Welcome to the latest episode of the Sage Studio podcast! In this episode, we're thrilled to introduce you to Ventura Makos, a Sage Oak vendor who has worked with many Sage Oak families over the years.
Ventura Makos is owned and operated by Christian Brock and is renowned for its exhilarating surf classes and camps, conducted all year round at numerous beach spots in Ventura County. This program welcomes students of all ages and offers them the opportunity to build character, have an enjoyable time, and gain a deeper understanding of the ocean environment.
One of the aspects that sets Ventura Makos apart is their commitment to safety. All staff members are thoroughly trained to prioritize the safety of all participants, making it a secure learning environment. But what's even more inspiring is the level of growth students experience. A one-week surf camp can lead to significant progress in their surf skills.
However, the real “stoke” is the boost in self-confidence that the students experience, which is a source of pride for them, and of course, for their parents as well.
To learn more about them, visit their website at https://venturamakossurfcamp.com and your teacher can support you in using instructional funds to place a purchase order.
Tune into this episode to get a comprehensive look at the valuable offerings of Ventura Makos, and explore how these unique learning opportunities can contribute to your child's growth and development. Happy listening!
Thank you for listening to the Sage Studio podcast presented by Sage Oak Charter Schools and hosted by Tiffiny Webster, M.A.Ed. We invite you to follow the show and leave your review below. Sage Oak Charter Schools is an independent study nonclassroom based TK-12 personalized learning public charter school serving students in Southern California. Visit sageoak.education for more information.
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Welcome to the latest episode of the Sage Studio podcast! In this episode, we're thrilled to introduce you to Ventura Makos, a Sage Oak vendor who has worked with many Sage Oak families over the years.
Ventura Makos is owned and operated by Christian Brock and is renowned for its exhilarating surf classes and camps, conducted all year round at numerous beach spots in Ventura County. This program welcomes students of all ages and offers them the opportunity to build character, have an enjoyable time, and gain a deeper understanding of the ocean environment.
One of the aspects that sets Ventura Makos apart is their commitment to safety. All staff members are thoroughly trained to prioritize the safety of all participants, making it a secure learning environment. But what's even more inspiring is the level of growth students experience. A one-week surf camp can lead to significant progress in their surf skills.
However, the real “stoke” is the boost in self-confidence that the students experience, which is a source of pride for them, and of course, for their parents as well.
To learn more about them, visit their website at https://venturamakossurfcamp.com and your teacher can support you in using instructional funds to place a purchase order.
Tune into this episode to get a comprehensive look at the valuable offerings of Ventura Makos, and explore how these unique learning opportunities can contribute to your child's growth and development. Happy listening!
Thank you for listening to the Sage Studio podcast presented by Sage Oak Charter Schools and hosted by Tiffiny Webster, M.A.Ed. We invite you to follow the show and leave your review below. Sage Oak Charter Schools is an independent study nonclassroom based TK-12 personalized learning public charter school serving students in Southern California. Visit sageoak.education for more information.
Sage Oak Website
Instagram
Facebook
YouTube
Well, welcome to another episode of Sage Studio. I'm Tiffiny Webster, and today I am joined with Christian Brock from Ventura Makos Surf Camp. Christian, welcome to. What's up you guys? Thanks for having me. Stoked to be here. I'm Christian Brock with Ventura at Mako Surf Camp and yeah, looking forward to educating our parents and our families about what we have to offer here. We are so glad to have you here. So tell us a little bit about your business, because, you know, not everybody gets the pleasure of getting to use their instructional funds to go surfing for the day. This is definitely a pretty cool offering. So tell us a little bit about your business. Absolutely. Yeah. So Ventura Makos is the number one surf school here in Ventura County, and we've been the longstanding surf school as well for about 15 years. And yeah, we offer surf lessons, surf camps, surf teams, surf clubs, homeschool classes after school classes. Private lessons, group lessons, pretty much anything surf related. We take care of you guys and we're happy to help you guys out. And yeah, we offer it to all ages even young toddlers. So we start early as, you know, three or four years old even. And I've gotten anyone as old as 84 year old woman up surfing before, so we kinda hit the whole spectrum. Yeah. Yeah. I like to tell everybody it's never too late, especially when I have that client that I've gotten out and gotten up surfing. So, yeah, it's, it's cool to be able to hit the whole spectrum from, you know, n newborn toddlers to going to like grandparents and grandmas. So, very, very grateful to get anyone out there when we can. That is so great because not only are you able to reach so many different ages of kids, but it's not often that kids of different ages can get together and do the same activities. So are your classes multi-age? You have mixed age of students in the classes in the groups of students that you're working with. Yeah, so right now we're in our peak summer season. So during our summer surf camps we have two different types of styles of camps that we offer. One is just our regular day camp, which is Monday through Friday. It's a nine to three program, and that's for ages eight to 16, 17 years old. And then we also offer what we call a mini makos class. Which is our four to seven year old kids and they only go three days a week from 10 to one. And that's like a really awesome program to just kind of get introduced to the beach, introduced to the Ocean and be able to just get comfortable on a board and catch some waves with their instructor who's obviously experienced. And it's just a great intro program and offering you know, just a great comfortability factor for them at that younger age. I love that you that you said that the comfortability, because not everybody is necessarily comfortable in the water, so how do you help those students that might not have a lot of experience with going in