Adi Gluska goes vertical off the Portugese coast

ere in Israel we have to be very productive in order to survive. As a people we are naturally very motivated and active, and that is why very few surfers here share the ‘beach-boys culture’ like they do in other places,” remarks Adi Gluska, a pioneer in Israeli surfing.

Thirty-three year old Mr. Gluska was the first surfer in his country to receive financial backing, and through his professional achievements, he has personally paved the way for future generations of Israeli surfers to turn a passion into a successful career.

Mr. Gluska, born and raised in Tel Aviv, got his start early on, thanks to his middle brother, Arad, who lent him his surfboard one day and started a lifelong addiction. He soon found himself traveling up and down the Mediterranean coast, from Ashdod and Ashkelon in the summer, to Tel Aviv and Haifa in the winter in search of waves. It wasn’t long before he was entering local contests.

“My first year I started competing in national events, and I ended up in the top four,” relates Mr. Gluska. “After that I was the Israeli champ in every division: four times in the child division, three times in the juniors and 10 times in the open division.”

Dominating the national scene, Mr. Gluska became a member of the Israeli national surf team, moved to Europe to compete in professional surf events featuring the best surfers from around the world and earned a sponsorship from O’Neill, one of the largest surf companies on the planet, Spider surfboards and Yambateva, an Israeli travel company.

Although surfing in Israel has been around for a few decades, the surf industry remains nascent compared to the United States and Australia, presenting challenges for aspiring pros. Mr. Gluska’s accomplishments have helped break down the barriers young pros face, by bringing notoriety to Israel.

Today, you can see Israeli surfers at the world’s most popular surfing destinations, like Bali, Australia and Costa Rica. “For the last ten or fifteen years, it has been very common for surfers from Israel to travel the world,” Mr. Gluska remarks. “We love to travel, especially surfers due to a shortage in Israeli waves - we only have about 1.5 days of waves per week.”

Having left the competitive circuit a few years back, Israel’s top surfer currently works as a physiotherapist and surf trainer for aspiring professional surfers, imparting the wisdom he picked up during his influential career.

“Surfing has introduced me to so many countries and cultures since I was fifteen years old and given me a lot of perspective on life. I learned that things in life are not black and white, and there is always two sides to the coin. I learned to try to speak to people in their language and to try and understand their mindset.”