A-frame

Aaberg, Denny

Aaberg, Kemp

Abberton, Koby

Abbruzzi, Sid

Abellira, Reno

Abubo, Megan

academia and surfing

Adler, Tom

advertising and surfing

Aeder, Erik

aerial

Aguerre, Fernando

Aichner, Scott

Aikau, Clyde

Aikau, Eddie

Aipa, Ben

air-drop

airbrush

Airshow

Ala Moana

Alabama

alaia board

Alaska

alcohol and surfing

Alexander, Kala

Allen, Chuck

Alms, Paige

aloha shirt

Alter, Hobie

Alvarez, Pepe

Ancell, Kevin

Andaman Islands

Andersen, Lisa

Anderson, Craig

Anderson, Simon

Andino, Kolohe

Angel, Jose

angle

Angola

Angourie

Antarctica

Apocalypse Now

Arabian Sea

Aragon, Janice

Arakawa, Eric

Archbold, Matt

Arena, Eduardo

Ashton, Juan

Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP)

Atlantic Ocean

August, Robert

Aurness, Rolf

Auster, Ken

Australia

Avalon, Frankie

Azores

backdoor

backside

backside attack, Pipeline

backwash

bail out

Bain, Rob

Baja California

Baker, Bernie

Baker, Grant “Twiggy”

Baker, Tim

Bali

Ball, John “Doc”

Ballard, Bill

Ballard, Rochelle

balsa

Baltic Sea

Banks, Jim

Barbados

Barilotti, Steve

Barland, Michel

Barreda, Sergio “Gordo”

Barry, Michael

Bartholomew, Wayne

Baxter, Jackie

Bay of Bengal

Beach Boys, The

Beacham, Debbie

beachboys

beachbreak

Beachcomber Bills Grand Prix

Beachley, Layne

beavertail

Becker, Phil

Bedford-Brown, Stuart

Belgium

Bells Beach

Bendall, Ma and Pa

Bennett, Barry

Benson, Becky

Benson, Blanche

Benson, Linda

Bermuda

Bertlemann, Larry

Domestic amateur competitive surfing association formed in 1978 in Huntington Beach, California, focusing primarily on student surfers; regarded as the gold standard for American amateur surfing, particularly during its '80s heyday. National Scholastic Surfing Association (NSSA) alumni include world pro tour champions Tom Curren and Kim Mearig, big-wave rider Mike Parsons, and pro tour standouts Rob Machado and Andy Irons. Founded by Huntington Beach bank executive and high school surf coach Chuck Allen, along with teacher/coaches John Rothrock and Tom Gibbons, the NSSA lifted most of its rules and bylaws from the American Surfing Association, a short-lived organization formed in 1976, when amateur surfing in American lay virtually fallow. The new organization was different from previous groups in that it was linked to the classroom. "The NSSA was created," Allen later said, "for the sole purpose of keeping surfers in school." To compete in the NSSA, the surfer/student had to maintain a not-very-demanding 2.0 grade point average. While the NSSA was popular from the beginning, it took a jump in prestige in 1980 when Allen hired Australians Peter Townend and Ian Cairns (first and second, respectively, on the 1976 world pro tour) as executive directors, and for the next few years a slot on the NSSA's elite National Team, coached by Townend and Cairns, was the Holy Grail for America's young amateur competitors.

The NSSA has been defined by its relationship to the United States Surfing Federation (USSF), founded in 1979 in an attempt to oversee, organize, and unify six separate U.S. amateur surfing organizations. Leaders of the one-year-old NSSA, already thinking of their group as a cut above the rest, signed on as a USSF member with reluctance. Problems arose after NSSA surfers captured nine of the 10 slots on America's 1980 World Amateur Surfing Championships team; the USSF maintained—and won the point— that all six American amateur groups should contribute equally or commensurably to future U.S. world teams. In 1993, NSSA executive director Janice Aragon pulled her organization out of the USSF, forcing amateurs to choose between competing in the better-organized and talent-superior NSSA or working toward a coveted U.S. world team slot through a USSF affiliate. (The NSSA Nationals event was already more prestigious than the USSF-run U.S. Championships.) The NSSA grew and prospered under Aragon's leadership in the mid-'90s. USSF teams, meanwhile, won the renamed World Surfing Games in 1996, then finished sixth in 1998 and an embarrassing 10th in 2000. Efforts by the USSF to bring the NSSA back into the fold have so far been rejected.

The NSSA is divided into regional conferences (on the mainland and in Hawaii), and funds itself through membership and contest fees and corporate sponsorship. Each conference holds its own championship event, with the cumbersome Nationals—the event features nearly three dozen separate divisions— held each summer at California's Lower Trestles. The NSSA had roughly 2,000 members as of the early 2000s.

The National Scholastic Surfing Association Nationals were held twice a year from 1978 to 1980; a juniors division was added in 1981. Nationals winners for the men's, women's, and juniors divisions are as follows:

1978: (summer): Bud Llamas, Francine Hill (winter): Mark McDandel, Alisa Schwarzstein

1979: (summer): Jeff Johnson, Kathy Wilson (winter): Bud Llamas, Alisa Schwarzstein

1980: (summer): Todd Martin, Debbie Rooney (winter): Doug McKenzie, Kim Mearig

1981: Chris Frohoff, Debbie Rooney, Chris Frohoff

1982: Kelly Gibson, Crystal Roever, Brad Gerlach

1983: Chris Frohoff, Jolene Smith, Noah Budroe

1984: Scott Farnsworth, Jolene Smith, Jeff Booth

1985: Dino Andino, Christine Gillard, Jeff Booth

1986: Jim Pinkerton, Christine Gillard, Kirk Tice

1987: Todd Miller, Janel Anello, Kaipo Jaquias

1988: Taylor Knox, Rochelle Gordines, Donavan Frankenreiter

1989: Joey Zintell, Nea Post, Rob Machado

1991: Barry Deffenbaugh, Hoey Capps, Jeremy Sommerville

1992: Bryan Doonan, Falina Spires, Kalani Robb

1993: Kalani Robb, Jayme Lee, Kalani Robb

1994: Kalani Robb, Megan Abubo, Chris Ward

1995: Eric McHenry, Megan Abubo, CJ Hobgood

1996: Andy Irons, Melanie Bartels, Shaun Burrell

1997: Bruce Irons, Jessica Earl, Michael Losness

1998: Michael Losness, Sena Seramur, Bobby Martinez

1999: Fred Pattachia, Sena Seramur, Dustin Cuizon

2000: Anthony Petruso, Kristen Quizon, Travis Mellem

2001: Greg Long, Holly Beck, Patrick Gudauskas

2002: Dustin Cuizon, Karina Petroni, Jeremy Johnston

2003: Patrick Gudauskas, Erica Hosseini, Kilian Garland

2004: Dane Gudauskas, Carissa Moore, Clay Marzo

2005: Clay Marzo, Carissa Moore, Kai Barger

2006: Kekoa Cazimero, Carissa Moore, Dillon Perillo

2007: Tonino Benson, Carissa Moore, Andrew Doheny

2008: Nat Young, Courtney Conlogue, Andrew Doheny

2009: Kolohe Andino, Lakey Peterson, Ezekiel Lau

2010: Kaimana Jaquias, Lakey Peterson, Keala Naihe

2011: Cam Richards, Leila Hurst, Parker Coffin

2012: Ezekiel Lau, Dax McGill, Kalani David

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Interviews

Features

Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Interviews

Features