McGONAGLE Leilani

Preferred stance
Goofy (worldsurfleague.com, 01 Jul 2019)

General
COSTA RICA
Her father is from San Clemente, CA, United States of America. He moved to Central America after high school and opened a small hotel in Pavones, Costa Rica, where he fell in love with a fellow traveller and decided to stay there to raise a family. She described Pavones as one of the best surfing locations in the world. "I love my country. It means everything to me. It's shaped me as a person, completely. And my surfing is a result of growing up at one of the best waves in the world [Pavones]. But despite how many good surfers we have, there's not quite as much recognition in our country, so it's hard to get noticed on a world scale and make a name for yourself. I really look up to people like my brother [Noe Mar] and Carlos [Munoz] who have helped pave the way for surfers like me." (stabmag.com, 12 Nov 2018)

IMAGE OF SURFING
She hopes surfing's inclusion in the Olympic Games will help change the image of the sport in Costa Rica. "The Olympics really brought this whole new perspective to the sport. It was like, 'Hey, you're an athlete now'. For so many years it was like, 'You're an athlete, but you're a surfer. It's not a real sport.' When the Olympics happened, Costa Rica took it seriously. Aside from soccer, they wanted to really step up our game with surfing. It was totally legitimised. Whereas before, you could be a great surfer but end up just being a bum on the beach giving surf lessons for the rest of your life or something." (surfline.com, 12 Jun 2021)

SCOLIOSIS
She was born with a severe case of scoliosis but says it has never affected her surfing. "I was diagnosed with scoliosis when I was 11. I have a double major curve in my spine, and they're both like 60 degrees off-line, which is bad, but I've been dealing with it for a long time so I know how it works. It was recommended that I get surgery but we decided against that, and instead I wore a brace up until a year ago [2017]. Now I just do yoga, and that's actually been really helpful, as I've learned a lot about my body and its alignment. It's almost like a blessing in disguise. I'm definitely more in tune with my body than I think a lot of people are. Thankfully I've never had any pain from it, because we caught it at a really young age and started working on it right away. It was more of a learning curve than anything. I've never known my back to be any other way, so I guess it doesn't affect my surfing at all." (stabmag.com, 12 Nov 2018)

FURTHER STUDIES
She has also studied public relations at California State University, Berkeley in the United States of America. (delfino.cr, 16 Jul 2020; Instagram profile, 07 Jun 2021)