44 PROFILE KUROSH KIANI
A lifestyle
A sport like windsurfing involves a lot of passion. To
me, it’s more of a lifestyle than a profession. It’s a
lifestyle we all love and live for. We daydream of
fantastic trips or great sessions. The little support we
get and hard work often is outweighed by those great
experiences, friendships, successes, special moments
and your own personal development.
The sacrifices are big, if you really want to be a player in
today’s windsurfing pro scene. It’s something I only
realised recently. When you are up-and-coming you will
have to sacrifice the steady life and risk your income.
Once established you realise friendships slowly fade
away, and that you will have to work harder to maintain
them. And in today’s very competitive environment you
will have to live and breathe the sport, which takes your
time and focus away from many ‘ordinary life’ things.
I used to make a living from windsurfing 100%, and it
was great for a few years. Then I shifted my approach. I
made changes which allowed a step back from being
100% reliant on windsurfing. I built more diversity into my
life with other projects. In the end I found out that having
more than one thing to focus on was the way forward.
This has had a positive impact on my performance.
Sponsorship and support comes from different corners
of the world with great partners. But especially in the
winter, where there isn’t much going on, I now work as
a freelance IT consultant. I’ve also had a hand setting
up scoring systems for all of the PWA’s disciplines. I
build websites, databases, provide technical web
solutions, create banner ads, design cartoons and
videos – you name it, I can do it all. Furthermore, I’ve
worked on personal projects using GPS tracking. I use
my technical approach to improve training.
Exposure
To set up contracts which solely focus on your
performance, in my opinion, can impact
mental health negatively
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SURFING
None of my sponsorship contracts are based on
podium results. Of course, if I can perform at podium
level the support will be greater, but it’s not what is
expected. It’s obviously what I strive and work for, but
the focus is equally on how much I can help my
sponsors with exposure. Be it through videos,
magazine articles, events or competition results. To set
up contracts which solely focus on your performance,
in my opinion, can impact mental health negatively.
‘Soul sailors’ can be found within windsurfing. And it’s
not unheard of for soul windsurfers to be on better deals
than competition riders. It’s what you make it. If you only
focus on results, your sponsorship deals will end up
reflecting that. I would prefer a space in the middle.