Amateur surfing on the south coast of São Paulo: lifestyle and work as factors of adherence to practice

Abstract

In the present study, we dealt with the relationship between lifestyle and adherence to the physical activity and discussed the conditions that make it possible for amateur to remain in a complex practice as surfing. For these purpose, we interviewed eleven surfers with over eleven years of uninterrupted practice on the South Coast of São Paulo. Through an analysis of the interviews content, it was possible to verify that their permanence is less influenced by gender issues, age and marital status (usually prioritized in the literature about this subject) than employment conditions. It is argued that adherence to surfing is linked to lifestyle and youth ideals, while the conditions for the continuity of the amateurs practice involves the family and employment ties, whose stability gives security to the routine and modulates the possibilities between social times and nature times. Thus, mature surfers narrate a way of life that values prudent attitudes as a way of redefining surfing in their lives, pointing out to a transformation of surf culture. It is considered that the relationship between permanence in practice and job stability deserves to be investigated in future studies.