Olympic Surfer Julian Wilson Reflects on Life After Professional Career (Video)

Dashel Pierson
·2 min read
1

For some pro athletes, the transition into “real life” can be a tough one.

What does one do with oneself when practically your entire life is dedicated to the next event, competition, sponsorship obligation, filming for free-surf movies, etc.?

Someone who’s done the transition quite gracefully is former Championship Tour surfer and Australian representative in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Julian Wilson.

“I decided to step away from the Tour due to circumstances that were out of my control,” Wilson says in the video above. “COVID affected everybody in different ways. I had a young family. I was bummed, for sure, because that is what I knew, what I loved.”

He continues:

“With the two little ones and my wife, that’s the real-life stuff – not chasing trophies and money. That’s not a priority for me, which is the family and kids. It just got to a point where my mental wellbeing needed to be appreciated and respected.”

The video comes from Sun Bum, which captioned it:

“Sure, he was once crowned Pipe-Master. But today surfer Julian Wilson has an even more important title—Dad. The Sun Bum ambassador (Julian is our first ambassador) is newly back on the scene after some time out of the spotlight, a journey documented in his new film directed by Robin Pailler. When you have some of the surf world’s most coveted awards on your trophy shelf, it could be easy to let it all get to your head. Luckily, Julian’s not the kind of guy to have a trophy shelf at all. That’s what makes him one of our favorite surfers. Watch here to learn more as Julian invites Sun Bum and Wasted Talent along for the ride as he prepares for his next chapter while also leaning into his new roles as father and entrepreneur.”

As for Jules and his World Title dreams, he said:

“A World Title would’ve been cool, but I don’t want to give up becoming World Champion over being a good dad.”

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