Adaptive Surfing on route to National and World Championships

In his final school year he played for Boland u/18 provincial team for the third consecutive
year and my career reached its climax when he signed his first major contract to play for North West
University.

Only two weeks after Dries Millard signed the contract, he was involved in a car accident that in an
instant took away a lifetime of hard work. To make the deal even more bitter sweet, the coach of the
national u/18 team visited him in hospital to announce that he was selected to represent South Africa,
the biggest honour in rugby, to wear green and gold. His world was shattered knowing that he would
never be able to play rugby or do athletics again, never to jog in the first light of day again.

Naturally he picked himself up and tried out new avenues, using the 18% bodily function I had left
trying to fulfill himself in sport once again. Surfing was always just a hobby for him. "The ocean was a place neutral of expectations, a place that challenged without any regard, a place that if you weren’t aware of exactly everything around you, might just claim you" he said.


As one of the founding pioneers of Adaptive Surfing worldwide and the only ISA accredited surf
coach with a disability since 2011, Dries Millard found a great pleasure in sharing his plans to represent South Africa at the 4th Adaptive Surfing world Championships in December 2018.
The South African national championships will be held 5 August at Addington Beach in Durban. As he is based in Saldanha Bay on the West Coast, he has set his plans on driving along the coast to surf and spread awareness along the way as part of his training and preparations for world championships.

Being in the unique position of having a disability and doing a high action sport, he runs a non profit
company that hosts adaptive surf events for disabled. Making public appearances is part of how he
help grow and develop adaptive surfing as a sport. He plans to spread as much awareness along the
way and will also be visiting schools in the areas where he'll be staying on route to Durban and back.
His brother, Albert Millard, who is an ISA surf coach as well will accompany him along with Charles
‘Skalakie’ Olsen who assisted him on the 2015 adaptive surfing roadshow.


Presenters & producers: Micurls Muller & Khusi Veto