What actually makes a good surf coach?
After 13 years running Surf Cascais, this is something I think about a lot. And the answer might surprise you 😅
It's not about how well someone surfs.
Of course a coach has to know how to surf but being a good surfer and being a good coach are completely different things. I've met incredible surfers who would make terrible coaches, and humble, patient people who turn nervous first-timers into confident wave-riders in a single afternoon.
So what do we actually look for? And why do we invest so much time training every single coach on the team?
1. Empathy first 🧠
Every student arrives with different fears, goals and energy. Some are excited. Some are quiet. One is usually trying really hard to look relaxed and failing. Understanding people comes before teaching surfing.
A good coach sees that before the lesson even starts.
2. Safety above ego 🌊
The ocean doesn't care that you're a great surfer. A good coach knows when to push, when to stay on the foam, when to change spot, when to walk a student back to the sand for 10 minutes. Good decisions in the water always come first and the best coaches are the ones whose students never realize how much was being managed quietly around them.
3. Real patience (not the polite kind) 🙌
One of our guests last year wrote that "not once did they let me feel bad that I was slower than the other students". That is the only acceptable behaviour in our school. Every student deserves the same energy, the same belief, the same patience — whether they pop up on wave one or wave one hundred.
4. Celebrate every single wave 🎉
A guest from Denmark once described his first green wave as "whistling, shouts and cheers from the instructors and the people around you —> an amazing feeling that is incomparable."
That's not technique. That's culture. That's a coach who decided a student's small wave matters as much as their own best session. We train hard on this, so your wave is the wave.
5. A structure that actually adapts 📋
Yes, we have a system. Every coach on the team studies a 49-page internal manual before they ever stand on the sand with a student. Warm-up, conditions, stance, the 1-2-3 take off, intermediate turning —> all clear, all consistent.
But the method is just the skeleton. The real coaching is how you adapt it — for a 65-year-old never been in cold water, for a kid afraid of the foam, for a snowboarder who picks it up in 10 minutes, for a bachelor party that needs games before they're ready to listen.
Conditions change every day. Great coaches know how to adapt to the ocean, the forecast, and each individual student.
6. The team behind the team 👨👩👧👦
This is the part I'm most proud of. We invest months of training, shadowing, debriefs and feedback into every coach we bring on. Not because surfing is complicated, but because coaching people is.
That's why we have students coming back for 8, 9, 10 years. That's why one guest joked he was "almost furniture" in the school. That's why another said the villa "feels a bit like home".
You don't get any of that from a coach who's just here for themselves.
So what makes a good surf coach? 🏄
Someone who cares as much about the person as the surfer. Someone who celebrates the foam wave like a world title. Someone who reads the ocean and reads the human in front of them.
That's what we've been building at Surf Cascais since 2013. And it's the only reason I still show up every morning.
See you in the water 🌊
— David, Founder
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