Seminary or surfing? - Church News
Enthusiasm for surfing seems to go hand-in-hand with living in Laguna Beach, Calif. Sean Kimball started at age five when his father, Stan, gave him a surfboard and "pushed me into the waves," Sean said during a telephone interview with the Church News.
The 18-year-old priest in the Laguna Beach Ward, Laguna Niguel California Stake, said he has been surfing seriously for about seven years. When he entered his freshman year at Laguna Beach High School, he was eager to join the surfing team which practiced before school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. (The early time was necessary, Sean said, to avoid the crowd of more casual surfers swarming to the waves later in the day.)
That led to a conflict with seminary, which was also held each morning before school.
At first, surfing won the battle, Sean said. But his parents and teachers encouraged him to stay involved in seminary and he did attend occasionally.
As the school year progressed, Sean said he became aware that on the mornings he missed seminary, "my days weren't as good."
At the end of the first semester, he attended a seminary testimony meeting and made a decision to dramatically change his priorities.
"I knew seminary was more important than surfing," he said.
He quit the school surfing team so he could be fully active in seminary and, set to enter his senior year, expects to be a four-year seminary graduate.
During his high school years, the coach of the surfing team and the school's fans have pushed him to change his mind and return to the team. But, he said, "I've never regretted making the decision" to put seminary first.
That doesn't mean his surfboard has been collecting dust. He regularly surfs with a few friends after school and has enjoyed competitive success. He won a National Scholastic Surfing Association regional junior championship at Huntington Beach, Calif., in April. He said the competing surfers came from all over Southern California.
Though he doesn't represent his school on the surfing team, Sean is a member of the volleyball team, which won the Orange Coast League championship last spring. He plays beach volleyball as well, he said, but doesn't join in serious competitions because tournaments are on Sundays. He also enjoys skim boarding at the beach.
A lifelong member of the Church, Sean was born and raised in Laguna Beach. The son of Stan and Cheri Kimball, he is planning to serve a full-time mission shortly after graduating from high school.
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