Lowes And Highs: Sammy's Radical Year

“Sammy started coming on hard last season yet he was never accepted into any of the development programmes. It was the best thing that could ever happen to him. He had to work even harder and that's the greatest lesson there is.” - Andy King
 

At the end of 2023, Sammy Lowe, then aged 16 years old, wrote down a list of goals he wanted to achieve in the coming year. The list was four lines long and was stuck to his bedside mirror where he’d be forced to look at it every day.

Yet just hours after the new year ticked over, Sammy came unstuck on a wave in Hawaii injuring himself and enduring a prolonged recovery. No-one would’ve blamed the kid if he went back to his bedside mirror and wiped the list away.

The list, however, stayed intact, as it did when Sammy suffered another injury and another one after that too.

Sammy had a year of extremes, to put it mildly. It started with surgery and weeks without walking, and ended with a triumphant chair up the beach on the shoulders of mates. Yet the path from one to the other was far from straightforward.

The best way to tell the story of Sammy's year is to go back to the beginning. January 1st, 2024.

“I was out at Rocky Rights,” explains Sammy, talking about New Year's Day in Hawaii. "It wasn't that big but it was a really long period swell so it was shallow. I took off, aimed for an oncoming section, did a lipline floater then landed and fell onto my back. I then hit a rock underwater.”

The obvious next question is ‘where on his body did Sammy get hit?’ But the answer to that is somewhat tender. Let’s call the impact site No Man’s Land and move the story along.

“I told a friend on the beach that I’d hit a rock,” recounts Sammy, “but then the adrenaline must’ve worn off and I passed out and had to sit down, drink some water, then slowly walk up to my friend’s house at Rocky Lefts."

After a quick shower, one of Sammy’s friends pointed out that he was bleeding, and not a little bit but a lot. “It was just pouring out,” says Sammy. Seeing the blood flow was his first inkling something was seriously wrong.

Sammy was raced to Kapiolani Children’s Hospital in Waikiki where he was stabilised then operated on for a ruptured urethra. Readers who have the stomach for it may wish to search the symptoms of a ruptured urethra but it’s safe to say that, post-surgery, Sammy's only comfort was a healthy dose of painkillers and a prolonged period of supination: No walking, he couldn’t even sit up.

The American hospital system is no place for a visitor, especially a teenager far from home. Sammy's mum Amanda immediately flew in on a red-eye to provide emotional support, yet there were physical realities to face: Sammy couldn’t fly and it’d be weeks, months perhaps, before he could surf again.

Sammy spent two more weeks on the North Shore, drifting about in a parallel universe to the trip he thought he’d be having. In mid-January he was healthy enough to fly home to Thirroul where he spent six more weeks recovering. 

“I was in so much pain every single day for eight weeks,” says Sammy. “Like, it didn’t get better the whole time.”

The list of goals, meanwhile, stayed unaltered on his bedside mirror.

Sammy charging into 2024 (Amanda Lokys)

“Sammy originally came in here for general training but after that first injury we had to start specialising. He told me what his goals were and I knew we had to get to work - fortunately Sammy knows how to work hard.” - Ash Nisbet, Coal Coast Fitness

“Beware the wounded warrior.” - Parrish Byrne.

Sammy Lowe, for older readers who may be wondering, is the son of Mick Lowe. Lowey Snr. spent ten years on the Championship Tour, coming sixth in the world in 2002, which was the year he won Fiji and came runner-up at J-Bay. 

Second-generation surfers are always looked upon in a certain way; that they’re perhaps slipstreaming in the path set by their successful parent. Yet there are any number of countervailing theories to that viewpoint and they’re applicable to Sammy Lowe. For one, modern competition is cut-throat with no-one conceding an inch irrespective of how much of a legend Mick Lowe was. Then there’s the fact that human lives are complex and Sammy has seen that the realities of pro surfing don’t always match the rosy view looking in. While parenting, of course, is a shared arrangement and in the case of Sammy, his mum Amanda is every bit as influential as his old boy. The most obvious sign is in Sammy’s commitment to school.

Amanda is a teacher at The Illawarra Grammar School where Sammy is an enthusiastic student. “I’m not a straight-A student,” says Sammy bashfully. “I could probably do better if it wasn’t for surfing, but I really like school.”

