Introducing Allison Cohen

PODCAST

TRANSCRIPT

LISA – Well hello everybody and welcome to yet another episode of BodyBoarder International Magazine – Live! You’ve found us again in our new location, and that is Podcast 85770. And today I’m almost solo! I’m trying to do this without Patti – so, you know, we’ll see how it goes! Anyway, I have some interesting stuff going on, and I actually have a guest on today – and today we’re going to be interviewing our up-until-recently-silent partner in BodyBoarder International Magazine – Live! – and we have Allison Cohen here. How’re you doing Allison?

ALLISON – Hey Lisa, how’re you doing?

LISA – I’m great! I’m always great! I’m always nervous when I’m doing this – I think I said in one of the previous podcasts that when I hear that announcement it’s like this huge rush – because I know I’m getting ready to have a great conversation, and it’s just… it’s always so thrilling; it’s almost like being out in the water… well, maybe not quite, right?

ALLISON – Yeah, I know what you mean! That Talk Shoe little jingle or whatever it is that comes on.

LISA – I know, I know! And you know what some people do? I’ve been listening to some of the other podcasts; they have their own like little music or intro that happens like right after that. Maybe we could do something like that in the future? I don’t know – we’ll see, we’ll see.

ALLISON – That would be good!

LISA – Yeah! Anyway, I just wanted to jump right in here and start with the interview. I’ll do a little bit of a spiel about BIM in a few minutes – but I just want to jump right on in.

Allison, number one, I want to thank you because without you I wouldn’t be here doing BIM! And the reason that I’m saying this is because actually I went on the E-Bodyboarding website just a few weeks ago and I was taking a look through some of the posts they had there and I found the original post that Patti Serrano had done, talking about, “Hey, here’s an opportunity for someone who loves the sport and wants to do Internet media, to…” you know, it was a great opportunity…

ALLISON – Yeah, I remember that.

LISA – And you were the one that pointed that out to me to begin with. And without you pointing that out to me, it’s like I wouldn’t even be here. So thank you!

ALLISON – No problem!

LISA – No problem, alright! So, I’m just going to jump in here and ask you a few questions – are you ready?

ALLISON – Sure!

LISA – Alright! Okay, the first thing is – and I think these are the questions that a lot of people ask, or want to hear – when did you get started in bodyboarding?

ALLISON – Well I started about 1988 when I was living… I grew up in New Jersey, so I was eleven years old back then and I had a little foamie board from one of the hardware stores I guess that my mom got me.

LISA – Oh, wow! Uh-huh!

ALLISON – Yeah! And I’m thirty-three now so I guess that’s, you know, do the math! (laughs)

LISA – Oh, right – so you’ve been bodyboarding for twenty-some years now, right? Did I do the math right?

ALLISON – Yeah!

LISA – That’s awesome! So you’ve really devoted yourself to the sport, haven’t you?

ALLISON – Yeah, I guess it’s been my main passion. It’s what made me move to Florida after high school graduation because I mean, even though Florida is not known for the best waves, but growing up in New Jersey with the freezing weather, I kind of, you know, I needed to get away from that.

LISA – Oh, right, right! Well the water’s so much warmer down here, I know. I mean, I know when I’ve gone up north and gotten in the water up there it’s like, “Oh! Gosh!” you know?

ALLISON – Yeah! In summer it’s okay, but yeah…

LISA – Sure. So what was bodyboarding like in New Jersey?

ALLISON – Well there were a lot more bodyboarders up there than there are here in Florida, especially at the time when I started. There were a lot of kids out in the water that….you get inspired to ride, you know.

LISA – Okay! One of the questions that I had was what are some of the usual spots that you go to?

ALLISON – Around here…Lake Worth…

LISA – Around here / in New Jersey – whatever. The usual spots; when you’re up in New Jersey, or when you’re down here, you know, what are some of the spots that you frequent?

ALLISON – Well in New Jersey I usually go back to Belmar which is where I started, and sometimes Long Beach Island…

LISA – That’s right…

ALLISON – And Long Beach Island which is in South Jersey. But around here, Lake Worth is the local spot, you know, the closest spot. So I… usually it breaks pretty good; it’s not that consistent, but when we do have a swell it’s always fun there.

