US Ski Needs To Keep Their Kooky Hands Off USA Surfing

Chris Dodds in Surfer Magazine

US Ski has applied to represent surfing at the Olympics in an unprecedented move that would deprive USA Surfing of its elite athletes while giving nothing back to the program.

Caroline Marks wins gold at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Teahupo’o in Tahiti. Ben Thouard/POOL/Xinhua/Getty

Sorry, not sorry but the CEO of US Ski is acting like a real kook in what is clearly a money grab that seeks to deprive USA Surfing of it’s top assets and give everyone else the shaft. They’re polishing this turd of a deal as if it’s a brand new Cyber Truck that nobody–least of all, surfers themselves–want. 

In essence, the scandal goes like this: US Ski is trying to pull off an unprecedented move of becoming the National Governing Body (NGB) for USA Surfing–but there’s a catch. The deal would rob the top Olympic athletes from surfing while not giving anything back to the rest of the surf program. 

Typically, an Olympic NGB governs and manages all aspects of their individual sports from training clinics, development programs, coaching (both mental and physical), and travel and logistics for competitions from Juniors on up to the Olympics . With back-to-back Games coming in the US, LA 28 and Utah 34, US Ski views this as a once in a lifetime opportunity.

US Ski claims that surf athletes support the ski takeover, which is just laughable, as they have failed to mention one surfer to do so, yet they continue to seek on-the-record statements from elite surfers. In reality, in 2021 and 2024 Olympic surfers, the World Surf League, ISA, U.S. Boardriders, WSL rookies of the year, and rising talents across all surf disciplines officially declared to the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) their support of USA Surfing’s NGB application.

“It is of the utmost importance for surfers to be represented by an organization that knows us and our sport, and is exclusively dedicated to what we need to be successful. We also believe it is imperative to preserve the close connection and mentorship between developing talents and the pros on tour who will compete at the next Olympic Games.” - Caroline Marks and Carissa Moore joint statement for USA Surfing

The US Ski organization is the most well-funded of all the US Winter Olympic National Governing Bodies (NGB) as they preside over a total of 240 athletes across 10 disciplines…yet they fail to even support the USASA–their very own youth development organization for freestyle ski and snowboard. For athletes that want to be part of the US Ski team but who don’t make the elite A team, face costs ranging from $30,000-$100,000 per year. 

Now they’ve come to jab their poles into surfing and skateboarding yet the crew over at The Inertia found it reasonable to publish this piece that glosses over every single important piece of information in exchange for fluff from Sophie Goldschmidt. To be fair, maybe The Inertia didn’t actually comprehend what is actually happening–or maybe they just want to get in good with the lady they think is going to hold all the purse strings once the Games roll around. In case you’ve forgotten, Goldschmidt used to be the CEO of the WSL which is about the least core surf credential you could have aside from being the CEO of Wavestorm.  

It should be noted that Goldschmidt does not surf nor skate, she plays tennis and skis–oh and I bet she’s a real hammer on the golf course too. Apparently, no one in her well-heeled organization knows enough about surfing to even realize that the diagram they released to elucidate the benefits of joining them featured a backwards surfer. As the kids say, “Tell me you’re a kook, without telling me you’re a kook.” Anyone who has followed surfing long enough knows that when non-surfers take the wheel, the culture and industry suffer. Let’s not make this mistake again. 

Worth mentioning is that US Ski is also attempting to be the NGB for US Skateboarding and credit must be given to both the International Surfing Association (ISA) and World Skate, both recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the International Governing Bodies for each sport, for defending their sports against this utterly ridiculous idea (neither were mentioned by The Inertia). 

World Skate’s Doris Gentile called on the USOPC to suspend the process until they could put forth a sole-sport NGB to be recognized. Executive Director of the ISA, Robert Fasulo added that they will not recognize someone who does not have their best interests at heart, they have an obligation to steward their whole sport–not just the cherries on top.

US Ski acts like there’s precedent for Winter NGBs to control Summer NGBs but there isn’t, not unless you count countries that are so small they don’t have full teams, only occasional athletes. The United States is an Olympic powerhouse, and in only two Games USA Surfing has added two Gold Medals thanks to the brilliant work of Carissa Moore in Tokyo and Caroline Marks in Tahiti. 

The dweebs at US Ski are acting just like the clowns that run Vail Resorts–greedy to the core and blind to the fact that they’re killing the soul of the sports they claim to steward. Skiing has always been a privileged sport and has never gone through the shared underground status that was core to the formative identity of surfing, skateboarding, and snowboarding. 

But how did USA Surfing get here? Well, it comes down to cash and, if you know anything about the surf industry, you’ll know there isn’t much of it flying around. A few years after surfing’s Olympic debut in Tokyo, USA Surfing voluntarily decertified after an audit revealed deficiencies in financial controls (aka cash flow problems) and so for the following Games in Tahiti they were represented in the interim by the USOPC. 

While in theory this should have just been a grace period for USA Surfing to work out their finances, this opened the door for US Ski to make their case to grab the goods. Again, their offer is simply to take the top athletes from Team USA Surfing and Skateboarding and reap the benefits of parading them around for the commercial gain of US Ski with zero benefit to the other athletes and coaches in each sport. It should be noted that US Ski has no actual plan for surfing and skating’ top athletes other than a vague ‘we’ll figure it out’. 

USA Surfing, however, has a plan to properly support the future success of the team. Let’s not forget that head coaches Shane Dorian and Brett Simpson are in alliance with a wide range of experts with deep experience serving surfers’ coaching, training, orthopedic, mindset, nutrition, technology and equipment needs. This plan includes: 

• A bicoastal competition series that mirrors the format of the WSL’s QS, Challenger Series, CT and ISA World Championships. It culminates in a Championship at Lower Trestles – the possible venue for the 2028 Olympics. Knowledge of this break and the conditions during the Olympic window will be critical. 
• AI video capture and analysis 
• Aerial training
• High-performance wave pool training
• Power Your Performance clinics from breathwork to biomechanics to branding. 
• Bespoke mental performance coaching for surfers—and their parents

As we’ve seen in the past few years, burnout at the elite level is on the rise and this plan was created with this in mind. The other great surfing nations of the world all have their own dedicated NGB’s and allowing the kooks at US Ski to decapitate USA Surfing for their financial gain would only diminish our chances at future medals and the proper respect and representation that we deserve. For our friends over at USA Surfing–be very careful of any veiled attempts at “collaboration”, it’ll be a Trojan Horse type deal that will wreck the organization and rob future generations the chance to develop with the support of a sole-sport dedicated NGB. 

This is the first in a series of articles SURFER is presenting on this issue, we will cover the voices most important to our sport and elevate the perspectives that truly matter. Stay tuned and stay true.