Interview with surfer Matt Hewitt, twice 2011 Pro Junior Champion

My friend Quinn is a photographer and keen surfer.  He was excited to be doing a photo shoot with Matt Hewitt, a Mt Maunganui local with his eyes on the big surf titles.  Keen to learn more about kiwis and their love of the ocean, I jumped at the opportunity to interview him.  You can follow his success on the Matt Hewitt Facebook page and see the whole photo shoot on the Quinn O'Connell Photography Facebook page. Of course there's also the Jenny Rudd Facebook page.  OK, enough of the Facebook page links.

 DRIVEN

 Just eighteen months after wobbling to a stand on a surf board for the first time, Matt Hewitt came 3^rd in the 2005 ISA World Junior Championships.  All at the age of 15.  Jenny Rudd meets this bright light of New Zealand surfing.

When Matt Hewitt and his family moved to Mt Maunganui, the closest connection he had to surfing was owning a Quiksilver t shirt.  Living in Mt Maunganui changed all that.  Surfing is ingrained into the psyche of New Zealanders and in particular in this small coastal town whose population swells in the summer months to accommodate tousled, blonde surf bums and the trail of sun kissed honeys drifting around after them.

Upon arrival Matt did what any self respecting 14 year old living at the beach in New Zealand would do: he tucked a surfboard under his arm and dashed to the beach after school to go surfing.  Most of the other teenagers had grown up in the waves so Matt had quite a bit of ground to make up which merely serves to make his achievements all the more extraordinary.  In a country famed for its laid back approach Matt is an unusual character.  On representing New Zealand at the 2005 ISA World Junior Champs he said ‘I went there to win.  Some thought that was laughable as I had only been surfing for a year or two and was just 15 years old but that was my attitude.  And I came third.  I was very happy with the result.’  In 2009 he won the New Zealand Open Men’s Championship.  This year he has won not one but two Pro Junior Championships in Australia. 

Determination to succeed is a common thread through conversation.  ‘I only started surfing when my family moved to the Mount and before that was playing rugby, water polo and surf lifesaving.  I still love to go jet skiing, fishing, ride mountain bikes, and would love to race cars. I have been studying the art and science of boxing as cross training.  Surfing takes up most of my time and it’s a challenge that I am dedicating my life to at the moment but I know I could apply the skill set and desire I have for success in surfing to many other fields.  I've got a few other things in life I would like to do, but surfing is definitely my focus right now. You have to set goals and then focus energy and desire towards them.  It helps to have family and community support, a will to win and never quit.’

The winning instinct has been nurtured from a young age.  Matt’s mother is his manager.  A career in marketing has primed Michelle to take care of the ultimate brand: her son.  ‘The home environment has a huge impact on the way children grow up.  We have always recognised that there is a point where life skills overtake the need for educational skills.  Since our children were young we have encouraged them to have a voice, to strive for what they want and believe that anything is possible.  I believe it is a privilege, not a right, to be a parent and equally it is a privilege to have good parents.’

Articulate and earnest, Matt has an understanding of the consequences of his behaviour on the marketability of his brand.  Sponsors must rub their hands in giddy glee when they meet him.  ‘I have a great team at home and abroad keeping an eye on the whole brand issue.  I spend my time training hard and surfing hard to get great photos, movies or results.  You can't micro manage everything in your career, it’s best to step back and let people you believe in take over. I still keep a close eye on it, I just try to be a guiding influence rather than direct it.’

As impressive as team Hewitt’s awareness is of the commercial nature of his opportunities in surfing, it’s not the only motivator.  Michelle says about bringing up her son and daughter ‘It’s important to understand that everything you do has a consequence.  We aren’t perfect but I have taught them to try and make decisions with forethought.  And have fun.  That’s key.’

Photographs Quinn O’Connell www.qophotography.com

Words Jenny Rudd www.jennyrudd.co.nz

An increasing understanding of manly pursuits

Yesterday morning I hopped out of my pit (rendered awake by 2 screamers) and set about packing to drive to the west coast of New Zealand for the weekend where my aunty moved to not 4 weeks ago with her Kiwi husband. To have a relative living a mere 2 hours drive away fills me with excitement. After scrabbling around stuffing nappies and several changes of clothes into bags we were ready for the off. It's just me and the littlies as the husband will be spending the weekend drilling 34 holes into our back garden, filling them with cement and wooden poles, building retaining walls and then sometime during the week pouring in tonnes and tonnes of sand followed by top soil and turf so we can have a level garden. Hurrah! Badminton tournaments beckon.

The first half an hour or so of the journey was spent with me navigating through traffic whilst trying to officiate arguments in the back. A friend who is one of four boys told me recently that they used to be crammed four abreast in the back of their car (well before road safety was invented) and would bicker over the very many things worth bickering about when you are six years old. Their mother would hang on to the steering wheel with one arm and use the other to swing wildly behind her aiming at as many bare legs as she could. How hilarious, imagining my friend and his brothers swinging their knees as far to the side as possible to miss the punishment whilst their mother bellowed in irritation at them.

My son asked to try what I was eating. I told him wasabi peas were quite spicy and that he probably wouldn't like them. He insisted they were exactly what he wanted so I handed him one. The relative calm exploded in an ear splitting scream emenating from twin2. A glimpse of her in the rear view mirror showed green, dusty crumbs round her mouth from the wasabi pea my son had so generously offered his 1 year old sister. My inability to use both arms to keep us going in the same direction at the same time as aiming a whack in his direction annoyed me. I'm sure it won't be the first time my dodgy arm situation plays neatly into his hands.

The west coast is so close to us on the east coast but couldn't look more different. Where our Bay of Plenty beaches are of the 'white, golden sands fringed with Norfolk pines and brilliant blue skies' variety, the west coast of the Waikato is a rugged, less populated stretch of land with black sand pressing into the ocean. The people here are different too. The Bay of Plenty has a good sprinkling of California style surfers - blond curls, cheeky grins and expensive board shorts. Towns like Raglan on the west coast house a more alternative dweller. Expensive highlights and truckloads of sweet smelling conditioner might get you far in Mount Maunganui but dreadlocks are what you need to sport in order to be taken seriously in the waves at Indicators - the awesome left hand surf break at Raglan. Although the break to come away for the weekend is wonderful not to mention the joy of chattering to my aunty and her husband, I know it will be lovely to arrive back home tomorrow to our version of the seaside. I'm definitely an east coaster.

Having read back through this post, 2 things come to light. First of all I'm sure many of my friends in the UK will be pissing themselves laughing at my (fairly competent thank you very much) descriptions of the mechanics of levelling a garden and knowledgable surfing lingo. The transformation from city girl to Kiwi wife is well underway.

The second thing is that as I write about being as east coaster, I realise that my feelings about where I live with my husband and three little half New Zealander, half British chiddlers are changing. When we moved here the heart wrenching sadness at leaving home, family and friends transferred itself to an unhealthy dislike of New Zealand (but not of the people I hasten to add). On reflection it was the deep resentment at leaving everything I love which morphed into other negative emotions. Two years down the line and I'm starting, just starting to feel the twinkly feeling of pride in our street, town and area we live in. And, dare i say it, even love.