Prior Aloha Award Winners

Ben Brondsema (2023)

Ben Brondsema is a former police officer with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Ben grew up as a little kid in a small town in The Netherlands. From an early age, Ben was always eager to help others without the expectation of receiving something in return. Ben believes that giving is more rewarding that receiving.

Ben served as a police officer in The Netherlands for over a decade before he was diagnosed with PTSD. As a dedicated husband and father of two young children, he knew he had to shake things up. He lost his job, but didn’t want to lose his family. Regular therapy didn’t work, so Ben began looking for alternatives. Unexpectedly, he found his relief in surfing.

Ben was devastated when, along with his job, he lost the ability to help others as a policeman. Watching the documentary, “Resurface”, about a surf therapy program that helps traumatized soldiers heal, was a turning point in Ben’s life. It was than that he decided that he wanted to create his own surf therapy program. In 2019, he founded Surfivor, a Netherlands-based surf therapy program for first responders and veterans with PTSD. Surfivor’s mission is to help PTSD survivors heal through surfing instead a medication.

Ben’s role in the program is to create a safe space for participants and to show them, by example, that it’s ok to be open and vulnerable. Ben thrives on guiding people into the water, seeing them smile (often for the first time in years), and getting hugs from program participants.

Ben’s mission is to create awareness about the positive effects of surf therapy on PTSD. Ben might not be able to save lives as an police officer anymore, but with Surfivor he can save lives through surfing. His uniform is now a wetsuit!

Mike Castro (2022)

Mike Castro is a family man, environmental and social work activist, nurse and psychology student. Mike grew up in the small town of Cieneguita, Costa Rica. At the age of 8, drugs wreaked havoc in his family home and community, marking the beginning of a long and difficult stage of his life. At the age of 11, he discovered surfing, which kept him motivated, positive, and away from the drugs, alcohol and gang violence that plague his community to this day.

Mike met his wife in 2000, and when their first child began surfing competitively, Mike began to feel that, if surfing had the power to help him and inspire his son, it could also help others. In 2011 Mike and his wife founded the Cieneguita Surf School, with a goal of helping young people find and cultivate love, respect, academic excellence, and self-confidence.

In 2018, Mike connected with the non-profit organization, Waves For Change, in South Africa, and was invited to participate in a training program focused on surf therapy. This turned out be a transformational experience, igniting Mike’s enthusiasm and commitment to start the surf therapy program, Olas y Sonrisas (Waves & Smiles). Despite a lack of any material financial support, Mike and his team have managed to create a very impactful and successful surf therapy program.

Olas y Sonrisas welcomes youth with and without disabilities and creates a safe space in which participants can learn to surf, while using surfing and other physical and social activities to cultivate fitness, a positive mindset, strong values, respect, empathy, affection, and environmental awareness.

Chris Dennis (2021)

Chris Dennis is an accomplished surfer and free-diver from Trinidad & Tobago. He comes from a very humble background, being born and raised in the coastal fishing village of Balandra, where he developed a deep affinity for the ocean and ventured into surfing. Surfing was his way out of poverty and opened up many opportunities for him. In addition to representing Trinidad & Tobago at surfing's World Qualifying Series for a few years, he has also focused his efforts in helping to improve the sport locally by coaching and mentoring young and upcoming talent. It is through the intervention of sport that Chris sees the possibility of positively affecting the lives of young people and dissuade them from a life of failure and frustration.

In 2018, Chris teamed up with the Positive Vibe Warriors Foundation from California/USA in order to do a surfboard drive and get surfing equipment for the purpose of introducing more youth to the sport of surfing, a successful effort that was profiled in the film, “Breaking Boundaries”.

In June 2019, Chris co-founded the non-profit organization Waves for Hope, offering youth & community development programs in Trinidad. The surf therapy program for at-risk youths in underserved communities employs caring mentors, the fun activity of surfing, and evidence-based exercises to build healthy relationships and develop skills to cope with stress. The beach functions as a safe space where participants are mentored and given the opportunity to learn new skills to cope with their difficult situations and build positive relationships.

Nigel Savel (2020)

Born and bred in the beautiful city of Cape Town, South Africa, Nigel Savel started surfing at 9Miles Beach in Strandfontein at the age of 11. The ocean was a place of tranquility where he could switch off from any worries and allowed him to escape the surrounding dangers and social ills in his community. 

As an adult, he realised that children in the surrounding informal settlements had few positive role models and were being lured into illegal and anti-social activities. He knew first-hand that surfing, combined with mentorship, was a powerful combination for transforming lives. Motivated by his love for surfing, Nigel, along with his wife Sher’Neil, started the 9Miles Project in 2013 with the vision of uplifting and empowering vulnerable communities.  Surfing is used as a catalyst to engage and entice vulnerable, at-risk youth to the project and to teach them discipline, determination and life skills. The organization has grown from 7 to more than 100 children and offers safe spaces, structured after-school and literacy programs, and holistic community support and skills development programs in three coastal locations in South Africa. 

Nigel has a passion for seeing lives and communities transformed and dedicates all his time to mentoring at-risk youth, conducting surf clinics (which combine surf lessons with life empowerment lessons), creating large public events which engage marginalised communities and encourage positive participation in water activities, growing and strengthening the organisation, and heading up the Youth Portfolio on the local government Ward Committee.

He takes every opportunity to share the stoke and his love for the ocean, and can’t wait for the day when he helps his daughter, Ella, catch her first wave! 

Tasha Mentasti (2019)

Tasha Mentasti was born on the balmy East Coast of South Africa in coastal surf town, Durban. Raised on the beach and in the warm Indian Ocean, it was a natural progression to go from playing in the shore break to catching waves with all the boys during the early 90’s, when women’s surfing was barely recognized. After completing school, Tasha decided to travel the world pursuing a professional surfing career. With a long stint between Hawaii and California as a base while on the ASP tour, Tasha returned home in 2010 to the beautiful, wave-rich country of South Africa and chose to put her time and effort back into the sport of surfing that had given her so much.

Joining the small team at Surfing South Africa (SSA) as Operations Manager, Tasha was able to help grow a successful transformation and development program working with kids from underprivileged coastal communities, as well as offer her services in surf coaching, logistics, planning and event management. It was while working at SSA that Tasha was introduced to the wonderful sport of adaptive surfing. Adaptive surfing is for people with physical and/or mental challenges who use the therapeutic sport of surfing to catch waves using various modalities depending on the nature of their disability. Participants include people with amputations, blindness, autism, cerebral palsy and various levels of paralysis. It is now a recognized form of surf therapy. Tasha shares her passion for surf therapy around South Africa and introduces the wonderful sport of adaptive surfing to anyone that crosses her path.