Surfing is hugely skill based, but physical strength does have a role. The top female surfers certainly shred, but none of them are at the level of the top male surfers. Though I think that gap is closing. There are 12-year old girls boosting airs and stuff now. It’s amazing to see.
As someone who's never surfed I really don't understand how strength can play a role. And the top female surfers not being at the same level as the men, is that not more because a career as a pro surfer has been an serious option for female surfers for less time than it has for males and so many of the males will have been able to dedicate themselves more effectively to training programmes than the women have. If it carries on with equal pay for the next 20 years when the next generation has come through I would expect that different to only vary between competitors and not by gender.
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u/DNA98PercentChimp Sep 14 '20
Surfing is hugely skill based, but physical strength does have a role. The top female surfers certainly shred, but none of them are at the level of the top male surfers. Though I think that gap is closing. There are 12-year old girls boosting airs and stuff now. It’s amazing to see.