Though he didn’t say it, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn Sammy had a list of educational goals set next to his surfing ones. Indeed, he’s got ambitions for Year 12 and beyond, and they got a healthy kick through early 2024 when Sammy's injury meant all his spare time was spent either in the gym or with his head in the books.

Speaking of those surfing goals. They took a big hit when Sammy missed the first major junior contest of the year through injury. Australia’s Junior Series has approximately sixty contests with various points rankings, but only five of them are majors, worth 10,000 points each. Furthermore, the winners of each age division are decided on just their best three results. To miss a major was a big blow.

“People already had scores on the board and I was just sitting at home in bed,” says Sammy. “It was tough.”

Fortunately there were a few months before the next major comp, Parko’s Junior Pro on the Sunshine Coast. With his body feeling better, Sammy made a last-minute entry into the Ride The Wave Festival at Port Macquarie. He won that, got a few points on the board, but more importantly it boosted his confidence. He continued the road trip north.

Sammy made the Quarters at Parko’s Junior Pro but came away with mixed feelings. Yeah, he came fifth, got amongst the points, but the Quarter-Final heat was a cruel lesson in emotional control. After a diabolical start to the heat, Sammy pulled it back with an 8-point ride in the last three minutes. Then with ten seconds on the clock he paddled into a great left, punted and spun, but claimed it before he rode out. The board nosedived, judges deemed the ride incomplete.

“It was pretty funny,” says Sammy ruefully, “but lesson learnt. Still, the result got me back in the mix.”

By now it was May, autumn was in full swing bringing with it many south swells at the local reefs. Sammy’s body was healing and he could rack up hours in the surf.

A surprise wildcard into the Sydney Pro Junior led to a Semi-Final finish, including some big name scalps along the way. “I had a really, really good run in the contest,” says Sammy. “I had no expectations; I’d never done one before.”

Parlaying his Pro Junior confidence into the next contest, the Australian Interschools Titles, Sammy won the Senior Men's division. To be the Australian High School Champion was one of the goals he'd set at the start of the year. When he returned home, Sammy visited the bedside mirror and put a tick against the list.

For aspiring groms the mid-year school holidays are a frantic few weeks. With two 10,000 comps in succession: the Occy Grom Comp at Snapper followed by the Skullcandy at Lennox Head, it’s a time to get some mileage on the odometer and points on the board.

Taking confidence from his Sydney Pro Junior and Interschool results, Sammy left home quietly confident that when he returned his name would be towards the top of the leaderboard.

“I got knocked out in the first round of both comps,” says Sammy plaintively. “Had a shocker...a proper shocker.”

The disappointment was evident as Sammy reflected further on that trip: "If I’m to be honest, that’s when I felt like giving up. Three 10,000 comps were gone and I was so far down the ratings I gave myself no chance.”

Having fallen into an emotional hole, Sammy and hometown mate Taj Air booked time with super-coach Andy King. The decision would prove pivotal for Sammy's development, both in and out of the water.

Sammy sitting deep and flying high at his favourite hometown wave (Eden Pogonoski)

“He fucking loves the sport; he understands surfing's etiquette and culture, but he also understands that to be an excellent surfer takes a lot of hard work. He's obviously got the talent, but Sammy also has the drive. I also like that he has curiosity and respect.” - Andy King

Coaches occupy a contentious position in surfing, which is no surprise in a sport with rebellious roots where great surfers are lauded as natural freaks. What could a coach do to improve Wayne Lynch’s surfing? MP’s? Occy’s? Yet as performance levels increased, pro surfing has become a sport of incremental progression, with pros looking for any aspect, mental or physical, to improve their surfing.

Testament to the value of coaches is that, even as sponsorship contracts have dwindled, pro surfers are increasingly paying for the services of a coach. To the people who know, coaches matter.

Then again, there are coaches and there are coaches - they all have different techniques and specialties.

“Some of the coaches I’d worked with,” says Sammy, “just pump you up, tell you what they think you want to hear.” That’s not what Sammy and Taj got from Kingy. Instead it was tough love with a paternal edge. If they were surfing shit they were told so, and they were also given suggestions to fix it.

“We did a five-hour session,” recalls Sammy, “and every time I came in we’d tick things off. They weren’t always things I wanted to hear, but they were things I needed to hear to improve.”

