INTERVIEW:Top surfer Nicole Morgan has returned to her roots, but she won't be basking in Bundoran for long, writes Mary Hannigan
WHILE SHE WAS based on the Gold Coast of Australia the surfers back home had some respite, but since returning to Bundoran, Nicole Morgan has been getting on with the business of "bullying the greedy boys off the waves". There's work to be done ahead of next month's World Surfing Championships in Portugal, so there's no time to form an orderly queue.
She came home from Australia in June, having had a number of spells working there with some of the country's top surfing coaches and competing against Australia's leading professionals. Having spent some of her childhood in Australia she's more than at ease there, but Ireland is, very definitely, home. "Always has been and always will be," she says, despite a lifetime - all 25 years of it - of roaming the globe, first with her family and now as an international surfer.
"I'm very comfortable living in Australia," she says, "but that feeling of 'belonging' somewhere is unique to Ireland. That said, when it's lashing rain and howling with wind in January and the water is only six degrees, that patriotic feeling does tend to get diluted somewhat." Fermanagh was home for Morgan until she was five, when her parents, both teachers, moved the family - Nicole, brother Mike and sister Terri - to Australia and, after a spell in Wales, to Indonesia. Three years later they returned to Fermanagh, before moving to Bundoran, the family base ever since.
She feels blessed by her childhood and the experiences her parents' sense of adventure brought the family. "I have no doubt that they have helped shape who I am today," she says. "Not many people get to experience the opportunities and travel that I had as a child and I really value and appreciate the exposure I had to so many different places, people and cultures."
While life in south-east Asia and beyond delivered enlightening and enriching experiences, it wasn't, ironically, until Morgan's family left the surfing heavens of Indonesia and Australia and settled in Bundoran that her interest in surfing was awakened. Once bitten by the bug there was, she discovered, no cure. "It's pure addictive," she says. "I can't explain it, the fact that you're riding on a wave is just amazing in itself, you just get a great buzz out of it. It's a thrilling sport, you get to see wonderful places and meet great people."
After winning the British Professional Surfing Association title in 2005, Morgan felt she had to travel more if she was going to reach a higher level in her sport. Funding from Sport Northern Ireland made it possible for her and her brother Mike, an Irish champion, to return to Australia for superior competition and coaching.
"Winning contests back home is really good, and it's been great to have done that the last few years, but I really wanted to push harder and get closer to the international girls. I think people can get too caught up with being a big fish in a small pond: there's a much bigger pond out there and I want to get into it and make a bit of an impact. It would be easy for people to get the impression that there are Irish superstars in the world of international surfing. The reality is that none of us has quite reached that level yet."
She remains, she says, an object of some curiosity for international rivals, most of whom are astounded to hear "we have waves in Ireland". "It's still so amusing to watch people's reactions when the commentators read out 'Surfer in white, Nicole Morgan from Ireland' - so, yeah, it's still a novelty to be an Irish surfer at an international level. We are, though, beginning to tap at the door of high-performance surfing and it's really exciting to be a part of that change."
Three years ago, Morgan took 12 months out from her physiotherapy course at UCD to focus full-time on her surfing - a decision rewarded by that 2005 British title - her sole ambition to "become the best surfer that I can possibly be, so that I have no regrets when I am older".
She returned to complete her course before setting off for Australia again, but, in an effort to avoid "getting rusty while I pursue my surfing goals", she works one day a week in Our Lady's Hospital, Manorhamilton, having already worked with the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Ireland. She also, somehow, has to find time next July to marry long-term boyfriend Niall Kennedy in Italy, the Galway doctor who distracted Morgan from surfing by proposing on her birthday.
"So, for the next few years I will be based in Ireland . . . I will compete at the remaining UK Pro Surf Tour events until the end of November and travel on promotional surf trips with magazines and sponsors as they arise over the winter. Depending on funding, I also hope to return to Australia for a short time in January to continue my coaching, and the European Championships come around again next year . . . I'm aware, though, that surfing's not going to be my lifetime career. I have only a few more years competing at this level, then I'll want to move on and maybe just surf then to enjoy it - hopefully, at that stage, having achieved my goals. All I want is to realise my potential. If I can do that, I'll be happy."
And back she goes to "bullying the greedy boys off the waves" in Bundoran. It's been a long journey for Morgan. Next month's championships in Portugal will tell her how far she's travelled in her surfing life.