Yes! Our fundamentals course is exactly what you need if you are beginning in the sport. But you’ll still learn plenty from our other content and seminars that will give you the knowledge you need to progress.

TAOS is for you whether you started later in life and are an intermediate or are at a high level. Our personalized member benefits are designed to help surfers across that spectrum progress.

Yes, whether you’re surfing a midlength or shortboard all of the content will still be useful and relevant to you. Longboarding takes a different approach and we’re not a long boarding specific platform.

We’d recommend you start with the TOAS Fundamentals to ensure your foundational technique is good, then leverage the TAOS On-land training guide to help you train. TAOS In-depth is designed to enable you to go deeper into different techniques as you progress.

Level 1 - Novice.

Here’s how to tell if you’re a novice surfer:

You’ve been surfing for 1-2 years

You can paddle through the white water

You can catch unbroken waves by yourself

You’re able to predict if a wave will be a right or a left

You have difficulty identifying the ideal peak positioning for take-off

Your pop-up is inconsistent and your foot positioning is a mixed bag

You can’t go left as well as you go right, or vice versa

Level 2 - Intermediate

Here’s how to tell if you’re an intermediate surfer:

You have at least 2-3 years of surfing experience

You can paddle out the back unassisted in 3-4ft surf

You can duck dive competently

You’re starting to try different board shapes, slowly surfing smaller funboards or fish-shaped boards

You’re able to angle your take-off and go down the line on a wave

You’re starting to attempt basic maneuvers

Level 3 - Advanced

Advanced surfers can take off in a deeper, faster section of the wave and surf top to bottom. They can successfully complete committed maneuvers (such as snaps and re-entries) in the critical part of the wave.

Here’s how to tell if you’re an advanced surfer:

You’ve been surfing for many years and have experience in a wide range of surfing conditions

You’re comfortable in solid 4ft surf

You ride high-performance shortboards

You can take off deep behind the peak

You aim to surf top to bottom in the critical part of the wave

You can perform standard maneuvers successfully most of the time

You are starting to try progressive maneuvers with at least some success

How much you get out of the TAOS Academy is up to you and how you fit in the content and training around your own time. We’ve designed it so that you can plug and play the bits that fit with your life and how much you are surfing. We do recommend you use the TAOS Review every year to get clear guidance and the main things you need to work on.

This is up to you, but we would recommend as regularly as possible as it’s here you’ll get the repetitions you need for the water.

This is up to you, but we would recommend you use a surf skate as regularly as possible as it will help you get the repetitions you need for the water.

We believe in quality over quantity and as a result TOAS is not designed to be a content farm that pumps out content constantly and frankly we don’t think that will help you improve your surfing. We deliver new world class quality surf analysis monthly, this could take the form of a seminar, indepth technique breakdown video or podcast. If there’s anything you want to hear us breakdown then use the member question section on the TAOS Member homepage.

We’ll connect you to members in our remote coaching experience through the Coach Now App when you submit your first TAOS Review. You can also engage with other members through the comments of our posts in the member section

You need a wave or two forehand and backhand and that’s it - we have a 90 second limit on footage for the TAOS Review. Technique is telling so we don’t need much to see what you need to work on.

We will launch a new Cohort roughly every few months, spaces are limited to ensure high quality one to one coaching so we recommend signing up to them when they open to members.

If possible you will need a few minutes of footage every month for the three months of the Cohort. This is usually a few waves on your forehand and backhand on the key things you are working on during that point of the cycle. We have a useful guide on the Remote Coaching page on how to film.

You’ll get to interact with Matt at multiple points during the TAOS Remote Coaching Cycle. You’ll be in regularly contact through the video reviews every 4 weeks and then between those through audio Q&A to check in on your progress every two weeks.

TAOS is a global platform and so due to time zones we ask you allow 24 hours for Matt to reply to a question during the Q&A period of each cycle.