For his part, Kingy makes no apology for breaking down a surfer’s technique and telling them what they’re doing wrong. “In surfing there’s a mistaken space between participation and high performance,” explains Kingy. “Participation is all about having a go…and that’s great, it has its place, but high performance is about pushing the limits of discomfort. It’s going to be uncomfortable because you're trying to evolve.”

“Sammy’s a rare one,” continues Kingy, “because many second-generation surfers think the pathway their parents forged will make it easy for them. I’m telling you, it’s not. They have to work hard, sometimes even harder because they have to overcome expectations. He’s ready to do that.”

Just a week later the fruits of that training session ripened. At Coffs Harbour, Sammy won the U/18 State Titles while Taj came second in the U/16. That was another one of his goals ticked off the list.

It may have been July, six months of the year had passed, but, says Sammy, “that’s when my year really began."

But just as Sammy's momentum was building, destiny, or a nasty lump of backwash, call it whatever you want, had other ideas.

Sammy practicing airs at Sydney URBNSURF (Zac Heywood)

“He’s such a big kid that any landing will stress his knees and ankles. It’s not a problem; you just have to train those parts of your body in a certain way.” - Ash Nisbet

“Big turns are his superpower; no other surfer his age can do them. But he’s got to have an air game too.” - Parrish Byrne

Sammy's easy to spot when he's in the surf around home; just look for the spray flying skyward. He's a big kid that can surf fast and move a lot of water. When I ask Sammy who he likes watching I'm surprised by the answer. 

"Ryan Callinan has been my idol forever," says Sammy. Not Gabriel. Not John John - though he never misses one of his heats. There’s a connection with R-Cal, however.

“Dad used to be his manager," explains Sammy, "after Dad stopped competing and Ryan got on the CT. So he used to spend a lot of time with us down at home.”

The connection explains the inclusion of many low-key south coast waves in Ryan’s edit ‘Under A Pear Tree’, it also explains how Sammy views his own surfing. Like Ryan, he's a big unit and not naturally aerodynamic. But airborne Sammy must be if he’s to succeed, just as Ryan has, so it’s the aspect of surfing he’s working on more than any other.

With technique tips from Kingy and a landing platform strengthened by gymwork, Sammy spent winter Friday nights at the Sydney wavepool with a crew from Sandon Point Boardriders. It was during one of these sessions that Sammy’s second big injury struck.

“It wasn’t even a big reverse,” says Sammy thinking back, “but I heard it pop. I rode two more waves and knew something was wrong.” Scans revealed a Grade 2 tear in his MCL. “I had three weeks in a full brace - no training,” says Sammy. “And it was six weeks before I could surf again. I felt like I was back to square one.”

Even though he’d been training with Ash Nisbet at Coal Coast Fitness all year, the two developed a dedicated routine once the brace came off. “I started a proper relationship with Ash once I got the brace off,” says Sammy, who despite a second hurdle kept his list of goals intact. "I'd be lying if I said I had no doubts," admits Sammy, "but I got great advice and encouragement."

While Sammy was working through his recovery, I had a chance encounter that stuck with me.

In early September I took a late afternoon swim at Thirroul Beach. It was cold, windswept and empty, which was no surprise as the surf was barely knee high. As I lolled about in the cold water, Sammy ran down the beach, paddled out, and quickly racked up an impressive wave count in the barely-surfable conditions.

We said hello, made small talk between sets, where he mentioned his injury and the Aussie Titles. At the time I didn’t appreciate the relevance.

A week after my encounter at Thirroul, Sammy went to Philip Island for the last 10,000 of the year, and his first contest after removing the knee brace. Despite losing three months of the year to injury, Sammy came second.

“I think I was 19th on the rankings,” says Sammy, “and that result took me to fourth or fifth. Better than that, my body was feeling good, my boards were feeling good. It felt like my best result of the year.”

Though the Junior Series has five 10,000 contests, the Aussie Titles are included in the season and they have an even greater weighting - 12,000 points. Thus, the Aussies decide two winners: The surfer who wins the contest and the surfer who wins the rankings.

As fortune would have it, the 2024 Aussie Titles were to be surfed in the northern Illawarra, anywhere between Stanwell Park and Woonona, which is a coastline Sammy knows well. It was the first break he'd had all year.

...but it wasn't the last break.

