MOORE Carissa

Preferred stance
Regular (worldsurfleague.com, 01 Jan 2019)

General
TAKING A BREAK IN 2020
In late 2019 she said she had decided in mid-2018 that she would skip the World Surf League tour in 2020 in order to travel and spend more time with her husband. "This is just a refresh and hopefully I can come back stronger in 2021. This next year [2020] doesn't look like sitting out on the couch and eating potato chips. I can comfortably sit back and say, okay, I really do deserve it [a break]." (worldsurfleague.com, 06 Feb 2021; olympics.nbcsports.com, 23 Dec 2019)

FINDING HER HAPPY PLACE
In 2018 she revealed that she had been struggling to find purpose and motivation for competitive surfing after reaching a low point in 2017. She has also spoken about a long battle with an eating disorder and body image issues that began during high school and took until 2015/16 to overcome. By September 2019 she said she had rediscovered her 'happy place' in the sport. "I feel like I'm in a really happy place [in 2019], a peaceful place. I've learned a lot over the past couple of years about what I want personally and professionally - and reassessed my motivation. I'm just feeling a bit more solid about my direction. I've always been super goal-oriented, and I feel like I'm more in tune with my goals now. For me, it's tough when I'm not really feeling my purpose. But now I feel like I'm in a good place." (beachgrit.com, 01 Sep 2019; beachgrit.com, 01 Jul 2018; redbull.com, 31 Jul 2018; people.comn, 07 Jan 2016)

JAPANESE LANGUAGE
She reconnected with her studies of Japanese in 2018 when she travelled to Japan with her husband Luke, who co-owns a Hawaii-based banana smoothie business. The couple visited Japan to celebrate the opening of the company's first international franchise. "I studied Japanese in school for six years. I forgot a lot since I graduated but picked up a 'Japanese for Dummies' book and did a little refresh on the plane ride there [in 2018]. A lot of the sentence structure came back fairly quickly but I need some work on re-learning a lot of the vocabulary." (carissamoore.com, 18 Aug 2018)

FAMOUS SCHOOL
She attended the same high school in Honolulu, HI, United States of America, as former US president Barack Obama and US golfer Michelle Wie. She also met her future husband while at the school. "I was in high school when he [Obama] got into office and everyone was super excited. It was a very proud moment for my school. I did meet Michelle Wie. She was a senior when I was a freshman and I was really star-struck when she was on campus. I was pretty one track-minded at school though - it was do well in classes so I could surf after school." (olympic.org, 06 Jun 2018; worldsurfleague.com, 01 Jan 2019)

OTHER ACTIVITIES
She started a non-profit foundation called Moore Aloha in 2018 to encourage more girls into surfing. "I launched Moore Aloha Charitable Foundation with a simple goal: Moore Love. I hope to empower young females through the sport of surfing to be strong, confident and compassionate individuals." She also campaigns for cleaner oceans with the Surfrider Foundation. "I want my children and the generations after to be able to walk the same beaches, surf the same reefs and enjoy the same wildlife and ocean ecosystems that have made a difference in my life." (moorealoha.com, 01 Nov 2019; sandiegomagazine.com, 01 Aug 2019; surfrider.org, 01 Jan 2019)

In 2011 at age 18 she became the youngest surfer at the time to win a women's world title, and the same year she became the first female surfer to be invited to compete in the men's Triple Crown of Surfing. (redbull.com, 01 Jan 2019)

In 2008 she became the youngest champion at the time at a Triple Crown of Surfing event when she won the Reef Hawaiian Pro. (redbull.com, 01 Jan 2019)