Malen Riera, Director of Millor Surf: ‘Surfing has no limits’

Overcoming fears, obstacles, and diving into something new is what a group of youths from Aproscom has done by learning to surf the waves thanks to a social inclusion activity organized by Millor Surf.

This aquatic activity center located in Cala Millor has offered the opportunity to boys and girls of various ages and with different abilities to overcome themselves and get on a surfboard. Malen Riera, two-time runner-up in the Spanish surfing championships and director of Millor Surf, visited the studios of Pasión por el Mar to tell us about these sessions and unveil the final touch of the project, a temporary photo exhibition that captures the experience of these youths.

“A girl who worked at Aproscom came to Millor Surf and saw everything that surfing offers. So she told me we have to bring surfing to where I work because the kids are going to love it and because it is a sport that has no limits,” she recalls. And that's where this whole social inclusion project started, which has been carried out in different sessions and has had the collaboration of volunteer instructors. “Without human resources, there's nothing to be done,” she admits.

The first session was a meet and greet with everyone. “We started by arriving at the venue and taking off our shoes, to walk around the venue barefoot as an act of presence.” An action that the kids initially did not understand. “Everyone took off their shoes, but then put on others,” recalls Riera.

After this introduction, the Millor Surf team began with directions and learning sessions on land, as a warm-up. “The kids got involved in the project. They came with an enthusiasm that was contagious for us and they started to overcome their limits,” she acknowledges.

For some of them, any small step was already a challenge. “Putting on the wetsuit was already an adventure, the issue with jellyfish, if the water was cold...”. But gradually the youths overcame their fears and began to surf the waves. “The goal was to surf and we ended up surfing everyone. When the kids got tired, the volunteers took the boards and surfed too,” explains the director of Millor Surf who adds that “a surfing circus was created.”

In addition to these sessions, the learning, and an incredible experience, the boys and girls who participated in this activity took home a memory they can keep for a lifetime, a photograph of them on the boards. With all these images, Millor Surf organized a temporary exhibition in its facilities, where one could appreciate the excitement of each of them surfing. “Now when we get together to look at the photos, we pulled out the board again because they wanted to see if they remembered standing up. And this is like riding a bike, you never forget. Once you have it, you have it for life,” she explains.