He’s a Natural, but Not for Baseball : Trevor Christ Has Gone From Little League to Surf Pro

SAN DIEGO —  It might seem natural for Dan Christ to want his son, Trevor, to play baseball.

When Trevor was 8, Dan Christ (it rhymes with wrist) was an assistant baseball coach at Oceanside High School.

But Dan is a surfer first, since 1957, and long before he ever thought of buying Trevor a glove or bat, he instilled in his son a love of surfing.

“Before we even came home from the hospital after Trevor was born, I showed Trevor the ocean,” said Christ, who, at 43, still surfs and teaches Spanish at Oceanside.

“There was a beach break that I used to surf near Santa Barbara and on the way home (from the hospital) we stopped there and I lifted Trevor up so he could see the ocean.

“Trevor has always been a water boy. He never had any fear of the water. My father has eight-millimeter movies of (Trevor) standing on one of my old (9-foot) surfboards (and) riding it in the whitewash when he was 2 years old. I love baseball, but surfing is a life style for me.”

Trevor did go on to become a very good Little League and Pony League baseball player, but the early exposure to surfing never wore off.

“It was pretty much my Dad who got me started,” Trevor said. “I guess it’s because he was so into it, I just said, ‘Wow, he’s having so much fun. I want to do the same.’ ”

Trevor has become a much better surfer than his father, however. After turning professional last October, the 18-year-old from Encinitas is one of the best surfers in California and wants to be one of the best in the world.

The Stubbies Pro surfing competition, which begins 6 a.m. today at Oceanside Pier, will be Christ’s first chance to compete against some of the best in the world, including top-ranked Tom Curren of Carpinteria, Calif., and No. 2 Tom Carroll from Australia.

It also will be the first time Christ competes as a pro in an international Assn. of Surfing Professionals competition. He ranks second on the California-based Professional Surfing Assn. of America circuit.

“It’s my first chance to surf against some of the big boys--and that’s pretty cool,” Christ said. “I’m nervous, but that nervousness gets me amped. It’s a good kind of nervous.”

Christ surfed as an amateur last year in the Op Pro at Huntington Beach, an ASP event, but he had to leave the competition when he crashed into the pier in his first heat. One of his knees was scraped and the other had to have water removed from it. Christ figures it will go better at Oceanside this year because the waves will be breaking left and away from the pier.

Christ said making the ASP tour has been his dream since he began to take surfing seriously. But that wasn’t until the ninth grade.

Until then, Christ competed in baseball and soccer as well as surfing. In fact, his triple-A soccer team--ironically, named the Surf--was good enough to qualify for top-level tournaments in Canada and Mexico City. Triple A is the highest rating a youth team can have in the United States.

Despite his success in soccer and baseball, scoring goals and hitting home runs could not top tube rides.

“I didn’t want to be practicing baseball, catching ground balls and running laps. I hate taking infield,” said Christ, who graduated this year from San Dieguito High School.

“I just wanted to be surfing every day, hours a day. You got to be the best in one thing. I couldn’t do all three. I’m happy where I am and that’s what’s important.”

His father said it was a natural progression for Trevor.

“That’s his personality,” Dan Christ said. “I supported him all the way. I would have hated for him to wake up one day and say, ‘I wish I had . . . ‘ “

It was not long before the wisdom of Christ’s decision to turn pro became apparent.

Christ finished ninth in a major international competition in Newquay, England, this year. He has earned enough to buy himself a new pick-up truck. In addition to the $4,500 he has won in competition, Christ gets a salary from his sponsors, who also give incentives for top performances.

He also has been the PSAA points leader for most of the 1986-87 season, although poor finishes in the last three competitions have caused him to drop into second place behind Oceanside’s Mike Lambresi.

But being a rookie hasn’t made it easy for Christ. Rookies must surf in all of the trials rather than being seeded into the fifth round as Lambresi and the top 16 from last year are. No other trialist, a surfer who must begin competition in the trials, is ranked in the top 15, Christ said.

That has impressed his sponsors, too.

A strong showing in Oceanside or at next week’s Op Pro in Huntington Beach may earn Christ enough financial backing from his sponsors to compete in next year’s ASP events, which are held in 10 countries including Australia, France, Brazil and South Africa.

To help his chances, Christ ordered two new surfboards, one 6-feet 2-inches and another 6-4, especially for the Oceanside meet. He says that the new boards seem to make him surf better and faster.

But, even with the extra time he has devoted to surfing in the last year, Christ admitted it will be two years of hard work before he can expect to finish consistently in the top 16 in the ASP contests.

“I could get to the round of 16 (at Oceanside) easily if I have good heats,” Christ said. “I can surf as well as any trialist. But when you get to the round of 16, your surfing has to jump up a level. I have to train more, lifting weights and swimming.”

But surfing is not Christ’s only love. He also throws pottery in his spare time.

His parents will not let him have his wheel at home, but he said he still works on it often at his cousin’s house.

“I make little things or vases or ashtrays, things like that,” Christ said. “I’ve sold a few things. I dig it. It’s really cool just throwing some dirt into a killer piece of art.”

Even that hobby relates to surfing, Christ said.

“You can’t have anyone make it (a pot) for you,” he said. “You have to do it yourself. Like in surfing, your mom and dad aren’t going to paddle out with you and say, ‘Yo, take this one here.’ ”

His father may not help Trevor to choose each wave during a contest, but it seems natural that he shares his father’s love for surfing.