If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Teach ‘Em

You may recall the name Matt Pagan from a Joyride which Mikey C conducted atop a thick-railed twin fin which pleasantly surprised him. 

Matt cut his teeth as a professional surfer in the corner-starved slum known as El Porto, before turning to shaping, construction, and — contrary to his surname — a career in Christianity.

You can watch that Joyride and read more about Matt here. 

Now, with a growing surfboard label and three decades spent refining his high performance skillset, Matt has expanded his portfolio to surf coaching — and he’s offering a free surfboard for you to join him. 

“In a nutshell, I started Pagan USA in 2020, and the Under Construction Surf Club has become this sort of coaching program I’ve created alongside it,” says Matt. “I guess it started from surfing around LA and realizing a lot of people don’t really know what to do on a surfboard. I kinda nerd out on surf technique and form. I got to work with Ian Cairns and Chris Gallagher when I was growing up,  and I’ve just kinda taken the things I’ve learned from them and from my own experience over the last 20 years. 

“I started with a newsletter [which you can subscribe to here]. I was like, how many weeks can I write a newsletter about how to surf better?” says Matt. “I think I’m on 105 weeks, which is kind of cool. Six months into that, I started a surf training camp here around LA. I’d film people and help them analyze their clips and stuff. I’ve done like four or five of those each year. The whole goal is to find intermediate surfers who want to get better but have hit ceiling.

“This surf course has been the next step. It’s a four pillar course and it’s a lot of what I teach in the camps. It’s definitely for beginner to intermediate surfers, the only prerequisite is that you can paddle out on your own and catch waves. Eventually though, I do want to expand to more advanced surfers who want to refine their already advanced technique.”

The course is currently $20, and signing up will enter you into a raffle to win a custom freshie off Matt. 

As Matt said, the course is currently directed at beginner to intermediate surfers. But, even if your roundhouses are tidier than Willian Cardoso’s dinner plate, there’s no shame in spending $20 on a free board lottery. 

Click here to sign up.