Meet Lauren Fletcher – Returning Australian Women’s Professional Champion

PODCAST

TRANSCRIPT

LISA – Well hello everybody and welcome to yet another episode of BodyBoarder International Magazine – Live! We are at our new location and call ID 85770.  And if you’re hearing this you’ve found us!  Yay!

Okay, today we have a full house!  We have Patti – hi Patti!

PATTI – Hi!

LISA – We have Allison.

ALLISON – Hello!

LISA – Hello!  And of course we have our new victim – I mean interviewee!

PATTI – Ha ha!

LISA – And that’s Lauren Fletcher.  And Lauren, I have it titled here as, “Returning Australian Women’s Professional Champion” – does that sound about right?

LAUREN – Yeah, that’s it!

LISA – That’s it!  Alright!  So we’ve got a full house today.  And I don’t even know where to go!  So we’re going to do an interview here in just a few minutes but all of a sudden I’m going like, “Okay, what do I do next…?”

PATTI – Well I think you should probably start by telling people that you do work the evening shift and, you know, you’re up like now at 5 o’clock and it’s kind of hard to think when you haven’t had any sleep…

LISA – Oh yeah, that’s true.  That’s true.  Yeah, and I’ve talked to some of the people in scheduling interviews – I’ve got several that are slowly getting lined up.  I’ve got another guy out in California, I’ve got someone out in Puerto Rico, I’ve got a couple more people in Australia that I’m getting lined up for interviews – and I think that the biggest challenge that I’m facing is the difference in time zones.

And the other that adds a wrench in the whole plan is the fact that I do work night shifts normally.  So, on the East Coast side I’m actually coming home and getting to bed at the time everyone’s getting up.  So in some ways my schedule isn’t all that different from the Australian time zone – but (laughs) still, just trying to coordinate it all and getting everybody… We’ve got Patti out in – what is that, is that Mountain time?

PATTI – Yeah, I’m in Mountain zone – that’s an hour ahead of Pacific zone.

LISA – That’s right, that’s right.  So trying to schedule interviews when I’ve got California and the Pacific, and I’ve got Patti on Mountain time; I’ve got me on Eastern time, and then we’ve got people like Lauren who are on – what is that, Australian Eastern time or something like that?

LAUREN – That’s right – Australian Eastern time.

LISA – Okay, somebody just messaged me.  Who was that?  That’s right – oh hi!  You know, Patti’s over here messaging me, poking me, saying, “Hey, don’t forget to tell everybody about…”  Oh, oh, I know what – is the website is www.BIMwebTV.com.  There is more and more stuff going on there.  There is a neat little plug-in that lets you see everybody else that’s checking out the site too, and you can see where everybody’s coming from.  And it’s really cool because you’ve got all the usual places, like Portugal, California, Australia – and then you have some other places like Colorado!

PATTI – Hah!

LISA – And I think we have a couple of people in China… Japan… I mean, it’s really cool so check that out on the… hold on a second – my computer’s about to die!  That’s probably not a good thing right now, is it?

So we’ve got that new tool on the website that everyone can go and see who else is looking at it. And also, on the Fan Page, which is www.Facebook.com/BIMwebTV, I have… we finally reached three thousand people Patti, Allison, Lauren!

PATTI – Yay!  You’re a rock star when it comes to getting people!  My word!

LISA – Oh yeah!  I’m just out there like just posting all kinds of stuff and just really trying to recruit everybody. And I apologize – I’m like kind of rambling here behind the scenes trying to grab the…

ALLISON – Yeah, let’s start here with Lauren now (laughs). So I just want to say, Lauren, congratulations on your comeback victory a little while ago– that was what, about a month ago or so?

LAUREN – Yeah, it was around a month ago.  Thank you!  It’s been a long time in coming back to the sport but I’m loving it!

ALLISON – Cool!  What was the name of the contest that you won?  I don’t have it in my mind right now – what was that called?

LAUREN – It was called the Port Macquarie Trial.  It is part of the Australian Professional Tour.

ALLISON – Okay, that’s awesome!

PATTI – What did you do – did you retire and then come back?

LAUREN – Yeah, I retired back around 2001/2002 from competition and pretty much just went into a working life, and bought a house, and did the sort of life thing…  And I missed bodyboarding a lot and so started competing again!

PATTI – Wow!  So what division are you in?  Do they have like Women’s age divisions or… how does that work?

LAUREN – It’s actually the Open Professional Division.  They’ve got an Amateur State and Amateur National Division as well – but I’m in the Open Professional one.

PATTI – How cool!

LISA – So are you competing against guys as well, or is it just the women?

LAUREN – Just the women at the moment.  But if I go in any club events I’m sure I’ll compete against the guys again!