LISA – Oh yeah!

ALLISON – And other times I go up to Fort Pierce or sometimes Indialantic. I lived up there for a while so sometimes I do daytrips up there.

LISA – Okay, that’s right! I know they have competitions in Cocoa Beach and places like that, you know, fairly frequently it seems like.

ALLISON – Yeah, those are more surf competitions though.

LISA – That’s true, that’s true.

ALLISON – Yeah, but the FBA does like… they have contests like Flagler which is North Florida, and Melbourne and Vero – those seem to be the spots that they have the contests at.

LISA – Oh, okay. So you’ve done some contests with FBA, right? What are some of the other contests that you’ve done?

ALLISON – Yeah, I’ve just done a couple with the FBA. I’m always the only girl! (laughs)

LISA – Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well actually, now that you bring that up there, what do you think – this is a question I have been kind of wondering, as I’ve been talking to people on Facebook and elsewhere – is like what’s your vibe on like the female bodyboarders here in the United States, elsewhere? You know?

ALLISON – My vibe on it…

LISA – What’s your vibe on it; I mean like I’ve noticed when I got out and I’m on the beach and stuff like that, it’s like 99 percent guys. I mean, I think the only times that I’ve actually seen other female bodyboarders is when we’ve gone to like women’s surf events or bodyboard events. So, you know, is there a difference between the attitudes here as opposed to other countries?

ALLISON – Yeah, it seems like it. I mean, Brazil obviously has, I mean, it is probably fifty/fifty there with male and female… maybe more toward women…

LISA – Oh is it?

ALLISON – I don’t know because I haven’t been there – it’s stuff that I’ve read over the years. And apparently Australia has a pretty good population of women bodyboarders; I was just talking to somebody from Australia recently about that.

LISA – Oh, yeah!

ALLISON – Here it doesn’t seem to be that many, especially on the East Coast.

LISA – Especially on the East Coast, yeah. Well you mentioned some of the Australian bodyboarders, and I know that there’s some like – I can’t remember the name of it and I’m probably going to slaughter it – but it’s something like the Women’s Bodyboarding Association that’s located in Australia. Because I know there’s…I know I’ve been talking to a couple different people on Facebook – and if anybody wants to check out BIM Web TV on Facebook it’s www.facebook.com/BIMwebTV – and I know there seems to be a strong presence on the web, anyway, I see a lot of the Australian riders; I see a lot of the like Port Macquarie – I’m going to slaughter the names here, I’m sorry…

ALLISON – Yeah, I’m not sure how exactly it’s pronounced, but I know what you’re talking about. (laughs)

LISA – Yeah, that’s our Americanism; (laughs) we slaughter anything… yeah! Alright, yeah! But I guess that’s one thing that I find is just interesting – is that there’s not as many of like the female bodyboarders here, at least, like you said, on the East Coast. Now, if I recall, you went out to the West Coast – where did you go when you went out there?

ALLISON – Oh, to California.

LISA – Yeah!

ALLISON – I surfed in the San Diego area; and T Street…Newport…40th Street, Newport. Yeah, there were definitely more down female bodyboarders out there, especially at T Street I remember, and Newport as well.

LISA – Ahh, okay.

ALLISON – Yeah. I mean, around here, especially ever since that – what was that movie, Blue Crush that came out…

LISA – Oh yeah!

ALLISON – There’s been an explosion of female standup surfing, but not so much bodyboarding. So I’m usually the only one out there, you know, locally. But I don’t know… I don’t really mind being the oddball out in the water riding something different and doing dropknee – because very few people do that around here. And I get questions about it which is cool.

LISA – Yeah!

ALLISON – It’d be nice to have a little… some more women out there bodyboarding or just people bodyboarding in general (laughs)

LISA – Yeah, more representation out there.

ALLISON – Yeah!

LISA – Now you mentioned that you do dropknee. I also know that you do other like, what do you call it, like “alternative wave riding” as opposed to the standard stuff.

ALLISON – Yeah!

LISA – What are some of the things that you… tell me a little bit about that.

ALLISON – Yeah, I’ve been the last few years, maybe three or four years or so, I’ve gotten into paipo riding and kneeboarding, just to do some different stuff; to experience new ways, different ways of riding the waves. I mean, bodyboarding is still my favorite but I like to do… you know, I like to dabble in the…

LISA – Mix it up a little bit!

