Getting Good At Sports Takes Practice, Not Fashion
Everybody likes to look their best and make an impression, but nobody likes a poser. Every niche sport has a fashion attached to it that participants follow. But the best ones don’t get carried away with their fashion. They don’t need to and don’t appreciate those who make style more important than substance in sports.
Every sport has its own fashion labels and no sportsman will deny it. After all, there’s nothing special about a brown boot until it has its identifying label attached to it. Then you will know whether its a ski boot or another kind of boot. Clever marketers know that different labels are attached to different sports, so they make casual footwear as well. Those who buy their brand of sports boots will also wear their brand of shoes.
The same thing applies to watches. Surfer’s, sailors and other water enthusiasts all wear watches, but they need an underwater watch when they’re engaged in their sport. A nice leather watch is great when you’re out of the water, but not so practical when a ten foot wave is crashing over your head!
A men’s sport watch with a surfing label sells well with surfers, but hardcore surfers don’t feel the need to buy a leather one as well. They wear the one watch everywhere and look down on surfers who have another watch just because it looks good! The see them as posers. It may be an unfair judgment, but if you’re trying to fit into surf culture, bear it in mind!
There is a deeper issue behind the surfers’ prejudice against going overboard with fashion. Surfers, real surfers anyway, don’t feel like they need to show off to the world that they are surfers. It’s part of their being. That’s why others look up to them and try to emulate them.
They’re missing the point though, You’ve got to earn your stripes to be considered a real surfer. You’ve got to put in the hours needed to learn the maneuvers and get to the level of fitness that surfing requires. When a surfer sees a guy who clearly has not done that trying to fit in just because he mimics what they wear, they don’t like it and they let him know it!
Go ahead and buy that cool looking watch and those shoes. Just don’t think you’re going to impress anybody with them. If you want to make a good impression on others, get good at what they do!
