| Kathy
Phillips - 35 years of the ESA by matt pruett
ESM: What was your personal motivation in becoming Executive Director of the ESA? Kathy: When Doc passed away, the ESA Board of Directors put together an Ad-Hoc committee, who ran things for one year. Doc did everything on his own, and it wasn’t written down. It was all in his head. So when he left us so suddenly, we had to scramble to figure out where we were with sponsorship contracts and other things going on in the organization. I was on that committee with ten other officials, and we kinda pulled things together. By the end of the year, we deduced that somebody would have to be at the helm again. I wasn’t working full-time, had been bugging Doc for a year to delegate some duties, and already had some ideas about setting up a storefront. I came in as an administrative director and fell into it from there. We set up a little 600-square-foot rental office in west Ocean City and installed an 800 line. That was the start of the ESA’s first official headquarters. By 1991, we had a staffed office. ESM: What stands as your most challenging experience as Executive Director? Kathy: Trying to keep 60 volunteer district directors comfortable and giving them the support they need. It’s the volunteers who keep the ESA alive. So doing whatever I can to keep them motivated and loving what they do—that’s always been the most challenging aspect of my leadership. My husband Jeff and I have been running the ESA Maryland District since 1979, so I know how difficult it is to do all the things these directors do. ESM: What are some of the major changes you’ve seen in the organization throughout the years? Obviously the ESA Championships being moved from the Buxton Lighthouse to Avon Pier and back again is one, what are some others? Kathy: The internet’s been a huge thing for the ESA, not only in pushing membership, but helping our members be better informed. We’re a membership-driven organization, so anything we can do that is a service to them is really important. Having a network of district directors and information really helps. The 800 line we got in 1991 was also a big thing nobody had done before. It saved our phone bill that year when Hurricane Emily hit. The phone traffic that week was unbelievable.
Kathy: God, they’re all exciting! I always love to see who’s going to end up in the winners circle. I don’t know that I can pick just one, but 1993 during Hurricane Emily was pretty exciting. The whole situation in Hatteras was so horrific. We had to go up to Salvo and it was just horrible—dumpy zippers right on the sand, everybody’s boards were getting broken... I was glad to see everyone survive the contest; only boards were broken, not people. But 1996 was a real exciting year for me, too. Not because of the Easterns, but because of how well the US Team did at the World Games. It was CJ and Damien, Ben, Jeremy Saukel, Hewy—almost an all-ESA team. That was wonderful! ESM: Do you feel a special bit of pride when seeing former ESA graduates go on to do great things in the surfing world—like Kelly winning six world titles, or the Lopez brothers becoming WCT centurions? Kathy: Most definitely. To see the Lopez brothers go as far as they’ve gone, and to see Ben Bourgeois do so well is a source of pride. Not just to me, but to the whole ESA from the district directors down to the moms who help tabulate. Every single one of those people has played a part in helping kids like the Lopez brothers and Ben get where they are today. CJ gave me a nice quote for an ad we’re doing in Surfing Magazine that says it all, “The ESA not only helped my competitive skills, but it also introduced me to some great friends who I still surf with and compete with everyday. My brother Damien and I grew up surfing ESA events alongside Ben, Cory, and Shea. The ESA helped me learn how to compete and have fun at the same time.” ESM: In terms of raw talent, focus, and desire, what’s different about the athletes competing in the ESA these days than when you first got involved?
ESM: So how would you fix the abominable state of US amateur surfing at the international level? Kathy: I’d tell the companies to put their teams back into competition again, to start promoting their top athletes, not their top prettyboys. I would tell the entire surf community in the United States to put aside their egos and do what’s right for the sport. One of the things that makes me happy is that Surfing America is really reorganizing the whole pro tour in the US with Foster’s on as this big umbrella sponsor. They’re beefing up East Coast contests and asking the ESA to run one, two, and three-star events, because they know we’re the contest machine. There’s talk of a three-star on the Outer Banks in October and one next year in Ocean City to complement the Heritage and the Unsound. By next year, there might be a real pro tour on the East Coast! With a strong pro tour within the States, NSSA offering a good program on the west coast, and the ESA offering a strong program on the East Coast, by the time the next World Games comes around we could wake up the world. ESM: Do you feel the US Championships—which is the national-level competition the ESA qualifiers attend—have been somewhat overshadowed by the NSSA as the premier amateur event in the country? Kathy: There’s no doubt about that. The US Championships has had just as much talent come through it as the NSSA Nationals has. It comes down to how well the events have been promoted, how well they’ve been sponsored, and mainly, how the media looks at them. After years of the US Championships being totally ignored by the surf media and the NSSA Nationals being promoted very heavily, it took its toll. When Peter Townend first came on to Rusty, he said to me, “I’m not interested in sponsorship of organizations. It’s the event. It’s the event.” And he rolled his eyes back like PT does and laughed. He already had his plan—to take the NSSA Nationals and turn it into the premier amateur event in the country—and that’s exactly what he did. And it has overshadowed the US Champs. But realistically, why go to Oceanside when you can surf unbelievable waves at Trestles? ESM: With the NSSA and the USSF constantly butting heads, what kind of direct impact does that have on the ESA? Kathy: I don’t think there’s a direct impact other than for some of our top kids who enjoy the competition in both. It’s tough for them because of the pressure they get from their sponsors to surf only NSSA events. Southern California is very myopic, and some of the team managers in California don’t have a clue what the ESA is or understand the scope or size of it. But that’s all going to be changing soon. I’m optimistic that in the next year or so, there will be some major changes that will help to educate the surf industry in Southern California. Even though they won’t admit it, the top US surfers are coming off the East Coast and the Californians are crazy about it. They fear us, they resent us, and it’s time to grab hold of that fear and make them pay attention to us.
Kathy: I’m really putting my foot down on that one right now, [laughs] because we’re still building the Easterns. Crediting PT once again, he wants to do for the Easterns what he did for the NSSA. PT just wants to see things right with surfing in the US. Fortunately, he has the means to do it. He’s even helped us with the Easterns program the past couple of years. I hate to say it, but we have to “build the brand” now. ESM: ESA fountainhead Doc Couture set the course for the organization. What is the personal accomplishment you cherish most in your two-decade tenure? Kathy: It’s not me! It’s everyone else, the volunteers. I just took the lead [pauses]. I guess I managed to do what Doc hadn’t been able to do: pull a staff together and delegate. I keep a picture of him on the wall right by the desk to constantly remind me: the more people you have doing things, the better those things get done. Organizing the ESA into a real corporate business is probably my proudest accomplishment. |
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Interview
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