In a welcome spray of good news, USA Surfing has landed a major multi-million-dollar investment providing much support to fuel the momentum of their Olympic success heading into LA28. This investment from Kamaka Responsible Development and Resin Services strengthens USA Surfing’s case for National Governing Body (NGB) recertification.
Those following the story closely will know that the NGB status was at risk of being lost to US Ski, a move that had no support from the athletes themselves, and would have marked an unprecedented case–for an Olympic powerhouse like the United States–of a winter sport NGB meddling into a summer sport. Despite the lack of funding of the past several years, USA Surfing has consistently delivered netting multiple ISA medals while continuing to develop national team talent and hosting premier competitions.
The new alliance marks the start of a multi-year, multi-million dollar endowment while continuing to seek more financial supporters committed to ensuring American surfing receives the proper care it needs to compete with well-funded programs from countries like France, Australia, and Brazil. When it comes to competing on the world’s largest stage, those countries aren’t holding anything back.
“USA Surfing is doing the work. They’ve earned the trust of athletes and the surf community and are deeply committed to our sport and community,” said Kipling Sheppard, CEO of Kamaka and Resin Services. “They’ve built a proven pathway—developing ISA and Olympic gold medalists—and they’re dedicated stewards of both performance and community. This alliance will strengthen that foundation and extend its reach.”
“This is a defining moment for American surfing,” said Becky Fleischauer, CEO of USA Surfing. “Kamaka’s investment propels long-term support for our surfers and sport—high-performance resources, community impact, and Olympic momentum. Kamaka Responsible Development and Resin Services are mission-aligned investors who understand surfing’s power—not just as a sport, but as a culture and community. Rooted in the San Clemente surf community and connected to surfing’s heritage in Hawaii, they’ve taken the lead to ensure the full surf community benefits from the global spotlight of LA28.”
The investment announcement coincides with the 2025 USA Surfing Championship at Lower Trestles (watch here)—site of the LA28 Olympic surf event and home to USA Surfing’s training grounds and facilities. Surfers competing at Trestles this week–along with para surfers, longboarders, SUP surf, SUP and prone race athletes–will benefit from this multi-year investment, which utilizes the financial support to realize the vision and infrastructure needed for success going into LA28 and beyond.
As part of the deal, Kamaka is developing a new state-of-the-art wave pool, offering year-round training conditions to help Team USA prepare for competition. Resin Services, a surfboard design and manufacturing company based in San Juan Capistrano with deep ties to Hawaii, is expanding its support of surfing’s development pipeline.
Related: Longboarding Axed from LA28 Olympic Surfing; Now What?
“Our involvement with USA Surfing over the last year and a half has given us the opportunity to see their deep commitment to surfers firsthand,” said Bennett Sheppard, COO of Resin Services. “We see the good they’re doing, how much they care, and the trust they’ve built. We want to help that grow exponentially.”
“The USOPC gave us a benchmark of around one million in revenue to demonstrate financial stability. Today’s commitment from the investor alliance exceeds that, with more enthusiastic investor interest ready to join the alliance and ensure that our sport is represented by surfers. Additionally, if USA Surfing is recertified as the NGB, we would have access to the USOPC high-performance training funds to further support athlete development.” Fleischauer said. “This investment is more than a financial milestone—it’s a declaration of confidence in the future of surfing, and those who know it best.”
One thing is for sure, when LA28 rolls around next year–we’ll be cheering for Team USA.
Related: US Ski Needs To Keep Their Kooky Hands Off USA Surfing