Manly Sports Stars

Life In the Fast Layne

‘Life is a challenge, you attract what you fear, so play fair and have fun’.

The Drum
By Dave Keogh

This is Layne Beachley’s credo… the way she lives her life. A northern beaches resident since birth (apart from a stint in Hawaii), Layne is one of the greatest surfers in the history of the sport – male or female. I’ve had the extreme privilege of knowing her since she was 8 or 9 years old… used to coach her tennis at Bareena Park Tennis Club at Balgowlah Heights . She was a joy to know back then (when she’d help me prepare and cook the BBQ on the last day of the tennis camps I used to run)… and she remains so today.

Like pro tennis players Margaret Court and Syd Ball before her, Layne received one of the most apt sporting surnames ever when she was adopted by Neil and Valerie Beachley as a baby. Who could have guessed back then that her destiny lay in riding waves on beaches all over the world… and riding them so damn well that she would win seven (yes… seven!) consecutive World Championships!

She’s acquired a few nicknames over the years – originally ‘Gidget’ for her diminutive size (and in honour of those wonderful old movies starring Sandra Dee and later the TV sitcom starring Sally Field); conversely ‘The Beast’ due to her fierce competitive spirit and absolute aggression in the water; and simply ‘The Queen’ in honour of her amazing reign at the top of women’s surfing. All say something about this unique sporting icon’s character.

Layne is using her own tournament – the richest women’s event on the ASP tour, the NAB Beachley Classic – to make a late run for an unprecedented eighth world title. There are so many hot young surfers on the circuit at present making Layne’s job tougher than ever… but Layne couldn’t be happier with that situation. In fact she loves nothing better than to encourage emerging stars… (even if they occasionally cost her a title!).

That’s why she established The Layne Beachley Aim for the Stars Foundation - www.aimforthestars.com.au Having experienced financial hardship herself before tasting career success, Layne loves to help young women achieve their goals whether they be academic, sporting or community based. As Layne says: ‘A little bit of finance or just the knowledge someone believes in (them) may be all it takes for a female to achieve greatness’.

The life now being led by Chelsea Georgesen, Stephanie Gilmour, Amee Donohoe and co. is a direct result of the pioneering done over past decades by our female champions like Layne, Jodie Cooper, Pam Burridge, Pauline Menczer and Trudy Todd. But tough as the circuit is these days, don’t ever count out a champion like Layne.

Layne’s been surfing in professional events for some 19 years now. In the beginning, she worked at four jobs to fund her trips to international competitions. By the time she was 20, Layne was ranked sixth in the world. But in 1996 she suffered bouts of chronic fatigue and thought her surfing career might be over. Layne recovered and in 1998 won her first Women’s Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Title. She won the title again in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 making her the most successful female professional surfer the world has ever known.

A fearless big wave rider, inductee into the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame last year and winner of countless ASP titles, Layne somehow remains the same unaffected ‘kid’ she’s always been. She says the magnitude of her achievements seldom weigh her down. "I don't really think about it because I'm doing this because I love it. I'm passionate about what I do and that makes all the side-effects easier to deal with," she said. "Maybe when it's all said and done, I’ll sit back and reflect on it all."

P.S. Check out, Layne's new brand of sports clothing – Beachley Athletic – available in stores nationally. Like everything Layne does, it’s bound to be a huge success. 

The writer of The Drum, Dave Keogh, has been a professional writer for some 30 years, contributing to publications as broad as Modern Fishing and Outdoor, he honed a passion writing a regular column – Talking Tennis – for The Manly Daily. With a varied history including work as a music industry publicist, theatrical agent, band manager, poet, editor and tennis coach, he found his niche in advertising, and with loads of awards under his belt, Dave went into business on his own and now runs several very successful businesses, including an online community connecting sport-loving people – www.doubledrummer.com Most importantly, Dave loves sport, and is an avid supporter of The Manly Sea Eagles…