now, if you look back,

it'll be like we're living

in the Wild West of the Internet.

Cameras are shrinking

and getting better every day.

The reason those shots are so amazing

is because it truly puts you

in the perspective of the athlete.

It just became the staple of how people

shared their sport adventures.

When everything

got blown apart by the Internet,

everybody started doing their web clips

and stuff, it became very different.

It was more like the experience

of out on the road and traveling.

The riding wasn't

the most intense or the craziest,

but it was accessibility, and it was

about something anyone could do.

It started when I was, like...

The summer of, like, sixth grade

going into seventh grade.

I wanted to surf every day that summer

to get better.

Once the summer was over,

there was only 30 days left.

I'm like, "OK, well, I'll make

it 100 days," and so I did 100 days.

Then I decided, like, a year,

and then it was two years,

and now I just did 1,000 days,

so I want to do three years now.

Even if it's bad, I still have fun.

Surfing just makes me so happy,

so it's good. Every day is a good day.

We were in the water,

growing up, every single day,

all day long, as much as we could.

My parents never really

forced us to surf.

It was just like, "Here's the beach,

do whatever you want."

Here's some surfboards, boogie boards,

some sand toys.

Like, basically, just have fun.

And that's kind of where it started,

just sandcastles on the beach.

I think my limits are a little

different than other people's limits.

Other people's limits are maybe surf

bigger waves, surf more often,

or, you know, learn new tricks.

I just like to keep surfing the way

I like it, and that's just to have fun.

For me, I think

pushing myself in my sport

is maybe more about teaching people,

and showing people

this amazing thing that we do,

and putting a smile on their face.

That's pushing my sport for me,

I guess. That's what it means to me.

I remember the first wave I ever caught.

You know, still to this day,

if I could explain the feeling,

it would be like

what it feels like for me now,

dropping into a huge wave at Jaws.

Basically, you instantly feel like

nothing else in the world exists.

Nothing else matters.

You're living in the moment.

Big waves are relative, you know.

I think everyone's a big-wave surfer

if the waves seem big to you.

You know, that's... It's all relative.

You just want to feel it again,

and you want to keep driving,

keep going just to keep feeling

the same emotion every time,

every time you skate.

It's fun.

I mean, I keep saying that,

but it really is that fun.

And it's... I just can't describe it.

You just feel like you're in the groove,

and you're just going with it.

It's the best.

I really don't put that much thought

about what I really want to do.

I'm just trying to skate and have fun

and keep progressing the sport.

I don't really know what to do

right now, because I'm just kind of...

It's kind of the off-season

I guess, right now.

There's really no off-season.

Just kind of always skating.

When you're a kid, you get asked

this one particular question a lot.

It really gets kind of annoying.

"What do you want to be

when you grow up?"

Now, adults are hoping for answers

like, "I want to be an astronaut."

Or "I want to be a neurosurgeon."

You adults and your imaginations.

Kids, they're most likely to answer

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