ALLISON – Yeah, exactly!

LISA – Very cool, very cool. Well I think… I’m just going down a list here of questions – and I apologize if it sounds like I’m reading them off a list – it’s because I am!

ALLISON – Ha ha! That’s okay!

LISA – Ha ha! And I’m like, okay, what other questions do I ask? So one of the things that I especially wanted to get you in here for, for an interview is I wanted people to get to know “Allison,” you know. What I bring to the BodyBoarder International Magazine – Live! is my experience with web stuff; you know, I was working at a sports website like back in the late Nineties…

ALLISON – Yeah!

LISA – So I’ve been doing sports on the web for a long time, you know, I have that experience. But, you know… and I love bodyboarding; to me it’s such a cool sport that really… it is open to everybody – and you have the recreational riders, you have the hardcore riders, you have the contest riding. To me all that stuff is really, really… it is very inspiring for me, to be a part of it and to do this venture.

ALLISON – Yeah!

LISA – And what I’m really counting on in BIM is YOUR expertise; because I know, like I’ve seen some of your posts on the Fan Page – and if you guys ever want to, you know, chat up with Allison, she posts some stuff on, again the Fan Page, which is www.Facebook.com/BIMwebTV – I promote that again; and I know you did some really good discussion on the dropknee and some other posts there.

ALLISON – Yeah!

LISA – So it’s like I’m really hoping to tap into your expertise; I mean, twenty years, you’ve been bodyboarding for over twenty years now. I mean, if there’s anything that you could say to people out there who, you know, either they’re just finding the podcast or they’re kind of catching some small waves; nothing major – what would you tell them, in terms of YOUR love of the sport? That was a big question, wasn’t it?

ALLISON – Hey, one sec, my dog…

LISA – Okay, alright!

ALLISON – I’m sorry, what was the question again? About what would I tell them?

LISA – Well, you know, you’ve been bodyboarding for twenty-plus years and I know you’re very dedicated because I know you go out constantly, and I mean, that’s a great thing. What would you tell to other bodyboarders out there who are interested in, you know, getting more involved in it beyond just the little dime store, they’re not dime stores anymore, but, you know, the little cheap foamies – if they really wanted to get into the sport, what would you tell them?

ALLISON – Well, if there’s a local contest around – not that contest riding is everything, but that’s a good way to meet other people that are into the same thing…

LISA – Oh that’s a great idea, yeah!

ALLISON – And it’s also a way of seeing better… because if you surf with better riders then it kind of pushes you to do maneuvers that you might not have seen otherwise. So, yeah, that would probably be a good place to start.

LISA – Right, checking out the contests.

ALLISON – Yeah, yeah. I’m more into free surfing myself but I like to go to the contests once in a while.

LISA – Oh it’s always fun to see.

ALLISON – A little bit of both is good.

LISA – Exactly, exactly. Anything else that you want to tell anybody before I wrap up for today?

ALLISON – Not really; I think that’s…

LISA – Yeah, I think we got it all, huh?

ALLISON – Yeah, I think so!

LISA – Alright! Well thank you so much for putting up with my interview style! As I continue podcasting here I’ll get a little better, and better, and better – and this will be AWESOME, right? And I’ve got some big shoes to fill because I know Patti’s an awesome interviewer, so I’ve got a lot of responsibility there to live up to that – and I’m sure I will. And I want to thank you so much for taking the time. I’m really appreciative of your participation in BIM and I’m sure that our fans are going to see lots of great things coming out of BodyBoarder International Magazine – Live! coming up soon.

So for anybody who wants to check us out, you can check us out on the web at www.BIMwebTV.com. And of course I’ve plugged the Facebook Page several times – that’s www.Facebook.com/BIMwebTV. We’re starting to get into Twitter; I haven’t really done a lot of that yet, but that’s www.Twitter.com/BIMwebTV. So stick around – we’re going to have lots more fun stuff coming up! And we’ll catch you guys next time on BodyBoarder International Magazine – Live!

Source: Bodyboarder Int’l Magazine – Live! – Introducing Allison Cohen