There was a massive smile on Livvy Kay's face when she first tried surfing. Photo: Supplied
About 20 young people with a range of physical and cognitive disabilities will be chasing the 'stoke' at a special surfing event at Fitzroy Beach in New Plymouth today.
Livvy Kay, who lives with a range of disabilities, always hated going to the beach - that was until she tried surfing with Conductive Education Taranaki.
Mum, Pip, says the 13-year-old was transformed.
"We live by the beach and when we brought her down to the beach as a youngster she pretty much hated everything about it.
"She has a lot of sensitivities and she has intellectual and physical disabilities, so she hated the light, she hated the noise. She hated everything, everything."
That all changed when she got onto a surfboard.
"When she tried to surf we thought she'd last about a minute, but she was out there, gosh, 15-20 minutes.
"She loved it. Squeals of delight. I was just absolutely blown away and there was a massive smile on her face."
Livvy will be among about 20 young people with a range of physical and cognitive disabilities who will be chasing the 'stoke' at a special surfing event at Fitzroy Beach in New Plymouth today.
The Conductive Education and Parafed Taranaki Have a Go Day was organised in conjunction with Surfing Taranaki.
Conductive Education Taranaki whānau liaison Pip Kay said after the success of a similar surfing event at Ōākura there was a desire to have more and Parafed Taranaki had come on board.
"It's about letting our kids experience new things pushing their own boundaries and being in an environment that they wouldn't normally get access to.
"For example my daughter is very high needs, so for her it required six to eight people around that one board for her, so that's obviously not something we can do on a day to day basis."
The Have a Go Day was also important for other reasons, Kay said.
"On top of the kids trying something new it's about the community seeing our kids with disabilities wanting to do the same things as they do and breaking down barriers."
Surfing Taranaki is providing some of the equipment including soft-top surfboards and a team of volunteers.
Chief executive Craig Williamson said it was about catering to everyone it could and being inclusive.
"If there's kids out there, no matter who they are, and they want to have a go we'll do whatever we can to facilitate that and make that happen."
Williamson said it wasn't only about the young people themselves.
"It's also about their families as well because these families who are supporting these kids all of the time don't get the opportunities that other families and other siblings have, so we're supporting them as well and if siblings want to have a go too they are more than welcome to."
It was also a great day for the volunteers, he said.
"It's all about those smiles and hearing those squeals of delight."
And the ocean could do wonderful things, he said.
"I guess if you've never tried it the ocean could be quite a scary place and you might not know what to do and even with your child you might not know what to do.
"But they talk about ocean therapy or wave therapy. It's a very calming place, very satisfying, and we all come out of the water feeling stoked everyday, so if we can share a bit of that, hopefully these kids will come out feeling good about themselves after having a wonderful day and they'll want to do it again."
