More Than Waves: Finding Healing, Purpose, and Community Through Surf For All
July 1, 2025
Surf For All: Expanding Waves of Inclusion, Our 2025 Impact
October 25, 2025
Words: Bridge Green
Photos: Jason Belsky (@jaybelsky)
Date: Aug 5th, 2025
Daniel Green and Instructor Cliff Skudin
Daniel is truly a Kool Kid, which is what we affectionately call our kids with Koolen deVries Syndrome. What better way for our Kool Kid to celebrate his birthday than to spend it on the ocean at Surf For All surf camp?! Surf For All is an amazing and inclusive adaptive surf program with such kind and welcoming volunteers and instructors! It was incredible to watch Daniel’s progression each day from riding the waves with instructors to developing confidence enough to ride the waves on his own while beaming with pride in himself. Joyful most of the time despite his physical and intellectual challenges, he struggles to communicate, but yet he understands everything. He followed along and bonded with his instructors throughout the week.
Daniel Green and Instructor Cliff Skudin
The instructors knew just how much they could allow him to do on his own and let him go. The individual attention he got from all of these highly skilled instructors keeping him safe was just remarkable. Surf For All fosters a sense of community and inclusivity and all the surfers in the camp were so respectful and helped him along throughout the week in and out of the water. It was truly awe-inspiring to see him standing up on a surf board by himself considering he couldn’t walk until he was 2.5 years old! A super Kool highlight for us was when Cliff Skudin took him out on a longboard and got him up to standing! Thank you to Skudin Surf and Surf For All for a very special week for our Kool Kid Daniel!