LISA – (laugh) Cool, cool!  Well I’m looking at your Bio that you have here, and I just want to kind of run down this for anybody who’s not familiar with your history – because I wasn’t until I read this!  But we’ve got here, “The first Australian Professional Women’s Champion in 1998; three times Queensland Open Women’s Champion ‘96/’98/2001.  And it looks like surfing 15-18 foot… whoa… And spending six weeks in Hawaii in the Winter Season ’98 and ’99…”

So you’ve already got a little bit of some of that under your belt now!  So how does it feel getting back into it?

LAUREN – I think it’s just awesome!  I’ve always missed bodyboarding when I haven’t surfed.  And I think getting back into it has brought back the hunger for competition and, yeah, I really, really, really missed it and I’m looking forward to getting back into it again.

LISA – Well that’s really cool.

PATTI – Hey Lisa, I’ve got a question for an Australian…

LISA – Sure!

PATTI – For an Aussie! Do you guys in Australia, when you go bodyboarding do you call it “going surfing”?

LAUREN – Yeah, yeah, we call it “going surfing”

PATTI – Okay!  Because my brain… when you said that, I went, “I wonder if she meant going actual surfing – or did she mean going bodyboarding?”  I was just curious.

ALLISON – I always say that too; it’s just quicker. “Surfing” is less syllables than “Bodyboarding” so it’s kind of…yeah, sometimes I say that too

LAUREN – Yeah, we get a little bit lazy in Australia!

PATTI – Well you know, my whole thing was like, when I first started like – I’m not going to tell you how many years ago! – it was like we were really trying to create this sport!  So like these young kids would come down to the beach and they’d go, you know, “Oh, surfing this / surfing that…”  And I’d go, “Now listen you guys – if you want to make this a real sport you’ve got to start calling it ‘Going bodyboarding.’ Now, when you go to the snow with your snowboards, do you say, ‘Oh, we’re going to go skiing.’?  No!  You say bodyboarding or snowboarding!”

So that’s the only reason I thought maybe you might be a surfer too – because you did say that.  So that’s cool.  So now we know you’re strictly a bodyboarder, right?

LAUREN – Yeah, definitely!

PATTI – Okay, cool!  Well then you’re good, you’re good!

LISA – Ha ha!  She approves!  You know, to be fair, I know Patti had a very strategic angle there with the whole marketing bodyboarding and getting it out to everybody.  I mean, look at that – it started over here, and here we’ve got Australian champions that have totally blown the US away!  So, Patti, you did your job!

PATTI – It’s so… really, you can’t even IMAGINE what it feels like to me to be… and I’m going to take a picture of me out at Cocoa Beach Pier with all the little kids around when, you know, they hadn’t even seen a Boogie Board in their life!  And now to think we have Lauren and all these champions, and women, here and there… who would have thought?  You know, it’s just like – Wow!

LISA – I mean, that’s great!  Hey Lauren, I have another question for you.  Getting back into it – how has that been like in terms of preparing for it?  I mean, like did you find that you were like out of practice, out of shape?  I mean, how difficult was it to kind of get back up to speed?

LAUREN – Well I’m a lot out of shape from back in… when I won the Australian Pro Tour – which is pretty understandable…

LISA – Of course, yeah!

LAUREN – Preparation… I surfed a few times before my first contest when I came back into it – and didn’t do too well… but I surfed a bit between the first contest and the second and, yeah, took out the second contest.  So I’m pretty happy with that!

LISA – Wow!  Yeah, that’s something to brag about, that’s pretty exciting!  I’m trying to think what else to ask…  Anyone have any questions?

ALLISON – Yeah, Lauren, you have the first distinction of being the first Aussie female to ride Waimea.  Is that true?

LAUREN – Yeah that’s true!

ALLISON – Wow!  Tell us about what that was like.

LAUREN – Oh it was just… it was massive that day!  I went down to the beach at Waimea, and Tim Jones was filming.  And I went down with Emma Roby; sat there and watched the Bay for a while…  And about half an hour before I paddled out, the Bay closed out twice.  So I thought, “Well, I’ll just paddle out.”  And I paddled out… I asked Emma if she wanted to come out with me and she refused…

LISA – Wow!

LAUREN – And I paddled out on my own and there was around maybe 30 guys out there.  And I was trying to get waves, but it was so hard to get waves so I paddled in to where it was all boiling up on the inside and got a couple of waves.  But I remember one set I just scraped under, and I looked up and the whole of my view was just blue with these waves that are huge!

LISA – Oh my God!

PATTI – How big was it?

LAUREN – They were calling it 15-18 Hawaiian.

PATTI – Wow!

ALLISON– Which is the backs of the waves – whereas over here… I don’t know about Australia – but usually they go by the face…

PATTI – Wow!  How’d it feel?

LAUREN – Oh, it’s like pretty much… describing surfing those sort of waves is like paddling onto waves as big as a three-story house and looking straight down!

LISA – Wow!  I think I’d have a heart attack!

PATTI – Ha ha! I think the drop would look like it would be kind of fun, you know, just the scope of it; but I think if one that like lands on you and closes out… Did you make it?  Or what happened?

