World para surf champion Sam Bloom on building confidence and community

She's getting out there

The para-surfing champion opens up about the power of community and seeing her story on the big screen.

The ocean has always been a huge part of your life. But in 2013, it changed forever when you fell through a rotten balcony railing on a family holiday and became paralysed from the chest down. How did you get back into surfing and what role did it play in your recovery? 

It came about through a fellow Red Bull athlete [pro surfer] Julian Wilson. Five years after my accident, I received a really nice letter from his mum, Nola, encouraging me to get back out in the ocean and give surfing a go. It’s played a massive role [in my recovery]. The fact that you're out in the ocean, surrounded by nature, doing what I used to do.

Obviously, it will never be the same. My first international comp [was] the first time that I actually felt normal since my accident. Everyone had different stories. Everyone had different disabilities. It was just so nice because you weren't the only one who needed to be pushed out onto waves; you weren't the only one who needed help in the water. It was just a really beautiful community to be part of.

How do you physically and mentally prepare for competitions like the Pro Adaptive Surfing Championships, held in Byron Bay, where you scored two back-to-back wins?

I train in the gym four or five days a week. A bit of cardio, whether it’s boxing, ski erg or weights, I like doing chest and working on my strength. Then just getting in the water as much as I can. I can’t duck dive and even if I hit a tiny bit of whitewash, it seems to throw me off. It’s pretty challenging getting out the back. So I need to work on my endurance. I do box breathing – breathe in for four, hold for four, breathe out for four. You just have to have a bit of confidence in yourself and know that you've won competitions before, so just go out there and try your best. 

You’ve praised the honesty of your good mate Turia Pitt, who survived burns to 65 percent of her body when caught in a grassfire during an ultra-marathon. Why is that so important to you and your connection?

It’s just so refreshing because you meet some people who've had an accident and they'd be like, ‘Oh, it's the best thing that's ever happened to me’. And I'm just like, ‘Oh my God, that makes no sense to me’. I’ve never sugar-coated it, I just can’t. I’m not all negative but I’d never say ‘I wouldn’t change it for the world’ or ‘I’m a better person since my accident’ absolutely not, because, to be honest, it sucks. Having a spinal cord injury is not fun. We’ve been lucky, we still get to travel and we’ve met amazing people and been very fortunate like that, but I would change it in a heartbeat.

During your recovery you befriended an abandoned magpie chick, Penguin, an experience that inspired the best-selling book and film, Penguin Bloom. What prompted you to share your story publicly?

Cam [my husband] is a photographer and a few months after we came home we found Penguin the magpie. Cam’s taking a squillion photos and one of the kids said as a joke, ‘Oh dad you should start an Instagram account’ and that’s where it all started. Initially, we had no intention of sharing our story, we’re just a normal family and we were recovering. It’s pretty cool knowing that by sharing our story we’ve helped other people get through some challenging moments in their life or something traumatic they’ve had to go through. 

To have our stories shared on the big screen was pretty crazy. Image: Cam Bloom

Not many people can say that they had Naomi Watt’s play them in a movie. How did it feel seeing your story on screen?

It was overwhelming and exciting. To have our stories shared on the big screen was pretty crazy. Everyone who worked on the film was amazing. Naomi did an amazing job. It's funny because I remember my sister going, “Oh my God, Naomi, she had the same expression that you always pulled.” I think she meant that I looked pretty sad and pretty angry a lot of the time. I spent a lot of time with [Naomi] and I used to write a lot of things down on my phone [about] how I was feeling. I ended up sending it to her so she could get inside my head.

What is the Wings for Life World Run and what does it mean to you? 

It’s a global run and everyone around the world starts at the same time, which is unreal. We’re running in Sydney at Randwick and it starts at nine o'clock. It’s just amazing. What I love about it the most is that one hundred per cent of the funds go to spinal cord injury research that’s trying to find a cure. Imagine when they do. How life-changing that would be. 

Originally published as World para surf champion Sam Bloom on building confidence and community