Innovative Rhode Island Surf Camp Program Provides Positive Alternative For Troubled Youth By Allison Arteaga
“Learning to surf could really have a positive impact on the lives of these kids
and benefit them on so many levels.” –Shayla Belanger, founder of the Nonviolence Surf Camp Program
The city of Providence, RI,
may be just a short car ride from popular surf breaks in Newport and Middletown,
but for the young men and women who struggle to survive on the streets in one
of New England’s most violent cities, the beach is a world away. Gang violence
in Providence has run rampant over the past year, to the point where news
reports of retaliatory shootings and murders show up on a weekly basis. Local
law enforcement and city officials continue in their efforts to get the problem
under control by locking up dangerous criminals, but another organization has
been working towards a somewhat different solution.
The Providence-based
Institute For The Study And Practice Of Nonviolence is getting at the root of
the problem by trying to change the hearts and minds of the people of Rhode
Island’s capital. Through a team of dedicated street workers trained to diffuse
dangerous situations and a variety of outreach programs designed to target at-risk
youth, the Institute hopes to spread peaceful conflict resolution skills. And Shayla
Belanger, a surfer and Case Manager for Juvenile Re-entry with the Institute, believes
that the organization’s greatest impact comes from its youth programs, where
kids who have become involved with gangs are given the opportunity to turn
themselves around.
About a year ago, while she
was vacationing in the Outer Banks, Belanger suddenly came up with the perfect
way to reach out to the children she worked with. “I was out surfing, just
paddling around in the water, and I started thinking about how healing surfing
has been for me,” she says. “And the idea came flooding to me all at once that
learning to surf could really have a positive impact on the lives of these kids
and benefit them on so many levels.”
Belanger explains that many
of the young people in her program have been traumatized, and, as a result, have
developed addictive personalities. A fast-paced action sport like surfing would
instantly appeal to their thrill-seeking tendencies, and once they were hooked,
they would also learn the patience, grace, and humility necessary to surf well.
The surf community would also provide the perfect non-judgmental atmosphere to
entice them to change their ways.
By the summer of 2009, the
Nonviolence Surf Camp Program was born. Belanger has since organized two
half-day surf camps for a few Providence-area youths, including members of
rival gangs, and some of the kids have gotten thoroughly hooked on the sport. One
example was Chandana, a member of an Asian gang who found a new passion as soon
as he hit the water.
“I’ve never seen a kid smile
so much in my life. He was a natural, and after that first time, he got
completely engrossed in it,” Belanger says. “He wanted to go to every surf shop
in Rhode Island, and he would just lovingly run his fingers across the boards. The
kid behind the counter saw how stoked he was, and gave him a bunch of stickers
and DVDs, so since then, he’s basically been studying surf culture.”
Brian Sargent, a veteran
competitive surfer living in Middletown, RI, has been helping Belanger out with
much of the legwork for the camps, and also volunteers his time to give the
kids some in-the-water tips. After 25 years of surfing, Sargent has a wealth of
knowledge to pass down, but his qualifications as an advisor for these troubled
teens don’t end with his surfing skills. Like the kids he works with, Sargent once
lived a life outside the law, but after two gun crime charges and a brutal
struggle with alcohol, he decided to make some changes.
“I spent a little time in
jail, and I actually had a judge tell me that I was a danger to society,”
Sargent says. “I had gotten started out down the wrong path, but then I pulled
myself together and started being less self-centered. So now, when I work with
the kids, I bring the newspaper clippings from my arrest, and I tell them how I
straightened myself out.”
Sargent knows exactly what
it takes to turn a life around, and he says he sees it happening before his
eyes through the Nonviolence Surf Camp Program. “There was this one kid named
Tito who loved it so much that he didn’t even want to get out of the water, and
when we were out there he told me that he felt like he was dreaming and he
wasn’t even worthy of this kind of opportunity,” Sargent says. “He left that
day with a huge smile on his face, and it enticed him to get out of the gang.
Now he has a job and a car and an apartment outside of the city.”
After seeing the results of
their work, Belanger and Sargent decided it was time to expand the program, and
now they are preparing for their biggest event yet. With the help of sponsors
like Water Brothers Surf & Skate, Elemental Surf & Skate, Endless Wave
Surf Shop, Tora Surfboards, and local reps for Hurley, Quiksilver, Billabong,
and O’Neill, the Nonviolence Surf Camp will hold its first three-day surf
program at Second Beach in Middletown, RI, on August 27th, 28th, and 29th. Local
surfers are volunteering to help with the instruction, and tons of fun, prizes,
and even a bit of friendly competition are on the bill. Thirteen kids have
already signed up for the camp, a big step up from previous camps that averaged
about four participants.
Belanger feels certain that
the upcoming event will be a great success, and she hopes that, through the
continued generosity of the community, the camp might even be able to acquire
its own boards and wetsuits so that kids who get hooked can replace their
dangerous lifestyles with the joys of surfing. “I hope that when these kids are
hanging out in their rooms at night, they’ll be looking around at all their
surf gear and remembering the feeling of that first ride,” she says. “And maybe
the next time gang members are reaching out for them, they’ll decide to call
one of our mentors and go surfing instead.”
For more information on the Institute
For The Study & Practice Of Nonviolence’s summer surf camp, visit www.nonviolenceinstitute.org
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