Alfonso Peters was born in Mitchells Plain and grew up in Manenberg, Cape Town. He had a troubled childhood and ended up on the streets for a couple of years. At the age of 10 he was introduced to surfing. It became an outlet for him and changed his life.
EXTRACT
My name’s Alfonzo Pieters. Just that, I actually wish I had a middle name, but it didn’t happen. They call me Alf, Alfie, Fonzi. A lot of okes in Port Elizabeth call me Fonzi.
I was born in Mitchells Plain, Cape Town, and then my dad passed away and that forced us to move to Manenberg because he was the one bringing in the bacon, sorting out the house. So we moved to Manenberg and that’s where all the mischief happened. I’m obviously from a broken home and with my dad passing away, my mom became an alcoholic, and that’s how I grew up.
My mom did the best she could you know. I went to school, there was food around and she provided the best she could.
I had this friend and it started with us bunking school to just stroll around. I started stealing small things, like chocolates, action figures or cars, stuff that my mom couldn’t afford.
I would take a train and venture into Cape Town, and just wander around. I was impressed by all the tall buildings because growing up in Manenberg there’s only normal houses, you never see tall buildings or bright lights. So Cape Town was basically like New York to me. I met the kids that have been on the streets longer than me and they taught me worse things to do, like break into cars and snatching people’s cellphones.
I eventually learnt the system on the street, you know, I became street smart. How to take care of yourself, where not to hang out, what not to say, who to watch out for. What ended up happening was I would stay on the street for two nights, go back home. But then two nights on the streets turned into three weeks, the weeks turned into months and then eventually years.
I was very rebellious and couldn’t be told what to do. So one thing that drew me to the streets was the freedom. Going to sleep whatever time I want, not having to do dishes or anything, not having to wake up to go to school.
I must have seen guys surfing at a glance, but I never understood what they were doing out there in the sea. When I was on the streets I had been given a million chances to change my life around. Ryan Dalton, he found me on the streets at a very early age, like 10 years old, and saw that I had some potential to turn my life around. But I would run away and come back, run away and come back. Eventually Ryan offered me a deal. If I went back to school and gave it all up, then I could live with him.
As I mentioned, I don’t like to be told what to do, but he gave me a curfew, I had to do homework, I couldn’t just watch TV all day. They were offering free surf lessons through school and at the time I wasn’t interested, I was more keen on playing soccer. At the last minute I realised that I lived in Muizenberg and that’s where the surf lessons were going to happen and what’s the worst that could happen? So I put my name down for the lessons. On my very first wave I stood up! Everyone says this, but I promise you, that first wave I got up I was like: “What the hell is this?! This feels so amazing!” That first wave got me hooked and then from there I started surfing a lot.
And it became such an addiction that I started bunking school for surfing! But they caught on that I was bunking school, so they used surfing to help me. In order to surf, I needed to go to school and do my homework. It was a reward. There were times when I was grounded and I thought I was in jail. That’s how it felt, that’s how much I fell in love with surfing. I had to change my whole outlook and had to accept what was given to me. So anyway, I started surfing more and more, and my schoolwork started improving.
Eventually I started surf coaching to make ends meet. The surf shop that I was getting free boards from noticed that I surfed well and that maybe I could teach surf lessons. I started coaching everywhere and that was my bread and butter, my income.
I was kinda in my party phase of life, I was there, but not there, you know? I wanted to take my surfing seriously, but only when it suited me. I started competing and got some sponsors. I wasn’t taking it as serious because I didn’t believe in myself.
Then I met my wife, Emma. In order for her to take me seriously I needed to take myself seriously. I needed to stick to my job, needed to get my priorities right. I was still doing surf lessons hungover and I wasn’t really there. At the same time I was still trying to sort out my life, I was living on a friend’s couch here and there. But it all really started happening when I met Emma. So I thought that for me to pursue this, I would need to take my work seriously and to take my health and everything else seriously. She said that if I wanted to win then I needed to go run and train, and surf at least four times a day. She pushed me a lot. She was always in my head! She’s the coach in my corner.
My biggest goal yet is to start my own surf school. I love teaching and it’s something I know really well. I’ve seen what it’s done for me, so imagine what it could do for the next person. Especially someone who’s come from a similar history to mine.
Ya! So everywhere surfing is making a change in people’s lives. I mean look at me, it changed me. It can change your outlook on life. When you’re out in the ocean all you’re thinking about is the wave coming and which one you’re going to choose, how well you’re going to ride it. And even if you’re not riding it well you feel like a kid splashing around.
I became an ambassador with Waves for Change, coming from my background and the kids they work with. We went to do a talk in Port Elizabeth and they were jokingly saying that they wanted to start a site here and they needed a manager to run things. At that time I had surfed in PE and joked back, saying that I would love to live here and they offered for me [the job of] site manager. So I spoke to Emma and she was in! So we did our interview and that’s how it started.
Surfing-wise I love it here, especially because you can surf alone. Cape Town you never had that. I lived in Muizenberg and surfed maybe three times a week. Here I surf like three times a day!
I think surfing’s getting bigger. Even a couple of years ago you didn’t really see a black or coloured kid surfing. I remember when I went to Durban recently I saw a bunch of black kids surfing and so it’s definitely grown. And it’s changed what people think of surfing, because surfing was almost like a white sport, if I can say that. For me, why I think there weren’t a lot of black or coloured kids doing it is because it is a bit expensive if you think about it. But with the organisations helping with surfboards and wetsuits it’s more accessible now. And the kids themselves are pushing each other to be better and to get to a place where they can sponsor themselves. So it’s in a great space that way.
Now they’re saying black lives matter and to me I thought that ’lives matter, but then if you think about it, and why they say specifically black lives matter, is because black people have not been treated the same. We’re still not treated the same because of the apartheid era, there is still lots of racism around and its undercover racism. You don’t always see it, but it’s there. To this day in some shops you’ll get followed around. It happened to me not long ago and I felt really embarrassed, I felt targeted. So I see where the BLM comes from, especially with the oppression from back in the day. It’s still there, society has kind of moulded us that way. It’s going to take many years to change things, but I mean it’s already a little bit better than it was in the past.
If I’m not surfing, I still kick a ball around here and there. I play with the kids at Waves for Change. If I see a ball I’m distracted by it. But what a lot of people don’t know is that I can ice-skate. Ja, I can skate, I can stop really quickly and do some tricks ... I had my own skates and everything. My sister even said that I should’ve competed.
When I’m not moving I play video games on my phone. I’m playing the WSL game, Tru Surf and also Candy Crush. Emma beats me up about it because she introduced me to it about five years ago and I’m still playing it. I’m always looking out for new games, especially addictive games. I have some problems sleeping, I mean last night I woke up at 3am with the little one and couldn’t go back to sleep. So I just played until I was tired.
