GAVIN BREN IS MAKING A NAME FOR OCEAN CITY AS A YOUNG COMPETITOR WITH THE DRIVE AND HEART TO RIDE TO THE NEXT LEVEL
Written by Kristen Hampshire | Photography by Nate Perry
Gavin Bren’s first memories of paddling out from the beach and being placed into a perfect pillow in the Ocean City surf were at age 4. “My dad would push me in, and I would keep getting smashed by waves — I remember hopping up,” described Gavin, 12, a competitive surfer on both coasts and internationally.
Since he began competing, at age 7, Gavin has consistently been a top performer in the Eastern Surfing Association (ESA) and Maryland State Surfing Championships. In the USA Surfing Prime East series, he finished second overall and was invited to compete in the USA Surfing Championships in San Clemente, CA. The event is the highest-level amateur competition in the nation, and Gavin fell just short of the finals, with an impressive semifinals finish.
Gavin remembered the first competition in his home state: “When I wasn’t getting pushed in, I was doing it myself. It just felt right; it felt good, and that is where it all started.” While surfing, “you do you,” he said, relating that he spent four hours in the waves that morning and planned to be on his board for another four or so later in the afternoon. “You have your own style, your own size waves. It’s a hard sport to compare to anything else because it’s more like your own art.”
For Gavin, the right-size wave is big — really big. “I feel more confident, stronger in bigger waves,” he said, describing a “fire and drive and effort” that propels him through strenuous competitions. “I get fired up and go out there and surf my heart out.”
Catching the Wave
The Brens are a surfing family; the waves invite conversation and closeness, laughter and memories. Gavin and his brother, Austin, 17, have been in the ocean with their parents since shortly after they could walk. Their father, Dan Bren, said, “I have always had a passion for the ocean. When I was growing up, I was drawn to it, and for the boys, we’d spend time together, learning to swim, learning to surf; they started gravitating toward it.”
Austin says surfing and being on the water is “a great way to let loose,” and it’s a passion. “It’s about the friendships and the times we spend with people from all over.”
Laura Deeley Bren, their mother, describes how Austin was fiercely independent, wanting to do it on his own. Gavin saw his older brother on a board, and he was determined to do the same. “His father would push him in over and over in the most critical part of the wave; he learned quickly,” said Laura.
As Gavin says, every surfer has a style, and for Austin, who also competes, that’s embracing the spirit of riding waves for the fun of it. “For me, it’s more of a lifestyle,” Gavin said, although Austin is also a competitive surfer and the recent Maryland State Open Mens Champion. Gavin took third in the event.
But for the Brens, surfing is about so much more. The medals are a byproduct of a passion for the sport and what it gives, what it teaches, how it connects the community.
SURF PRODIGY Gavin Bren has been winning surfing competitions since he began the sport, at age 7.
“The belly laughs, all of those things you get while you are in the water with your friends and family, sharing the waves,” Dan shared. “When we are in the water together, the conversations, the things they will talk about, they’re in a place where they feel free and comfortable and they open up.” It’s not unusual to find three generations in the lineup — Laura’s father, Sandy Deeley, is also active in the sport.
The Brens quickly recognized that the boys had a flair for the competitive side of the sport. In the beginning, they’d participate in local contests. It was never a push, always a pull, from the boys to test their skills. Eventually, Laura took over as the district director for ESA (this season ends her fourth and final year in the role), and the family became a part of the contest community. “To be able to give back to the sport that has given our family so much has been so awesome,” shared Laura. “It’s exciting to see the ESA come back to life in Ocean City.” The organization hosts the Maryland State Surfing Championships each year.
“To think that I was only 8 and won the Under-12 division for the entire state felt like such an amazing accomplishment, and I had three more years in the division,” Gavin said. “It’s the state that I live in, and I feel that pride.”
RISING STAR Gavin Bren, pictured with parents Laura and Dan, has the honor of being selected for the USA Surfing Junior National team in 2021 and 2022.
A Rising Tide of Wins
During the pandemic, when team sports stopped, the surf community crested because the outdoor nature of this saltwater pastime allowed wave riders to carry on — and so did the contests. ESA membership grew from about 50 people to 200, Laura said. “A whole new group of families were introduced to competitive surfing.”
In 2020, the National Scholastic Surfing Association (NSSA) held its regional championships in Carolina Beach, NC, and since one of Dan’s friends lives there, Laura suggested that he and Gavin give it a shot. He had never competed outside of Ocean City. “If he makes one round, wouldn’t that be cool?” she related.
The competition featured Live Heats, an electronic scoring system. “From home, I could see the scores dropping, and he won the first round,” Laura said. “Then, he advanced to the quarterfinals; he advanced again and got to the semifinals and won that. He ended up finishing second place in Open Mini Groms with the best young surfers on the East Coast that year, and we thought, Maybe he can hang at a different level?”
