Local Teen Tanner Grogan Aiming To Boost Local Surf Community By Writer and Contributor Emily McGinn
Local teenager Tanner Grogan did not start envisioning a life as a surfer until a fortuitous occurrence five years ago introduced him to the sport.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Grogan — who was 11 at the time — found himself on a baseball team that was unable to play due to ongoing lockdowns and safety measures. So one day, one of the fathers on the team had an idea to take some of the team members out surfing. For Grogan, that day on the water was a life-changing moment.
“Ever since that day, I just kind of loved it,” Grogan says. “I was very passionate about the sport. I couldn't really get away from it, you know?”
He shifted his focus from other sports to focus solely on surfing. His mother, Carol, recalls the days when he started developing his passion for surfing.
“He said when he goes on the water, it makes him so happy,” Carol says. “He forgets every worry and is just so happy out there.”
Since then, Grogan, now nearly 17 years old and a student at Palos Verdes High School, has become an avid surfer. He has participated in competitions such as the South Bay Scholastic Surfing Association competition last year, where he placed first (out of 50) in longboard and sixth (out of 160) in shortboard, and the National Scholastic Surfing Association’s high school state championships, where he placed second in longboard last year.
While Grogan has scored plenty of awards, he adopts a growth mindset, focusing on improving rather than gathering accolades.
“I'm not a big person on awards and stuff. I get them, but that's not where I I like to look at,” Grogan says. “I like to look at the fact that when I see somebody better than me, I work really hard, and then I get better than them and prove to myself that I can surf better. And I just keep continuing that, from one person, to the next person, to the next person.”
Grogan has also managed to secure sponsorships with multiple brands, including Body Glove, surf-focused clothing brand AVVA, E.T. Surfboards and surfboard brand Barahona.
Now, he is hoping to pass along some of his surfing knowledge, with plans to offer surf lessons locally. He recalls how the dad from his baseball team taught him as a first-time surfer, through a step-by-step process that helped get him ready to surf out on the water. Since then, he has had plenty of great coaches who helped him refine his craft. Grogan hopes to pass that along to members of the local community and hopefully revitalize surf culture on the Hill.
“I just feel like so many people have taught me how to surf, and I feel like I want to spread that and show people what surfing really is,” he says. “There's not enough people surfing today. I feel like I go to my school and it's hard to find people that surf. In Manhattan, it's very fluent. But over on the Hill, it's kind of died out. And I feel like I want to see that come back.”
For Grogan’s family, surfing has become more than just a hobby — it is now a family activity. Grogan’s father and his younger brothers surf alongside him as well, and Carol credits it all to that fateful first outing with his baseball team during the pandemic.
“When COVID happened, it was a miserable time. But if COVID hadn’t happened, my whole family wouldn’t have learned to surf,” Carol says. “Every weekend, all my boys and my husband go surfing. It’s created a whole bond between them, all because that one dad had that one suggestion and because of COVID. Had COVID never happened, this beautiful thing would never have unraveled.”
Grogan looks up to professional surfers such as Griffin and Crosby Colapinto. Eventually, he hopes to go pro with his surfing, with plans to hopefully follow in the footsteps of other pro surfers, many of whom have also started their own clothing brands in addition to their surfing career.
You can check out Grogan’s surfing on his Instagram @tanner.grogan.
Bio:
Emily McGinn is a journalist based in the Los Angeles area. She enjoys reporting on and writing about a variety of topics from lifestyle to news, especially in her areas of specialty, environmental science and political science.