North Side Living News caught up with Sol Greundling, winner of the 2022 Rip Curl GromSearch Championships (14 and under) at URBNSURF in Victoria. We asked him a few questions about his win, his inspirations, and his hopes for the future.
Congratulations on your win at URBNSURF. Could you tell us what this means to you?
I always go all the way and get to the finals of competitions, but I don’t win too much. I was so happy to win because it made me feel accomplished and that all the hard work had paid off.
It felt really nice to win because all my family went down and there were so many hard kids in it too. I just got picked up by my main sponsor, Hurley, so I won with them next to me, which was a great start to the year.
What was it like competing against other talented surfers?
All the surfers were the top from around Australia and I knew they were really good and capable of anything. It was pretty cool to surf with your mates and other really good competitors, like Sammy Lowe.
It was a different sort of comp to surfing in the ocean because everyone gets the same wave. We were given three waves on the right and three on the left, so it came down to mindset and what my strategy was. But I had to be on my A-game.
When did you begin surfing?
I began to surf when I was around four or five years old. Dad got me into it and Mum was into it too. It just clicked and I loved it. It just feels special when I’m in the water and when I get a really good wave. To me, if anything is going wrong or I’m struggling, if I just go in the ocean, I forget about everything and it puts me in a better mindset.
What is your training regime like?
My coach is Beau Mitchell and we do three surf sessions and two gym sessions a week. I wake up at 5.30 am to get to Curl Curl Beach at 6 am, finish training around 8 am, and straight off to school at St. Luke’s Grammar School.
Which break has been your favourite to surf on…so far?
I went to Hawaii at the start of 2020 for the first time and that is where the best waves for training are: Pipeline, Sunset and Haleiwa. I am very lucky and very grateful to have been there and surfed those breaks. I’ve also been to Indonesia and to the Mentawais, which is amazing. Literally the most perfect waves you’ll ever see. I’d love to visit Cloudbreak in Fiji and go back to Tahiti and surf Teahupoo. The other place would be Skeleton Bay in Namibia.
So, what’s next for you?
A lot of learning and a lot of improving. I’ve stepped it up a bit and started to do the Pro Juniors, which is part of the WSL events. I won my first Pro Junior recently at Avoca and I’ve got more Pro Junior comps at Tweed Heads and Manly coming up. It’s a rollercoaster ride!
If you had any word of advice for other groms, what would you say?
Keep surfing and have fun. Train hard and watch a lot of the surfing that happens around the world. Be organised with your diet and training in the gym. And the only way you get better is from losing. You never get better from winning. It’s tough, but the only way you’re going to improve is from your losses.
