Between Two Ears With Julian Wilson

Ain’t nobody but nobody questioning Julian Wilson’s talent on a surfboard. 

From Young Guns to Scratching the Surface to every surf edit he’s released in the last 10 years, Wilson is a bona fide master of the craft. He’s powerful, he’s smooth, he’s intuitive, he’s tech. None of this can be denied. 

However, over the years, we’ve seen these qualities wane when Julian slips on his numbered rashie. Legs spread wide, the back starts to hunch, turns are cut to 70%, and airs fall incomplete. Call it what you will, but we’re calling it what it is: choking.  

They say the longest distance in golf is between the ears. Could the same be true in surfing? Let’s examine the video above, where Julian, in a post-loss interview with Peter Mel, dissects a flubbed punt that could have turned the heat. 

“I was on that wave, and I didn’t know what the score was for my air before. They read out ‘eight’ when I was going down the line, and I was like, ‘Oh, I kinda don’t have to do too much here. I was in my head a little.'”

Tell me, would that same effect have been felt by Medina, Ferreira, Toledo? And how does one stop themself from falling into this psychological prison?