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FAQ’s

Surf Nation is a network of 56 highly competitive clubs spread across North America. Established in 1977, Surf Nation is today represented in all major domestic leagues in this part of the world and provides a player development pathway from grassroots through Surf Select, a national identification program that brings the best players together locally, regionally, and nationally.

The main benefit of joining Surf is increased playing opportunities. Whether it’s participation in the Surf Select Program, additional local and travel tournaments, or guest play with other teams in the Surf family, this change will offer something new at all levels of play. Surf also provides valuable coaching support, which will directly enhance your child’s experience at trainings and games.

Yes, this is one of the huge benefits of aligning with Surf. Our Travel and Premier teams will get opportunities to play in Surf tournaments. Other Surf teams are frequently looking for players to join them for tournaments across the country, so you could also find an opportunity to play in new environments if you desire that.

Surf provides coaching curriculum and tools to support our entire coaching staff. These new assets create a set of resources that we can use to expand and develop our own club training programs. In addition, the change to Surf will generate new coaching opportunities outside of Back Mountain and enable our coaches to bring that knowledge back to our players.

The Surf Player Pathway is a proven development track that provides additional opportunities for growth. At its culmination, the Pathway will provide a selection of our players opportunities to play with talented kids from across the country. Players will start at the local level, participating in regional camps across Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and the Northeast that identify the best of the best in the area. Players are then selected to attend a national camp, where they can earn placement on a national Surf Select team or an International Surf Select team–which play in national tournaments and give players a chance to play outside of the US.

Right away. We will actively involve our teams/players in Surf Select events as soon as they are available. The upcoming Surf Select identification process will begin in the summer of 2025.

Surf provides the tools and the local club continues to run the club in the best interest of its players and families. Surf simply enables clubs like ours to leverage their resources to move faster and to develop an even better club experience.

The Surf Player Pathway is designed for all levels within the club. Any player interested in the Surf Select program is welcome to try out. For the Travel side of the club specifically, we expect these teams to have opportunities to play in Surf-related tournaments. And we will take advantage of Surf’s proven coaching methods and tools to help teams at all levels thrive–a direct benefit to all players.

Teams will only change per the outcome of tryouts, as normal Surf Nation will not determine our team structure for the season. All team and roster decisions will be managed at the local-club (Back Mountain Surf) level.

The change to Surf will not directly or immediately drive coaching changes. As normal, coaching assignments can shift post-tryouts, but Surf Nation will not determine our team structure for the season. All team and roster decisions will be managed at the local-club (Back Mountain Surf) level. Coaching assignments will be announced starting in April.

We will send a letter to all college coaches in our network to inform them of the change. We will also provide players sample letters to use in communication with colleges they are interested in.

Fee increases will not be driven by our relationship with Surf. We continue to analyze our fee structure to ensure we are able to cover our costs and ensure a top-quality experience. Our goal is always to minimize cost increases for member families (though some factors, such as field costs and inflation are out of our control).

Yes and no. The change to Surf will give both Travel and Premier teams an opportunity to participate in fellow Surf Club tournaments and the Surf Select process.

Back Mountain Surf will be a non-profit. We will leverage the established brand, educational resources, and training methodologies of Surf at our discretion, and our operation will remain locally operated as a 501(c)(3) non-profit.

Our partnership with Surf will not impact our current field space.

First of all this is a partnership and not an acquisition.  Surf receives a fee from Back Mountain Surf to license the name, systems and coaching curriculum.  As stated above, fee increases will not be driven by the Surf partnership.  We continue to analyze our fee structure to ensure we are able to cover our costs and ensure a top-quality experience. Our goal is always to minimize cost increases for member families (though some factors, such as field costs and inflation are out of our control).

Yes, after the tryout and registration process is complete we will provide opportunities for our players to try on sample kits prior to ordering.

Back Mountain Surf players will have the opportunity to be identified by NE Regional surf coaches throughout the course of the 2025/26 season.  Once the regional selections are completed the players will move to the national selection process which is held in February.  National Surf Select coaches from multiple regions participate in the identification of players for these national teams.

Our partnership with Surf does not impact our current relationship with high school programming.

Surf Nation provides tools for the Surf community to utilize, however there is no mandate from Surf Nation to use specific coaching structures.  As Back Mountain Surf, we not only get access to these tools we get the benefit of learning and collaborating with other Surf clubs on best practices.  We can choose to implement these tools as we see fit.