Sean Lewis was a little wide-eyed Monday morning as he parked his truck along Ocean Boulevard in Pacific Beach, walked down to the sand at Law Street and looked out at the Pacific Ocean.
And why not?
Lewis grew up in the Midwest, where water is fresh and bodies of water are calm.
His on-the-water experience included “a couple of lakes,” he said.
“Obviously, Lake Michigan,” he said. “Going to North Avenue Beach (in Illinois). … nothing close to this.”
Lewis was here to go surfing, his knowledge of which, again, was limited.
“Seeing it on ‘Saved By the Bell,’ right?” Lewis said of the early-90s TV show. “Hearing a Beach Boys song. Seeing an X Games feature. It was always so completely foreign to me.”
Then Lewis got hired last November at San Diego State.
“It’s really cool being part of the community and getting to experience life in San Diego,” he said. “Never having done anything like this, I want to be able to live it to the fullest. …
“As soon as we moved out here, it became a bucket-list item. OK, we’re going to do this. We have breakfast right down the way for our official visits, you see the guys out doing their thing. It’s like, ‘I’ve got to try that.’“
Taking a surfing lesson with Lewis was among the silent auction items a couple of months ago at an SDSU football fundraiser.
The $400 winning bid came from Tom Matthews, whose son Jesse starred at wide receiver for the Aztecs.
Tom Matthews is an accomplished surfer who has been catching waves for nearly 50 years, so they dispensed with the surfing instructor.
Matthews assumed the role to coach up Lewis.
After 10 minutes or so of instruction on land — mainly, don’t drown — they headed into the surf.
Lewis was joined by Ruben Pena, SDSU’s director of football operations, who was getting instruction from one of Matthews’s surfing friends.
“We’re going to learn and the goal is to get up,” Lewis said. “If we can get up and ride one way in, we’ll be OK.”
Pena rode the first wave he caught, something he certainly won’t let Lewis forget.
If the coach needs a comeback, he can counter with the fact that Pena is a San Diego native and should have been hanging 10 before he was 10.
Beyond being unfamiliar with the waves, Lewis was challenged with a 6-foot-7 frame that made balancing on the board more difficult.
“It’s a unique challenge,” he said. “Honestly, I don’t think it’s made for tall guys.”
Lewis made more than a dozen attempts, falling off the board in almost every conceivable way. His most impressive feat was shooting his board nearly 10 feet in the air on one occasion.
Then he did it: Lewis stood up, however briefly, for a successful ride.
How did it feel?
“That one felt good,” Lewis said as he grabbed the board to head out again. “Lotta reps. Getting beat up a little bit, but it’s worthwhile.”
“What a way to start a Monday.” @AztecFB coach Sean Lewis embraced something so SoCal this morning, hitting the waves in Pacific Beach for his first surfing lesson. Lewis got crushed a couple times, came face-to-face with a seal and celebrated getting up on the board. pic.twitter.com/mspcFUi59l
— Kirk D Kenney (@sdutkirKDKenney) July 15, 2024
Lewis stayed in the water for more than an hour. Matthews said he asked Lewis a couple of times if he wanted to head in, but the coach was determined to stand up and ride.
“He was very receptive and very coachable, listened to my directives and tried to implement them,” Matthews said. “The ocean is weird because everything’s moving. You’re not on a solid tennis court or a basketball court.
“Everything’s moving. Every wave is different in the way it’s going to push you and every single time you have to adjust and adapt to it. He did a great job.”
If Lewis was going to talk the talk, he had to surf the surf.
“We talk all the time about getting outside your comfort zone and defeating your fears,” Lewis said. “You always want to challenge yourself to learn new skills. To do new things. Obviously, this is way outside of my comfort zone.
“Had a great teacher. Took some coaching. Got up. So it was a great morning.”
A seal stopped by for a visit while Lewis was in the water. Lewis and Matthews chatted between sets, with Lewis sitting on the board at one point and just taking it all in.
“This is definitely something that if the schedule allowed, I would do it,” Lewis said. “It’s very therapeutic. I mean, we go out there and as we’re chatting, you’re sitting on the board, riding the waves. It’s a pretty humbling and centering experience. It’s like you become one with nature.
“Anything that’s going on on land kind of washes away. You can completely detach and be alone with your thoughts. It was really pretty cool.”
