The impact of sport on mental health has been recognized in various research studies, highlighting the positive influence on cognitive processes that are fundamental to school success (Fedewa & Ahn, 2011). This article analyses the impact of the ‘Turma do Mar’ project being implemented in Matosinhos, Porto, Portugal, promoted by the ‘Onda Pura Surf Center’. It is a therapeutic surfing project and aims to stimulate the development of social and emotional competences in children and young people in situations of risk or social vulnerability through surfing. Based on promoting social and emotional learning, participants attend weekly sessions of 2 hours and 30 minutes throughout the intervention cycle of one school year. Psychologists and surf instructors lead these sessions.
The International Surf Therapy Organisation (ISTO) has defined surf therapy as an intervention method that combines surf instruction, individual structure, and/or group activities to promote psychological, physical and psychosocial well-being (ISTO, 2019). In a recent study, it was found that surf therapy works as a means of improving both physical and psychosocial well-being (Benninger et al, 2020). Furthermore, surfing can also be seen in this context as a safe activity, as well as a mediator for making new friends and creating a group, in addition to having a short-term impact on self-confidence, especially in adolescents (Silva et al, 2022).
In this sense, from the study, we understand that the therapeutic process model through surfing developed for the ‘Turma do Mar’ project has considerable impact on its participants, who feel an increase in their confidence, motivation and self-esteem, and a decrease in anxiety and aggressive behaviour. What's more, participants appear to be more engaged with school and consequently more likely to succeed. The findings of this study contribute to a greater understanding of the impact of sport, particularly surfing, on young people and its relationship with education.
The theoretical framework used to understand this project is based on the literature on the benefits of sport (Eigenschenk et al., 2019) especially surfing (Olive, 2023) and ‘blue exercise’ (Rocher et al., 2010). The results of this project are also analysed in light of existing evidence on the impact of other surf therapy programmes (Devine-Wright & Godfrey, 2018; Leonard et al., 2022; Matos et al., 2017). In addition, we used the theoretical lenses of social well-being and mental health to understand the project's impact on the acquisition of social and emotional competences (Keyes, 1998; Keyes, 2014).

In a process of monitoring and following up the project, qualitative material was collected at different levels. Interviews and focused discussion groups were held with the young participants and the interlocutors in the school community, namely the school psychologists and teachers, observation sessions (accompanied by field notes) and audio recordings of the surf instructors, as well as various notes on the Padlet platform, where the project team described their intervention. The results are divided into three main dimensions: the participants' personal and social development, well-being, and school results.

The results of this study show that, through the therapeutic process of surfing, it is possible to develop socio-cognitive, socio-emotional, relational and behavioural skills that cut across other areas of the participants' lives, particularly in their relationship with school. Our results corroborate previous research, confirming that interventions based on surf therapy can have significant potential to motivate children and young people and promote their emotional, social, and psychological well-being. At the same time, it is important to emphasise that the benefits of these interventions depend on the quality of the project design, a competent and properly trained team, and constant follow-up and monitoring. A successful intervention also requires strong liaison between instructors and psychologists throughout the process. Furthermore, a distinctive element of this surf therapy programme is its ability to involve different educational actors fundamental to developing children and young people, from parents and teachers to school psychologists. Thus, this study makes it possible to understand the impact of sport, and more precisely surfing, on children and young people, as a means of social inclusion and promoting educational success.

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