A native Californian, Giuia Grady is no stranger to the sea. A lot of guys in her high school surfed. Grady attended the beachside University of California, Santa Barbara, where, she says, “You smell it (the ocean), see it, hear it.” While no one in her coastal family expressed interest in ocean recreation sports, Grady was curious but didn’t formally meet the sea until college, when she took advantage of the opportunity to get research certified in scuba diving, a great fit for a biology major.

Her one college attempt to get up on a board “flopped,” she said. Her husband, Ken, generally considers the ocean a “place that gives us stuff to eat,” and as they relocated a few times and had kids, surfing would take a long summer break as Grady “waited for one kid to be interested in the ocean.” The Grady’s daughter, Ella, a high school sophomore, has interests not tied to the sand, so it was up to their son,
Sam, a fifth grader at Great Falls Elementary School.

In the summer of 2016, Sam expressed the desire to try surfing so mother and son went to Surf Camp Maine in Scarborough Beach State Park. The school offers camps for all ages as well as individual instruction. Sam was standing on his board in the first twenty minutes, but Giuia struggled, reminiscent of her earlier attempt. With Sam seeming stoked to make surfing a component of his life, and the beach so close to home, Giuia was determined to learn. She approached the off-season methodically, and in March began working with coach Joe Young at Gorham’s My-Fit-24, with a program designed specifically toward her surfing goal.