Healing waves for a good cause

Surfer’s Way — a non-profit organization that hosts several surf outings every year for children with special needs — held its final event of the summer on Aug. 19 at Riverside Boulevard beach for close to 200 eager young surfers.

Founder Elliot Zuckerman also operates the Long Beach-based Surf 2 Live surf school and has been teaching the sport for more than 40 years. He began working with special needs children about 35 years ago when a parent asked him if he could teach their deaf child to surf. Once he figured out how to instruct that child, he said things quickly snowballed and parents were asking him about children on the autism spectrum and with other special needs.

“It’s a feeling you get in your hear when you do this, I can’t describe the feeling of giving back with a sport I’ve loved my whole life,” Zuckerman said. “These are kids that in other circumstances wouldn’t have had a chance to do this.”

Zuckerman founded Surfer’s Way a decade ago and has been formally instructing special needs surfers through the program ever since. He said that he’s found many of the children excel at the sport and he recommends their parents enroll them in his regular surf camps as well.

“I see kids that come to my outings and they’re ready to go surfing,” he explained. “I speak to parents and let them know that their child is ready to be in a social situation with other kids. It’s just outrageous how well it works.”

The Surfer’s Way outings attract kids ages 3-15, and each one is typically attended by about 200 surfers, Zuckerman said. He added that many surfers that might otherwise feel uncomfortable in a social setting with other kids are able to open up and thrive in the water.

“Surfer’s Way Foundation is great for kids, but we have some that are coming for a few years, and they only spend 10 to 15 minutes on a surfboard at a time,” he said. “And I see the kids wanting to do this on their own, so I ask the parents to let them come to the regular camp.”

Surfer’s Way is an entirely volunteer organization, down to the instructors and donated gear used for the outings. Zuckerman also conducts them around the world as he lives in Puerto Rico for the winter and runs a surf camp down there as well.

One of the keys to the organization’s success, Zuckerman said, is that it allows special needs kids to participate in an activity that they otherwise might have gotten to try, and it can instill confidence in them. “Without putting labels on these kids, they do fine,” he said. “The parents can’t believe they could behave and be part of the group and surf and have a good time.”