Brett Simpson is no stranger to performing under pressure.
The Huntington Beach surfer, in front of thousands of fans, twice claimed victory in his hometown at surfing’s biggest arena – the US Open of Surfing – solidifying his spot as one of the country’s best surfers.
Now a decade after his historic back-to-back wins, Simpson has a new wave to conquer: helping Team USA clinch a gold medal when surfing debuts on the Olympic stage in Japan for the first time next year.
Simpson has been named the official coach of USA Surfing’s Olympic team, which includes San Clemente’s Kolohe Andino, Florida native Caroline Marks, who now calls San Clemente home, and Hawaiian surfers John John Florence and Carissa Moore.
The former Huntington Beach High School surf team captain was once a rival against some of the team members he’s now charged with leading.
Preparation is key
You have to give 100 percent and be totally prepared.
That was advice Brett Simpson’s father, Bill, gave his son as he started showing an interest in surfing not just for fun, but as a career with aspirations to be one of the world’s best.
“At first, I didn’t know if it was something he wanted to feel out or if he was going to really throw himself into it,” Bill Simpson said in a 2012 article. “You could see almost immediately he had an attraction to it that was a total magnetic pull.”
The older Simpson knew a thing or two about how to make the ranks of the top competitive level that few reach, he was a pro football player for eight seasons, five of them with the Los Angeles Rams.
Huntington Beach High School surf coach Andy Verdone early on noticed the younger Simpson’s competitive drive and his innate ability to lead, naming him team captain in 2003.
“He’s a natural coach,” Verdone said. “He cares more about others than himself. That makes a great coach.”
Verdone said Simpson has something called “quick twitch,” a speed and athletic ability that he could have applied to any ball sport he wanted.
“He could jump, shoot a basketball, hit a baseball, throw a football. He’s just an amazing athlete,” Verdone said. “When you translate that to surfing, you become the best in the world.”
After high school, Verdone and surf fans watched as Simpson made his mark at his home surf break, solidifying his spot as one of the best in American surf history when he clinched the two U.S. Open of Surfing titles in 2009 and 2010, Verdone said.
He joined the ranks of the top surfers on the World Tour, from 2010 to 2015, traveling the world to chase waves and compete.
“I’m very, very proud of him. I think it’s a great choice,” Verdone said. “He’s an absolute a fierce competitor with an overall goal in mind: to win, always. That’s what will transition into great coaching.”
Keep it Simpo
Simpson, 35, on Monday was still soaking in the news, calling it “pretty surreal.”
In 2018, Simpson put his hands and feet in cement as one of the inductees for the Surfers’ Hall of Fame in front of Huntington Surf and Sport. He wrote a message in the wet concrete: “Keep it Simpo,” a nickname he’s been called through the years.
That’s going to be the strategy heading the Olympic team, making sure the team stays positive and keeping them taken care of and prepared as they head to the summer games.
“You have to understand each athlete and what works with them well,” Simpson said. “And try and bring that team chemistry when we are together.”
As athletes who are the best in the world, he’s taking on less of a teaching role – they all have their own personal coaches – rather he will be someone there to guide the team, he said.
“They are still hungry as ever to learn and find new ways to win and find ways to get better,” he said. “I’m super excited. You almost have those nerves too, you have to perform, put the right words in their ears and have them be as confident as possible. It’s another challenge in a different way for me, which I feel up for.”
Simpson is no stranger to the team, from the other side of the roster, going up against both Andino and Florence in match ups during his years competing on tour.
“You’re finding ways – how can I beat this guy? You’re always analyzing, doing that work,” he said. “I feel like I’ve been around them for quite a long time.”
USA Surfing CEO Greg Cruse said Simpson was not just picked by the surfers on the team, but also the USA Surfing’s athlete advisory committee, which also includes Santa Ana’s Courtney Conlogue, who won the US Open of Surfing alongside Simpson in 2009.
The surfers got to see first-hand how Simpson operated when he started coaching the USA Surfing junior team, earning a taste of gold when the team took home first place at the ISA World Junior Championships, held last year in Huntington Beach.
Simpson said he’s been off the World Tour long enough to be able to take a step back as a competitor and come in with a coaching perspective. Though the Olympic postponement was a bummer, he said, it has turned into a blessing.
“It kind of gives us more time to prepare and focus for next year,” Simpson said.
There’s challenges, like two of the surfers being from Hawaii where there’s tight travel restrictions and continuing coronavirus rules. He hopes the team will be practicing in upcoming months in Huntington and Newport, where there are waves similar to what they’ll be competing in during the Olympics.
Looking back at his career, Simpson said he hopes his experience on the podium in front of throngs of surfing fans at the U.S. Open of Surfing will help give him the edge he needs to lead his team to victory.
“I always thrive for that, the bigger the stage,” he said. “I think these athletes definitely do that, they thrive in that format. It really pulls the best out of you.”
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