The year of 2016 is coming to an end and 2017 is just around the corner. Time for a little recap of all the major things that happened in Odysseys Surf School during this last year! Before we continue, the staff of Odysseys wants to thank everyone who made 2016 amazing! We wish everyone all the best in 2017 and we hope the upcoming year is filled with amazing waves, great surfing sessions and heaps of fun!
Past March, a big part of the staff together with friends and family, traveled to Lombok for four days. This Lombok trip was filled with four days of surfing at amazing spots as Seger, Air Guling and Gerupuk. These four days in Lombok were filled with fun and lovely experiences, definitely one of the highlights of 2016!
In May we started our long term CSR program: A Board For A Smile. With this program we hope to share the love and excitement that surfing brings us with those who are a little less fortunate. With this program we collect old and used boards, fix them up, and donate them to those who love surfing but dont have the means to buy the equipment. In 2017 we will continue with this long-term CSR program, so we can give a smile back to the community!
In June it was time for the biggest party of the year: Odysseys Surf Schools 13th anniversary party! During this party we celebrated Odysseys 13th anniversary and another year of great collaboration of the staff. This night was filled with live music, drinks, games, prizes and of course cake! Odysseys anniversary is always one of the best parties of the year and we cant wait to celebrate our 14th anniversary next year!
November a part of the staff went to Java for a surfing trip / CSR trip. We traveled all along the coast and donated tons of useful stuff to the local community. For example, we donated rash guards to the local fishermen to protect their skin from the sun, we also donated a few boards that were collected with the A Board For A Smile program. It was an amazing trip, and we feel great about the fact we could give something back to the community.
Our last special event of 2016 was our annual Surfing with Santa event. We invited an orphanage from Denpasar for a day filled with good fun. Before the main event we had a lot of fun activities planned, such as a safety instruction by a lifeguard officer, beach clean up and an hour of decorating surfboards. After these activities it was time for our main event, surfing with Santa. Our instructors dressed up as Santa and the kids had a blast while learning how to surf. After the surfing lesson, Hard Rock Caf invited the orphans for a lunch at their caf, which was amazing. We truly celebrated Christmas in a special way, we cant wait to for our next annual Surfing with Santa event!