There was a buzz about the surfing convention at Local Motion. There wasn’t going to be any big name surfers but a lot of good merchandise. When I got into the relatively small store I saw a huge crowd around one small table. Not being the most patient person I walked around the store and looked at the new stuff coming out. I waited to see what the big deal was about. I walked over and as I approached the table I heard someone say Kelly can I take a picture with you. I walked up trying to act about as cool as I could considering that Kelly Slater is one of my idols I was totally star struck. As I got close enough to see his face I heard the store is now closing. My stomach dropped when I heard the announcement over the loud speaker in the store. “The store will be closing now will everyone make there way to the check-out counter mahalo.” I was next in line as I saw Kelly get up and walk towards the back of the store. As a stream of profanities shot out of my mouth I paid for every thing I bought and ran around the back of the store. He walked to his car and as he was about to get in, I shouted, “Hey, Kelly, hold up I got to talk to you.”

 “Hey, man, sorry. I wanted to say longer but they said I couldn’t.”

“Yo can u autograph this for me” I said

“Sure man what your name” he said calmly as if he wasn’t at all fazed but the hundreds of people in the store shouting his name.

“Casey” I said. 

 

 

 

“Ok Casey I can see you surf cause of all that stuff in your bag so” he jingled his keys as he reached for the paper and pen that were in my hand. His note read.

Yo Casey keep surfin and practice a lot and your gonna be good. If u follow your dreams and know what u wanna do with your life that half the battle and you can be whatever you want to.

“Hey man thats sorta corny but they tell me to write that stuff.” Hey laughingly said

Thanks for being a fan Kelly Slater.

“Yo Kelly what do you know any good spots or stuff like that.” “Let me get some pro surfer insider knowledge man.” I said now warming up to my idol like he was my best friend.

After we talked for a wile he had to go for some advertising stuff for his new game. So we parted ways but I will always remember what he said.

Kelly grew up in southern Florida with both of his parent and his older brother Sean. Kelly’s father who was an avid surfer in his younger years taught the two boys how to surf. At a young age Kelly’s parents could see his talent "From almost the age of five we knew that Kelly was going to be the champ, that he had to win," says Slater's mother, Judy. Kelly learned from his Sean and his father watching there fluid movements in the water and copied them perfectly. As he got older Kelly surfed in junior competitions and won he moved up on lists and started taking the notice of many local sponsors. Kelly didn’t have a perfect childhood by any means. "Surfing was good to me for a long time," Slater says.

 

 

"It took me away from my parents fighting constantly and getting divorced when I was 11. He drank a lot. I was always scared, when I was younger, to talk to him about the...drinking." But he managed, and he use surfing as an out let for all his anger and pent up frustration. Later in life Kelly would use other things to get pumped up for competitions. “I was winning on anger, but I used all the angry energy up. I use the anger now from anyone who'd beaten me in a heat, anyone who said anything negative in a magazine. I tried not just to win heats, but to dominate them.”

From this Kelly went on to win many titles and awards, In December he won his fifth consecutive Association of Surfing Professionals world title and his sixth overall, both records. Kelly Slater has become the poster boy for the professional surfing circuit and has become a house hold name. He has dated starlets, won competitions, started a band advertised for Imac Computers, and even has his own video game for Play Station 2 Kelly Slater’s Pro Surfer. "I was lucky--a lot of people get addicted to pills, but I got addicted to surfing. Both are escapes.” Kelly says. And it just so happens that Kelly’s escape happened to be one that he was incredibly talented at. Kelly has affected many people’s lives, as the poster boy for new school surfing he dose many autograph signings and appears all over the world greeted bye adoring fans. “I mean what more could I ask for I have fans all over the world, I get paid for doing what I love to do, I have a beautiful girlfriend.” Since that is a later interview Kelly broke up with his girl

 

 

friend and is now single and one of the internets most eligible bachelors.  “I do have the ideal life,” Slater says. "I have maybe 30 good surfboards, a Mercedes M Class, some guitars, some golf clubs. I almost have enough money put away, a couple million bucks, where I can live off the interest, fly anywhere I want, maybe get a house in Hawaii, keep my condos in Florida and Australia, be in the water, be warm all the time.” “What else do I need?”

Kelly has affected many people’s lives from chance encounters to from fund raiser to help abused children. He is an idol to many. Men want to be him and women want to be with him. His amazing spirit and determination have proved too many that you can be whatever you want to as long as you believe in yourself.