Elite Athletes in Lockdown
Competing in a sport at the highest level as an elite athlete takes dedication and discipline. This comes at great personal cost and attaining this level in their chosen field comes through years of training. World-class athletes are people with natural talent, stamina, and competitive drive. They have excellent reflexes and coordination and are well disciplined when it comes to rigorous practice and training. They are prepared to do more than the athlete alongside them, attaining results above the normal range of achievement.
Competing and performing at the highest level requires sacrifice and commitment to keep their fitness and bodies in an excellent condition throughout the year — training, watching their diets, analyzing strategy and competitors, and mentally preparing for the execution of their skill under pressure in often extreme conditions.
The impact of COVID-19 on Adventure Sports
The unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic, and the lockdowns associated with attempting to arrest its spread, has greatly impacted elite athletes.
Elite sport athletes and organisations have suffered an immediate financial impact with losses due to a lack of live spectators. The closure of beaches, national parks and other areas that extreme nature athletes compete in has drastically impacted their ability to compete and showcase the spectacle of their talent.
Adventure sports is not just about on-site spectacles, podium finishes and shiny medals, but about the time and effort it takes in practice to be able to perform the often life threatening tricks and maneuvers to showcase their skills.
Adventure sports is a big industry with millions of athletes depending on it for their livelihood. When the pandemic brought everything to a halt, the sporting industry took its toll.
The COVID-19 beach laws were very strict in South Africa, and the total beach ban stopped all ocean athletes from practising their sports. Surfing and kitesurfing was illegal.
As COVID-19 restrictions loosened in South Africa, surfers and kiters made their way once again to the beaches.
Surfing and kitesurfing became legal again!
South Africa On Camera
Matt Maxwell is a professional water sports athlete who lives in the windy city of Cape Town in South Africa. His disciplines include strapless surf and freestyle, SUP surf, downwind SUP Foil and surf foil.
Matt believes in the saying
“Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.”
Cape Town is the perfect playground for an ocean athlete — wind, waves and varying conditions creating the perfect environment for the development of some of the world’s best watermen.
Matt’s dad Dave took him to Langebaan, South Africa when he was a kid to learn to kitesurf, and within a few days he was hooked. He’s been connected to the ocean ever since.
Matt travels the world to some of the most beautiful locations, looking for the perfect shot of the latest trick. His best memories are surfing and SUPing the waves with his family in the Maldives.
“Living in the wind magnet of the world, Cape Town, (kitesurfing) has just been something that I struggle to go one day without” — powerful and inspiring words from Matt.
Major accomplishments
- Men’s South African Kitesurfing Champ 2019
- Junior South African Kitesurfing Champ 2017
- Junior South African SUP Champ 2017
- 9th at ISA SUP World Champs 2018
In 2020 F-One Team Rider Matt Maxwell teamed up with Boost Africa, a charity in Cape Town, and his sponsors, F-One and Manera, to create a campaign to raise funds to feed people in Cape Town who have lost their income due to the Covid-19 lockdown.
Matt and Oshen.io
Professional athletes have a history of creating brands around their names. NFTs are a perfect way for them to open up a new, accessible market via a trending platform and create an alternative revenue stream.
NFTs are revolutionising the sports market, and the Oshen.io platform gives users the opportunity not only to buy NTFs but also to trade and resell them.
NFTs are “Revolutionary new experiences in which jaw-dropping plays and unforgettable highlights become collectibles that you can own forever.”
We wish him many great Triple Front Rolls, ideally in his favorite spot One Eye, in Mauritius, and we are glad to host a premium NFT collection with Max’s best moments.
