At Project Sunwave, we believe that progress doesn’t always come from winning, but from wanting to win. Wanting to grow. Wanting to show up better than yesterday. That’s why our Golwe competition module is about more than just preparing youth for surf and SUP contests. It’s a tool for fostering purpose, drive, and long-term development through the science of goal setting.

Positive Youth Development (PYD) emphasizes providing young people with opportunities to build internal assets, like perseverance, optimism, and self-discipline, alongside external supports like mentorship and skill-building. One of the most effective ways to nurture these traits? Goal setting.

Research shows that when youth set specific, challenging, but attainable, goals, they develop a greater sense of agency and motivation. According to Zimmerman (2000), goal setting supports self-regulated learning, allowing youth to track their progress, reflect on performance, and adjust their strategies. In essence, goal setting turns experience into growth.

Our Golwe module harnesses this dynamic. Through structured training, mock competitions, and community-based events, participants set personal goals, like improving their board control, paddling skills, or demonstrating positive sportsmanship. These goals aren’t just about athletic skill. They’re about ownership.

When a 12-year-old sets a goal to race against peers and challenge their abilities- and achieves it- they walk away not only with skill, but with evidence of their own capacity. These moments are deeply affirming, especially for youth from communities where success often feels distant or out of reach.

Crucially, the Golwe module balances ambition with values. We place more emphasis on personal bests and sportsmanship as we do on performance. Whether a participant finishes first or last, they are taught to evaluate success through effort, integrity, and community representation. This reframing is intentional, it reduces harmful performance pressure and reinforces the PYD principle that youth thrive when their character is nurtured alongside their competence.

We also emphasize representing one’s community with pride. For many of our participants, competition is their first taste of being seen in a public, positive light. Wearing a rash vest with the Project Sunwave logo, hearing their name announced at a regional event, or standing up for a teammate after a fall, these are powerful identity-shaping experiences. They foster belonging and purpose, two of the strongest predictors of long-term youth engagement (Eccles & Gootman, 2002).

And here’s what’s even more exciting: competition becomes a catalyst for setting other life goals. A child who sets a target in the water is more likely to set one in the classroom. A teen who trains every week to shave seconds off their paddle time starts thinking about how they can apply discipline in other areas- whether it's finishing school, staying healthy, or giving back to their community.

Through Golwe, we’re not creating athletes for sport’s sake. We’re creating goal-setters, young people with vision, drive, and the ability to bounce back from setbacks. That’s a skillset that will serve them far beyond the shoreline.

Because when our youth paddle into competition, they’re chasing purpose. And we couldn’t be prouder to be in their corner.

Let’s Keep Sharing the Stoke

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