After a slow winter, Australia's East Coast fired up just as Sammy shucked off his knee brace. This session near home ended with a broken nose, another injury to put on the list though it didn't keep him out of the water for long (Eden Pogonoski)

"Sammy tends to overthink things. He puts a lot of pressure on himself rather than just letting it happen. Asking questions is great - in that regard Sammy is a lot like Owen Wright - but he has to learn when to switch from a 'thinker' to a 'doer'." - Parrish Byrne

Spring on the East Coast of Australia is typically a quiet time for waves. 2024 bucked that trend with late-August swells rolling into September and beyond. When they eased and the action reverted from the reefs to the beaches, the sand around home was in good order. The steady diet of waves was ideal for a hungry surfer making up lost time.

Parrish Byrne co-owns Byrne Surfboards in Thirroul and has known Sammy since he was a kid, providing informal advice whenever he asks for it. Having surfed, shaped, and coached at international level that's something Parrish can offer. "I spoke to him a few times leading up to the Aussie Titles," says Parrish, "and he was focussed but I detected some doubt because of his knee."

"He hadn't surfed in a month," says Parrish. "So I used that to put his injury into a positive light. Like, 'You're back! You're hungrier than them so just put the rashy on and enjoy it.'"

For a kid who can get caught up in his inner world, the lead up to the contest was ideal.

"I had everyone staying at my house, friends from all over," says Sammy, smiling at the memory. "We surfed every day and I showed them around where I lived. Got to sleep in my own bed too."

The surf for the contest wasn't perfect: All week it was held in wind-affected north-east swell at Woonona. Not the ideal conditions for a big unit, though Sammy didn't see it that way. "I was in a good mindset and ready for anything," says Sammy, "I was thinking of those tiny days at Thirroul where I'd surf anything."

During the recent Pipe Pro, the WSL ran a pre-recorded piece with Barron Mamiya who described a premonition he felt after getting spat out of an early-round barrel in the 2024 contest. "I'm going to win this thing," said Barron. And he did.

A similar portent of success visited Sammy prior to his Round Three heat. "The heat was stacked with talent," explains Sammy, "including Zyah Hession who was coming second on the rankings. Before I paddled out I said to my Mum, 'If I win this heat I'll win the contest.'"

If you've paid any attention thus far you won't be surprised to learn Sammy's heat didn't go as planned. With ten minutes to go, he was in last place sitting on a 2 and a 3. Then, in quick succession he scored an 8 and a high 7, leap-frogging into first place. The heat ended that way.

Call it being in a good headspace, trusting the process, or peaking at the right time, but Sammy surfed four more heats and won them all comfortably, including a combination win in the Final against Fletcher Kelleher.

"I didn't even know he was in combination," laughs Sammy, "I was so locked into the heat, sitting up close, sitting right on him. Then with about a minute to go he came and shook my hand and said he was in combo."

The next few minutes were bedlam and will long be remembered in the Illawarra - as they will by Sammy himself. "I caught a wave in and there was thirty of my best mates in the shorebreak," recalls Sammy fondly. "We were just yelling and screaming at each other."

Above and below, a dim year that ended with a diamond day (Aaron Hughes)

By winning the Aussie Titles, Sammy ticked off the final two goals on the list by his bedside mirror. He became the U/18 Aussie Champ - almost thirty years to the day since his dad won it - and he also accrued enough points to be the rankings winner. He nudged out fellow Finalist Fletcher Kelleher by less than 500 points - 28,100 to 27,620.

As a bonus, Sammy got chosen to represent Australia in the ISA Games this year.

Once the pandemonium died down, Sammy had some time to think about what had happened. "We get so much support in the Illawarra," says Sammy, "My first boardriders club - Port Kembla Boardriders - were there as were half of Sandon Point Boardriders."

"The big takeaway was that I don't need to be up on the Gold Coast right now," says Sammy, "I have everything down here: family, friends, a good network of people who want to see me succeed."

It's now been a few months since that epic day; a new year has rolled around and Sammy even turned 18. I ask him about goals for 2025 and though he won't divulge them he admits there's a new list. No doubt it's ambitious; he's probably bought a bigger mirror.

Silently I hope that he wraps himself in cotton wool, that he's spared the setbacks that nearly derailed him last year. But that might be avoiding the lesson that's staring him in the face - staring us all in the face: Sometimes the path to your goals isn't the one you planned, but the one you fight for.

// STU NETTLE