the ocean or maybe even with swimming, how do you help them get comfortable with this idea? Totally. Yeah. So with kids that are a little bit more timid and a little more uncomfortable, what we like to do is just really ease into it. I like to tell everyone that we are very focused on building a firm foundation right out the gates. So, you know, getting kids comfortable and confident and feeling that self-worth in the beginning rather than letting fear and anxiety overtake, and kind of distract you from the fun of it. We really make sure that we get them eased into it rather than just being like, all right kid, let's go all the way and then get the biggest way possible, right? So we kind of take baby steps and each participant is different. You know, some kids are a little bit more athletic than others, some are more confident than others. So we kind of break our kids into different groups with like whichever ability and skill sets they're at. And age obviously comes into factor as well. But typically we just kind of take it step by step. You know, if we have to do a tiny little, you know, three inch wave on the inside to start, then we're holding on and holding their hand while they're standing, that's totally fine. And then if, once we get past that, we kind of have a sequence of progression, what I like to call. And so let's say they're com, finally get comfortable in that three inch wave. Now we take 'em out and get 'em maybe a half foot wave, and then we keep going a little bit further out until eventually where we're pushing 'em on their own and then they're paddling on their own. And then you really see the smiles and the chaka start coming out. That's so awesome. I love that. I love that you give them a chance to just literally get their toes wet. That is, I think, the secret to your success for sure. What would you say as far as like swimming goes, the kids need to be really good swimmers or just have a little bit of experience with it. Yeah, so I mean, we would definitely like some kids to have a little bit of experience. We have had plenty of participants in the past and currently that we've had their parents reach out saying, Hey, they're not confident swimmers, or They've only done swim classes for, you know, one summer before this. So typically with those clients, what we'll do is we we make sure they're kind of grouped up with each other so they're all around the same level. And then if there's any kids that need life jackets, we're happy to supply life jackets from our program. And then realistically though, with any of those kids, they're within instructor pretty much one-on-one already in their group taking turns. So when they're out with the instructor, we're right there next to 'em. So we're right there to educate them, calm them down. Cuz you know, you might have a kid who's very scared to go on the water. So if they fell off the board, it can only be, you know, a half foot deep. And they're like, Trying to breathe. Right. And you're like, right dude, just stand up. Just stand on the ground. It's ok. The panic has set in and they've forgotten all reason. Totally. So just trying to educate them and just give them that basic understanding that it's okay, you're going to fall and you can get back up. Oh look it, you can stand right here. So it's just kind of building that confidence and showing them, cuz a lot of kids, they just have no idea. Right? So just. Teaching 'em the very basic things. I like to teach all my staff and my instructors to just speak everything out loud to these kids so they can really see like when the timing is of the wave, how to jump off, how to get off the board, how to get on, and all that kind of stuff. So we make sure that each kid is very comfortable on the board when we're with them. And if not, we just make sure that instructor takes them to a more experienced instructor like me or some of my other top tier staff. I love that. So that you really are supporting the students so that they are mentally prepared to go in the water and they're ready to have this great experience. They know that even if it doesn't go perfectly well with, we all know there's going to be a lot of falling down when you're learning how to serve, that you are really ready and prepared to help them get back up. So I love that. That's so great. Beyond just that sort of support, what other support or training does your staff have just to make sure that everybody's safe while they're out there? Yeah, absolutely. So all of our staff is C P R and First Aid certified at Ventura Makos. We make sure that everyone is qualified to be able to take care of any basic first responding emergencies. And then a lot of our other coaches have some professional coaching training as well. So with some of our kids that are a little bit more elite, even outside of just the intro level, beginner level, we have some, you know, high-end coaches that train kids professionally as well to go to the professional level of surfing. So that inquires, you know, dryland trainings and, you know, different types of skateboard workouts different types of diets, even different types of video feedback reviews and stuff like that. So, a lot of our staff is very, like, not only experienced watermen and water women, but they also have, you know, a lot of contest and coaching experience and a lot of our instructors. Even came from camp when they were campers. So they have lived the whole experience and now it's kind of come to a full circle and they're able to give everybody that full experience that they were able to offer and they really understand what's going on since they actually lived it themselves. So great. They're bringing like the whole experience to the program, not just teaching the kids like one specific skill. Now, being that you're on the beach, are you involved or interacting with the lifeguards on that area at any way? Yeah. So with the Ventura both of our surf camp locations we do have lifeguard stationed right down like the, on the jettys next to us. So we have our Silver Strand Surf camp location, which has lifeguard headquarters right next to them. And then we have our Ventura harbor location, which has lifeguards at each jetty. Our staff does a very good job about keeping a controlled atmosphere, making sure the kids are all in the appropriate areas. We obviously educate them about all the ocean safety things to watch out for, such as like rip currents and longshore currents and sea creatures, all that kind of stuff. So as far as lifeguards though, we have a very good relationship with them. We're always on the same page. If we ever need anything in a case of emergency, they're at like, you know, just a, a wave over or call over and they'll be there in a