Surf Coaching in Tamarin

We moved to Mauritius about six months ago, and life here has been great for the kids.

The part that has been frustrating is coaching. You can book casual lessons, but consistent, structured coaching for kids is hard to find. I feel that gap quickly because I grew up with Swiss-style sports programs where sessions are organized and progress is tracked over time.

I already have too many projects, but this one was non-negotiable: build proper surf coaching for Noah, Lara, and their friends.

More Than Just Catching Waves

After watching the kids for a while, the pattern was obvious: same session, same result. Paddle out, catch whitewater, fall, laugh, repeat. Great fun, not much progression.

You can find one-off surf lessons here, no problem. But “stand up once on a foam board” is not the same as coaching.

For me, coaching means a long-term plan with clear goals. It means training on flat days, not only when conditions are perfect. It means most of the session is fundamentals: mobility, balance, paddling mechanics, strength, and awareness. Surfing itself is maybe 30%. The other 70% is what makes the surfing improve.

If you look at good youth programs in football, tennis, or swimming, this is exactly how they work. Warmup, movement quality, technical drills, game understanding, then sport-specific work. That’s the model.

That’s what I want for our kids.

The Plan

So we’re doing this now. Twice a week, rain or shine, at Tamarin Bay. The current schedule is Tuesday and Wednesday, 17:00 to 19:00 — but we’ll see how it goes and adjust as needed.

The group is Noah, Lara, Taylor, Emy, Teo, and Ali — ages 7 to 9. Small enough to give everyone attention, big enough to make the team exercises and games fun.

Each session follows a structured two-hour plan:

1. Warmup + Mobility + Strength (20’) — run, dynamic movement prep, balance, core, and surf-specific strength as one combined block
2. Paddle Out (10’) — get to the lineup together with focus on positioning and efficient paddling
3. Theory + Water Skills (15’) — short in-water coaching on reading waves, safety, etiquette, and technical drills
4. Surfing Block (55’) — targeted wave practice plus coached free surf
5. Paddle Back (10’) — controlled return to shore as a group
6. Reflection + Stretch (10’) — quick debrief, breathing, and static stretching

Below is the interactive session plan I built for this. Some exercises stay the same every session (the fundamentals). Others are generated fresh each time to keep things varied and fun. You can print it and take it to the beach.