Kelly Slater is a phenomenon. Over the last two decades he has consistently pushed professional surfing, led the way in surf training and dominated the competition. Has there ever been another athlete that has dominated their sporting scene with such intensity for such a long duration?
He busted onto the surfing scene twenty years ago and was the youngest surfer to ever take the crown and pick up his first world title. He has been a dominant force to be reckoned with ever since. Every year he sends shivers down the spines of new tour surfers who know his ability to tear waves and competitors apart.
While taking the sport to new limits he has become an incredible athlete with a huge variety of sporting skills encompassing speed, timing, endurance, power, flexibility, agility, determination, balance and of course surfing specific fitness. Has surf training and his competition record made him the greatest athlete ever?
Few athletes’ start at the top at such a young age and remain there for so long. Kelly has had the best surfers in the world clambering around trying to out perform him for over two decades. I remember when Jonah Lomu made the great New Zealand All Black Rugby Team and trampled the opposition in the 1995 World Cup and had a huge impact on the game, nowhere near as much impact Kelly Slater has had on professional surfing.
Tiger Woods is an inspiration and with regards to golf, leads the pack. He was the first professional golfer to bring specific sports training to golf and dominate other golfers around him, yet is he as great as an athlete as Kelly? They both posses technical skills, speed, timing, power, co-ordination and can always ask a New Zealand caddy for club selection advice, yet if they both left the club house for a round of eighteen holes and then paddled out at Jeffrerys’ bay, South Africa, I wonder what the score card would be at the end of the day?
What about talented athletes from the world’s most popular sport football? I’m sure both Maradona and Ronaldinho could teach Kelly a trick or two, and I bet he would pick them up pretty quick. Both footballers however would find it impossible just to paddle out at a local beach break let alone learn a trick.
Tennis lovers will want me to mention Roger Federer who has been the main man for tennis over the last few years. There is no doubt he would kick Kelly in a match yet will he be the number one dominant seed for twenty years, don’t think so.
There have been many other outstanding athletes like Michael Jordan who dominated the NBA league for many years and Jack Nicholas another golfing legend or George Foreman the hardest hitter, can we even compare between them about who or what makes the greatest athlete ever?
Perhaps because I use surf training to help me perform better I am biased. Yet I have been involved in many team and individual competitive sports and nothing tests me more than surfing. Each day is a new environment where Mother Nature can be friendly or destructive, each spot has new elements to consider, and the playing field is constantly moving. The technical attributes alone make surfing one of the most advanced sports in the world.
I believe surfing tests more athletic skills than any other sport and surf training has helped Kelly remain at the top of professional surfing for so long. Twenty years on a roll dominating the professional scene, who else has done that?
Hayden Rhodes has coached professional and amateur athletes improve their performance through scientific personal training, hormonal testing, nutritional coaching and performance conditioning principles.

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