heartbeat. That's awesome. Okay, so walk me through some of the skills that the kids are going to learn once they do get in the water. Yeah, so, I feel like I kind of primarily talked about summer surf camp, but I want to kind of just touch base in just general for all of our programs cuz we do offer a lot of school year programs and a lot of families aren't quite aware of that as well. So just in the general surf experience, we are going to be, you know, not only teaching the participant how to surf and just be comfortable on a board, but they're going to learn a lot about just their ocean awareness and just learning about the ocean. Learning about the tides, learning about the conditions that day and how it affects the surf. So they're really getting educated more than just like just going out there and we're just going, woo, good job. Come on back. You know, a lot of people just will push kids in and they don't even want to have that conversation, that education factor, it's more so just the peer experience side of it, and that's cool. But with Ventura Makos what's a little bit different about us is that we love to educate the kids and all of our participants about what they're getting into. So eventually they are almost able to be able to go out on their own and be able to surf with their families at the beach. That's the goal that we like to try to offer is that when a person joins one of our programs by the, either the end of that program or after, you know, a series of that program of a couple months or even a year. They're going to be equipped by the end to be able to be safe, comfortable on their own, independent and be able to paddle out and get some waves on their own in front of mom and dad so that mom and dad don't have to keep, you know, bringing them a camp or get 'em an instructor. We love the returns, don't get me wrong. I love every kid that comes back to like the annual summer camp or fall camp. Those are great clients and we love. I have great relationships with them as well. But the goal is to try to get these kids to progress to a point where they could be independent and learn how to surf on their own. Cuz that's what everyone wants to be, I feel like. So cool. I bet kids absolutely love getting in the water, getting out there, and they must feel so proud of themselves when they see where they started and where they end. Even probably within a week. Do you see results pretty quickly. Yeah. Yeah, it's amazing. This summer I've actually been like pretty blown away with how much the progress has gotten for just a week span, cuz our, our summer camp, in our fall and spring surf camps that we offer, it's a full week long. So, you know, coming to the beach Monday through Friday, nine to three, these little kids, anywhere from, you know, eight to 15 years old, for them to go in day in and day out and have like, you know, that six hours of the day to practice and keep going and have all that repetition time, that's where the progression happens. And so when you sign up for a surf camp with us, I like to like joke around with the parents. I'm like, oh yeah, like they're scared right now and they don't even want to go in. But I promise you, by the end of the week, your kid's probably going to be on his own surfboard, catching his own waves. And so like parents are like, yeah, you know, that's, that's not going to happen. Whatever. Right? Like by the end, come around Friday, they see little Timmy on the inside, like riding his own. And, and so it's like the parents are very grateful when they get to see that. Cuz with a lot of families, and I'm a parent myself, when you get to see your own child, be independent without that handholding, that's when you get that real stoke for your kid. You're like, wow, look at my kid. Go do that by themselves. I'm so proud of them. And then they feel proud of themself, just like you mentioned earlier, because they're filling themself with that self worth. Yeah. And that's just what we want to see in all of our kids. So great. Okay, so if our parents want to know more about your surf camp, where should they go and find more information?. Absolutely. Yeah. So they can go to our website and look up our email and contact us for any reason to be able to sign up for any programs. As far as our signup page, we have pretty much everything listed on there of what we offer. And it's a good variety of packages that we can do for anything from, you know, private lessons, to surf camps, to afterschool classes, to homeschool classes and to just, you know, surf teams and clubs and all that kind of stuff. So anybody can go to our website and check us out there. And then we also have a Facebook and an Instagram so they can check us out on social media as well. And I like to refer a lot of people to that as well cuz we do a lot of, you know, reels and videos and highlight videos of our programs so it can kind of paint the picture for a lot of families of what they're going to be getting involved with. And it's, it's really cool. I mean, I would even recommend for you to go check out one of our little videos cuz it's pretty entertaining to see. Oh, I will for sure. I've already been on the website and checked it all out and it looks so fun. So I can only imagine what your Instagram and some of those reels I bet are hilarious cuz seeing the kids in the water, like you were saying, like the joy on their face is just, it's just. There's nothing like it, right? You see that they are just having so much fun, they're feeling so proud of themselves and it's just, it's great. Great to see out there. Everyone having a good time. So, okay, parents, another thing that you want to keep in mind is that once you check out their website, once you check out their socials, if you think this is something that you want to be a part of they are accepting students to enroll in their classes all throughout the school year. So just talk to your teachers about it. Let them know what camp you want to purchase or what classes you want to do or what kind of package would work best for your family. And then your teacher can help you place your pos with Ventura Makos Surf Camps so that you can get your kids in the water too. All right, Christian, thank you so much for being my guest today on the podcast. This just makes me want to hit the beach. I gotta say I am feeling it. So thanks so much. It's so great to talk to you and hopefully we'll get some more Sage Oak students out there on the beach with you soon. Thank you so much. I really appreciate your guys' time and we we're happy to work with Sage Oak and yeah, contact us if you guys ever want to get out there and surf and get that experience. We're happy to share it with you. Love it. Thanks Christian. Bye.