What drives Kelly Slater?
At 51, surfing’s GOAT hasn’t stopped moving forward. He just scored the WSL’s 2024 wildcard; got another invite to The Eddie; is creating wave pools in exotic places; and is involved in ever-evolving surfboard creation.
On a recent episode of The Golfer’s Journal podcast, Slater sat down with host Casey Bannon and got deep about life, surfing, and health.
Yesterday we heard what Slater thinks about fear. In the excerpt above, he talks about health and what keeps him going.
The clip above is captioned:
“In this clip, Kelly Slater and Casey Bannon discuss Kelly’s health and wellness habits and how he’s been able to surf competitively for 43 years.”
After some chit-chat, Bannon redirects the convo:
“To surf, to compete at the level you have for a long time I imagine takes a tremendous amount of work. Did you figure out something others haven’t, or is it consistency? What do you think allowed you to compete to the level you want for 40 years?”
Slater answers, touching on the usual things like diet and admits he’s “not super strict” or “super disciplined,” but tries to cut sugar and carbs.
But there’s no big reveal, no gluten-free magic superfood secret to winning 11 world titles.
It’s a combination, he says.
“It’s your thought process. It’s growing as an individual, as a person, being more aware of the world around you and other people. Just trying to be tuned in at all time to different things.”
But he does mention one key ingredient that’s so obvious, it’s easy to miss.
He still loves surfing.
“I’ve been competing for 43 years now, it’s crazy. I think, well, I love surfing as much as anybody in the world probably, I just love to surf.”
And there ya have it folks. The GOAT does it all for the love.
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