Kayla Durden was born and raised in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. It was on a family trip to Cocoa Beach that Kayla watched her brother catch a wave, and when her dad asked if she wanted to try, she said yes. From that point on Kayla embedded herself in a sport that had a playing field right in her backyard.

Mind you surfing had to compete with Kayla’s natural ability across a range of sports. She played soccer, basketball, volleyball, track and field, and swimming. Yet while she excelled at all the sports, it was the waves at The Pier and 34th South where she felt most at home.

“The saltwater does magic to the soul, and the sun and sand has a certain way of removing stress from the mind,” she said. “Those who live within short distance of a beach are truly blessed.”

While sponsored as a teenager and having some success in the junior surfing ranks, Durden was always committed to her education, rather than chasing the dream of a being pro surfer. She attended Providence School and eventually graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of North Florida with a degree in marketing and a minor in Spanish.

More recently the 23-year-old has been appointed as the physical education teacher, athletic coordinator, and Girls Varsity basketball head coach, at the Episcopal School of Jacksonville.

However her love, and talent, for the sport she started as a five-year-old has never diminished. While she is now guiding the next generation of Jacksonville’s teenagers through their sporting journey, her own is nowhere near finished. Given the chance to pit her skills against the world’s best surfers, Durden will back her sporting ability and smarts every time.

Instagram: @kayladurden