A letter from Pierre-Louis Denaro, a recipient of the Endowment Fund, to Dr Joe Spence, the Master, and Iain Scarisbrick, the Deputy Master Co-curricular. Pierre is now Head of Medical with the Senegalese Federation of Surfing and Founder of the European Institute of Sport Physiotherapy.
Dear Dr Spence and Mr Scarisbrick, G’day from Dakar, Senegal!
I am very excited to write to you after two incredible weeks in Japan. We returned to Senegal yesterday full of elation over what the team has achieved and with a severe dose of jet leg. Regardless, I wanted to share the experience with you as soon as possible, as it is impossible to underestimate how grateful we are for the amazing help we received. The team arrived four days before the start of the contest, giving us time to adjust to the time difference, get to know the waves on which we would be surfing and figure out how not to accidentally offend Japanese culture! The contest started with a huge swell left over from the major typhoon which hit Japan a week earlier. We had two objectives: to reach the quarter finals and to place higher than Morocco. Given that Morocco failed to qualify, the job was halfway done, and we were left to represent Africa, together only with surfing powerhouse Team South Africa. Our women reached the second round and the men made it to the third, just one round before the quarters. Nevertheless, we couldn’t be more proud of them, not only for their performance but also to be surfing in Japan – a great feat for any Senegalese athlete. Overall, we finished 28th out of 42 nations present, beating our previous world ranking of 37th. Argentina took home the gold medal. All things said, it was the greatest experience I have ever had. To be in the professional surf environment, and to be around the top professional athletes whom I have admired for several years, is an enormous joy and privilege for me. To be wearing the national jersey, bearing the flag, walking in the parade of nations, and of course surfing in Japan was simply a dream. My desire is to continue working within this niche of sports medicine, and, as I had hoped, I was able to speak to several high-profile teams and other significant people within the industry about joining them in the future, so I will most certainly spend this week following up with them. I wish to give a heartfelt thank you to both of you, Dulwich College and everyone behind the trust fund. It is so wonderful for OAs to have access to such resources, and I am sure it is not the first time that it has proved instrumental in helping someone achieve or pursue a goal. I really am very grateful for everything, and of course proud as ever to be an OA. I could continue forever, but I will leave you with some of the most memorable photos of our time in Japan. All the very best, Pierre-Louis
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