LAUREN – Yeah, I made it.  It’s not really fun to go out on these waves because you’re pretty much in the air longer than you’re actually on the wave, because a tiny bit of chop will just throw you into the air.

PATTI – Yeah.

LISA – Wow!

PATTI – So do you paddle out or do you get pulled out?

LAUREN – I paddled out.  It’s easy to paddle out to the Bay because you just sort of paddle out on the right-hand side and then go to the left and you don’t even have to duckdive much really.

PATTI – Well that’s cool.  Awesome!

LISA – Yeah, that’s definitely a major distinction.  And I’m really glad to be starting this interview with you Lauren!  I don’t know if anyone heard any of my other podcasts, but one of the things that I am planning on doing is doing a whole segment on female bodyboarders – so thanks, Lauren, for being a guinea pig in my interview process!  I greatly appreciate it.

Is there anything else that anybody else wants to ask before I…?

PATTI – I would just… I don’t know how old you are, Lauren, but I was just curious – what do you see the future of bodyboarding in Australia, or even around the world? Do you think it’s like dead, or is it growing, or…?

LAUREN – When I first got into bodyboarding it was still run by surfing companies; everyone was buying surf brands like Rip Curl, Billabong, Quicksilver and all that.  Then, back in the late 90’s, the surf brands dropped a lot of their bodyboarders and went with just surfers, and then bodyboard brands started and bodyboarders are now supporting their own companies.  So I think that it’s really coming into its own and I think it’s only a matter of time before it burns again – where everyone buys bodyboarding brands and supports bodyboarding companies.

PATTI – Yeah, I would have to agree with you on that!  What is your favorite, of all the places you’ve travelled, what is your absolute favorite spot you’ve ever… you know, just like you were in heaven when you were out there?  Where would you say that was?

LAUREN – I’d probably have to say Western Australia, in Margaret River area.

PATTI – Really?

LAUREN – Big waves, heavy waves – it’s just everything!

LISA – Yeah, I’ve seen pictures of that and video and stuff… of course I’ve never been to Australia – not yet!  But, yeah, pretty nice out there!

PATTI – Well I just think, Lisa, this is so absolutely cool that we’ve got Australia, the United States West Coast, the United States East Coast on the line – congratulations for your diligence in putting these podcasts together!

LISA – Oh, thanks!  And thanks to Lauren for being so willing to do this.  This is like… I think she’s got to be going to work pretty soon – it’s like early, early in the morning for you right now isn’t it, Lauren?

LAUREN – Yeah, it’s nearly quarter past seven.

PATTI – Oh, wow!

LISA – Alright, well I’m going to go ahead and wrap up this interview… actually let me make sure – Allison, do you have any other questions? Or anybody else have any other questions before we wrap up?

ALLISON – Let’s see… well, Lauren, what do you think your plans are for your own bodyboarding career in the future?  To keep competing, doing photos, or just doing it more at a kind of recreational level?

LAUREN – I’d like to get more photos and maybe some video as well – and keep competing and bodyboarding because I love it so much!  And I want to see more girls get out there!  I get stoked on seeing girls doing airs, getting barrels and drop knee and everything – so that pushes me to keep going as well.

LISA – Oh that’s great!  Because that really… that makes you a real – I think I had mentioned this to you before – that you are like a leader or a model for the younger women that are wanting to get into bodyboarding or want to pursue a professional career.  I want to thank you for being that example!  Yay!

PATTI – Yay!

LISA – I know that sounds cheesy – but yay!

(laughter)

ALLISON – The queen of cheese!

LISA- I am the queen of cheese, that’s right!  But thank you so much for your example!

I guess the only other question that I would have is, you know, is there anything that you’d want to say to anybody out there, just in terms of is there a theme or an idea or a message that you’d like…?  Okay, you’ve got one chance to say something to that new bodyboarder out there – what would you say to them?  How’s that for putting you on the spot?

LAUREN – (laughs) I think probably the best thing I can say is just do what you love doing and have fun with it and really don’t take it as seriously as… well, don’t take it too seriously – just have fun with it and enjoy it!  Enjoy life!

LISA – Oh, very cool.  Thank you so much.  Alright, well we are going to wrap this one up now. Thank you so much, Lauren, for putting up with all the “20 questions”, and definitely good luck with your comeback!

LAUREN – Thank you!

LISA – So everybody check out the website – that’s www.BIMwebTV.com.  The interview will be up.  Lauren also submitted a Bio which we’re going to have posted shortly here too.  So we’ll have pictures, the video will be going up soon, the podcast – and again, that’s www.BIMwebTV.com.

And of course check out the Fan Page at www.Facebook.com/BIMwebTV.

And I’m going to wrap up for today – and we will see you guys next time.  And of course I gotta fall off the page…  Oh no!  Alright, you guys – I’ll talk to you all soon!  Bye-bye.

Source: Bodyboarder Int’l Magazine – Live! – Meet Lauren Fletcher – Returning Australian Women’s Professional Champion