Elías Cárdenas
Our new ambassador Elías Cárdenas from Colombia shows us just how important surfing can be for your life! Elías grew up in Palomino on the Caribbean coast of Colombia and the warm ocean was part of his childhood. But his childhood was anything but carefree: money was scarce, the small kiosk where he was born only barely provided for the family and guerrilla groups, drug gangs, paramilitaries and the army fought battles all around Palomino. Close family ties meant everything and his mother and three brothers formed a solid unit.
As a child, football meant everything to him. They played football every day on the pitch and later in the club and, unlike his friends, he believed in a professional career: "...and what I liked most was undoubtedly playing football, I had friends, although our thoughts were a bit different about what we wanted to be when we grew up, they didn't believe that we could be sportsmen."
He and his mum did everything they could to get him into a professional club later on. The turning point came at the age of 11, when Elías discovered surfing and immediately caught fire. At some point, Elías had to choose between football and surfing. His chances of becoming a professional footballer were good, but the low family income didn't make it easy for him to travel regularly to training in the neighbouring town. Surfing, on the other hand, could be done on the doorstep, but surfing was new to the town and the chances of a professional career were slim.
Surfing won the race and from then on he spent his days catching waves: "Surfing became my way of life, my inspiration, my discipline. It has not been easy, in Colombia it is not enough to be good, to be disciplined, to be a sportsman is very difficult. But it is not impossible and you can really be very happy."
The first successes rolled in: National junior surfing champion 5 times and open surfing 4 times, he represented Colombia with the surf team in the ISA World surfing championship USA 2019, and in the ISA World junior surfing championship in El Salvador 2022.
He is happy about the successes, but surfing means so much more to him: "Like many other triumphs, these have taught me that dreams can be fulfilled, that even though many people said that in Palomino it was never going to be possible to surf, in Palomino you would never be able to make a living from a sport. I am achieving it.... I am completely dedicated to surfing, I get up every possible morning at 5:00am and I go surfing with my friends. If there is something I have found in surfing, it is that friendship is one of the most important values that we human beings can have, with my friends we help each other, we support each other when someone else has a difficulty."
He is keen to pass on the support and help he has received through surfing and spends a lot of his time volunteering with youth work: "I am also a young man who works hard to encourage children to believe in themselves, to lose the fears that haunt us, to use their free time for something that contributes to our lives in a positive way. That's why in my free time I give classes when I can to children or friends interested in this sport who don't have the possibility to have access to classes."
His greatest wish is that the government also recognises the strong re-socialising character of surfing and supports the work of NGOS more strongly, because he knows from his own experience that surfing can change so much: ‘" I am that child who one day had to hide under the bed because the bullets could be heard outside, I am the one who grew up next to young people who ended up with a gun in their hands and sadness in their hearts, but I am also that young person who represents a dream, the one who wants to motivate future generations to take different paths to those of violence. Surfing is not an easy sport, it is a sport in which you have to invest time, seek support, strive to achieve success, listen, fall and learn to get up countless times. You have to know how to thank those who believe in you, the family and people that the universe sends to make way for those who are struggling along the way. If discipline, friendship and empathy exist, we can stand against any tide. I am currently working on becoming a better person, a better athlete, a better example, a better human being."
With Elías, we not only have a surf ambassador, but also an ambassador for equal opportunities and social justice.
And once again a huge thank you to @lara.waves for the superb photos!
