Beach magazine Dec 2017

Though not a fan of aerials, Alex Fry proves he can break loose his fins, if he wants to. Photo by Steve Gaffney (SteveGaffney.com)
His path to success reveals how much surfing has come to resemble other,
more established sports. Fry has little in common with the loose-limbed
slackers that formed part of the sport’s identity. Those who know him say
that he stands out for the intensity of his focus.
Leo Schleyer is Fry’s teammate on the Costa team, and also his neighbor.
He typically catches a ride with Fry when the two are on their way to a
meet.
“He’s a super competitive person, probably the most competitive person
I know. Sometimes before contests, we’ll be driving there, and you can tell
he’s thinking about it. He’s sitting there, just super focused,” Schleyer said.
Schleyer said that Fry’s passion tends to make those around him better.
Tracy Geller, head coach of the Costa surf team, described him as “a born
leader.” The team has begun working out with a fitness trainer, and splits
into groups for smaller sessions. But the groups were uneven: the one immediately
after school was crowded to the point of chaos, while the later
one was sparsely attended. Fry, Geller recalled, took it upon himself to talk
to teammates about their schedules and help balance attendance at the
workouts.
Despite the changes surfing is undergoing, it remains unavoidably different
from other sports. (Whether it even is a sport has been the subject of
dozens of magazine stories, from “Surfer” to “The Atlantic.”) Even when a
wave is reduced to a decimal-pointed average, good surfing still requires
liveliness and unpredictability. And at a time when more and more of the
kids Fry faces in contests are approaching competitive surfing with a kind
of parent-assisted monasticism, Fry lives a pretty typical life. He usually
forgoes afternoon surfs to focus on homework. He still gets in the water
every day, but does so in the frequently closed-out waves of the South Bay.
When I asked if he thought growing up here was an asset or a liability as
a surfer, I half-expected him to reply with some bromide about learning to
get to your feet quickly. What he offered instead revealed an understanding
of surfing, as well as the world outside it.
“It’s an asset. Compared to kids that live in the inner city, where I live is
a dream. But compared to the kids I compete against almost every weekend,
the waves I surf are nowhere near what they have. And most of them are
homeschooled,” Fry said.
His voice carried no hint of bitterness or excuse, just recognition of the
facts.
Climbing the ladder
Fry’s dad Kurt introduced him to surfing when he was about six, but
there was no thought of world-tour domination in those early tours through
December 7, 2017 • Easy Reader / Beach magazine 37