Of his first out-of-state win, Gavin said, “A turning point for me in competitive surfing was when I was going to other places and winning. They weren’t my home break, and I was going where I had never surfed.”
Because of Gavin’s results at the NSSA Regionals, he was invited to the Nationals that year. “They usually hold it in Huntington Beach, but with COVID, in 2020 they held it on the East Coast,” Laura said. “So we went and Gavin ended up getting third at Nationals.”
That success launched a domino effect of invitations, with the next being an opportunity to compete in the USA Surfing Prime Series. The competitions are invite-only, with contests on the East and West Coasts. The top 50% are invited to the finals at Lower Trestles, in San Clemente, CA. Gavin was just 11 and one of the youngest in the age group, U14. He was one of a handful of young surfers from the East Coast invited to compete with “the big boys,” as Laura put it. His first year he finished in the top half of athletes and made the trip to the iconic break. That year, Gavin took 10th place.
But Gavin’s performance peaked interest from coaches within the USA Surfing Youth Development Program. The organization is the official national federation for the sport of surfing and the governing body of the Olympic team.
“We were in the airport, and I got a text that Gavin was selected for the Junior National Team, the group that will eventually represent the United States in the International Surfing Association (ISA) World Cup,” Laura explained.
This year, Gavin finished second overall in the USA Surfing Prime East Series and again competed in the USA Surfing Championship as a 12-year-old in the U14 division; he made it to the semifinals. “His goal was to improve, get one round further, and he accomplished it,” Laura said proudly. He was again selected to be a member of the Junior National Team in 2022. At NSSA Nationals in Huntington Beach, Gavin placed third overall — and he continues to exceed his own goals.
But he returns to his roots, adding, “I get really excited about our ESA contests because that’s where I started. I just have a lot of fun, and I like to hang out with my friends, and I surf my heart out and try to get good scores.”
Brian Stoehr, a two-time U.S. National Pro Tour Bodyboard champion and owner of the Wave Riding School in Ocean City, said, “If you were to ask me, Gavin is the next big talent to come out of our town.” He added, “There are plenty of amazing wave riders here, but he has a natural ability to just read the ocean.” Austin is an instructor at the school, and Gavin helps out catching boards.
“I’ve known them since they were little kids, and I’ve watched them grow and all they do for the surfing community,” Stoehr said.
FAMILY TIES The time the Brens spend together, out on the water, as part of their shared love of surfing, reinforces their bonds as a family.
Lessons from the Surf
Surfing teaches patience and respect. “We don’t just get waves every day, and it builds camaraderie and friendships,” Dan said.
Gavin says the sport has taught him to overcome mental and physical obstacles “like nervousness or even drowning: I used to be really scared, and I have trained a lot and pushed my body and mind. Surfing has taught me how to win and how to lose. And you get to be in new waters, warm waters, cold waters. Surfing has lots of ups and downs.”
And there are mental pivots during competition. “With soccer, the goals are always in the same place,” Laura explained. “People are moving, but the playing field stays the same. In surfing, the playing field is constantly changing because of tides, winds, wave conditions, everything. So, it’s hard to be consistent as a competitor, and that is what Gavin is really working on.”
There’s a significant mindset component to competitive surfing. “How do you keep yourself calm when you don’t have a wave? When you fall down, how do you shake it off? You only have 15 minutes to make sure all of this goes right and you have to pick the right wave.”
Gavin says he has big dreams. “One is to win a national title for my age group, and I would love to make the world tour,” he says.
What’s next for Gavin? Just last month, he took the win in the Florida qualifying event of the Rip Curl National Grom Search. He’ll head to Lemoore, CA, to compete for the National Final crown at Kelly Slater Wave Co’s Surf Ranch. The wave pool is the home of the longest open barrel high performance waves created by humans. The opportunity to surf Kelly’s wave is one few surfers will get to experience. And this December — a kid from Ocean City will get to surf it. CS
Tahiti will host surfing at the 2024 Paris Olympics
After its debut at Shidashita Beach in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, surfing will once again take center stage internationally when the games visit Paris in the summer of 2024 — well, sort of. The International Olympic Committee executive board approved the proposed venue, Teahupo’o, Tahiti, an island in French Polynesia that is about 9,800 miles from Paris. It will break the record for the farthest Olympic-medal competition to be held outside the host city. The 1956 equestrian events were moved from Melbourne due to quarantine laws and held five months earlier in Stockholm, some 9,700 miles away.
Teahupo’o is home to some of the most iconic and dangerous waves in the world. The Wall of Skulls is named for the sharp coral reef that looms just below the water’s surface.
Surfing could be added to the 2028 Los Angeles Games, and with Gavin named to the USA Surfing Developmental Team and being prepared for international competitions, perhaps he’ll have the opportunity to surf for gold in his homeland’s waters in six short years.