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Join Telegram ChannelGriffin Colapinto's thoughts and emotions are much like the waves he surfs: up and down, sometimes flowing with him while others attempt to crash into his mental state.
But the California native couldn't be feeling better mentally as he prepares for his first Olympic Games, where he will be one of four surfers on Team USA heading to Tahiti to compete against the world's best.
“I feel really good,” Colapinto told Fox News Digital. “I feel like this year, the last few years, every year, I’ve been faced with a lot of challenges, and I feel like I’ve done my best to overcome them. At the time, it was really tough.”
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Griffin Colapinto of the United States is shown before surfing during the semifinals of the VIVO Rio Pro on June 28, 2024, in Saquarema, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Thiago Diz/World Surf League via Getty Images)
Pressure is part of the job description of a professional athlete, no matter what their area of expertise.
For Colapinto, managing that pressure mentally can be a challenge, but there are other times when he says he can get in the water.
“Sometimes I go out and I immediately feel like I’m in a tizzy,” he says. “Or I’m faced with a lot of different thoughts. It’s just being able to be aware of them and use them to become more present.”
With the Olympics approaching, Colapinto knows he needs to keep his mindset as focused as possible. And that “flow state” he quickly regains in the water can help him pick the right waves to surf in Tahiti, where the Olympic surfing competition will take place.
US OLYMPIC SURFER GRIFFIN COLAPINTO AND JOHN JOHN FLORENCE KEEP A CLOSE WATCH ON TAHITI SWELL DURING WSL EVENT
However, Colapinto's recent trip to French Polynesia wasn't the best, as he was quickly eliminated from his World Surf League event earlier this year.
“Last time I was in Tahiti, I ended up losing to the wild card in the second round, which is the earliest you can go in the event,” he said. “I lost to the wild card, and I was so disappointed because I had put in so much preparation, so much hard work for this heat, and it had been going on for a long time. It just didn’t pay off.
“In the past, things haven't really gone the way I wanted them to, but I feel like I've learned a lot every time things haven't gone the way I wanted them to. So I almost feel like everything that's happened to me is leading up to this moment at the Olympics.”
Colapinto may have lost, but he learned how the swell works in Tahiti, which he explained.
Griffin Colapinto of the United States surfs in the Outerknown Tahiti Pro on August 18, 2022, in Teahupo'o, Tahiti, French Polynesia. (Damien Poullenot/World Surf League)
“I ended up losing the wave there, the swell was building all day long, and it was between the first and second ledges,” he said. “It was like a weird game of ‘Do you sit further out or further out?’ The surfer I was up against was a first ledge expert, and most of the waves from that wave were coming into that first ledge. Right when that wave ended, the waves got bigger, and they went to that second ledge for the rest of the day.”
“I lost because I gave him a hand signal that I wasn't sure was going to be good, and it turned out to be really good, and he got the score. It's just moments like that that are going to happen all the time. [memory] bank. I can go to the Olympics.
Colapinto will try to tap into his memory bank next month, which will require a good mental state, something he and his surfer brother Crosby Colapinto have been working on together.
“I got interested in mental health through surfing, of course, and being a professional surfer,” Colapinto said. “I’m chasing a dream, I’m chasing something that’s so hard that I’m going to have to deal with tough times along the way. Through that, I started journaling, meditating, and reading books. I ended up creating my own little system of tools to help me along the way, and journaling was really cool.”
Because of his own mental health journey, Colapinto applied to be one of 20 athletes selected for an Athlete for Good grant, a joint initiative with Proctor & Gamble, the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralymic Committee that donated $24,000 each to support the causes championed by the recipient athletes.
Griffin Colapinto of the United States is shown before surfing during the Round of 16 of the VIVO Rio Pro on June 27, 2024, in Saquarema, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Thiago Diz/World Surf League via Getty Images)
Colapinto's chosen charity was To Write Love on Her Arms, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing hope and finding help for people struggling with mental health, addiction and more.
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“We are very fortunate to be in the situation we are in and we live extraordinary lives,” Colapinto said when asked how important this initiative is to him. “The best thing we can do is pass this experience on to the people around us and to all those who admire us. Set an example and be the best person we can be. Don’t be afraid to share the secrets we have learned along the way, because we all go through similar difficult times and it helps us a lot to be able to communicate with each other.”
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