SA surfing champ Roxy Davis is using surf therapy to create great waves of change

Roxy Davis is a South African surf champ who earned the academic status of doctor this year after turning her love for the ocean into a restorative form of therapy for children with disabilities.

Dr Davis completed a PhD degree in disability studies at the University of Cape Town’s Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. Her groundbreaking thesis focuses on how surf therapy unlocks possibilities for children with disabilities, transforming lives and promoting wellbeing.

Though a handful of surf therapy studies had been done globally, the pioneering research on a tailored programme that Davis initiated in Cape Town has been revealing, particularly in a country with large health inequalities and amid barriers to access.

Surfing has always been Davis’ passion and her career has been moulded around her love for the ocean. “Surfing is my therapy, my safe space, my healing space, my quiet space. It’s like my sanctuary… As surfers, you find a way to revolve your work life around your passion,” she told Daily Maverick from Kommetjie, the seaside village where she grew up and was homeschooled, and where she still lives with her husband and business partner William and three children, aged 11, seven and four.

At age 19, her professional journey began when she started the Roxy Surf School for girls. The school expanded its offering to become the all-encompassing Surf Emporium in Muizenberg, which they have since sold.

Her interest in surf therapy for people with disabilities was piqued in 2016 after Ant Smyth returned from the Adaptive Surfing world championships in La Jolla, California, with a gold medal. “He told me that there’s this movement of surf therapy happening around the world, and South Africa is not really doing anything about it.”

By 2019, she had set up the Roxy Davis Foundation, and began her research project, which meant fancy footwork during the Covid-19 lockdown.

There were other barriers. Davis realised how unfriendly beachfronts are to people with disabilities – no ramps or mats for access. Transport for children from disadvantaged communities was prohibitive, so they found a network in special needs government schools and linked up with the Altitude Foundation. Together, they networked for supportive taxi services.

They bought a customised trailer and the surf therapy programme took shape at the now-iconic Surfers Corner in Muizenberg. Thirty-five participants took part in the academic study: five children with disabilities (three boys and two girls aged between 12 and 15, four of whom were from Khayelitsha and Philippi with varying disabilities from amputations to spina bifida and cerebral palsy), five parents, five professionals and 20 volunteer supporters.

The Roxy Davis Foundation took 80 people with disabilities surfing at the commemoration of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities and International Volunteer Day at Surfers Corner in Muizenberg on 7 December 2024 in Cape Town, South Africa. The day aims to provide an opportunity to mobilise action to achieve the goal of full and equal enjoyment of human rights and participation in society by persons with disabilities. (Photo: Gallo Images / Brenton Geach)

The therapy has been an eye-opener for Davis and her family. “Each child gets something different out of the sessions. It is so empowering.”

One child learnt tools to destress and cope with emotional anxiety; another had struggles at home and “it all washed away in the water”.

Davis’ foundation has expanded to wider participation, with her free therapy day clinics a well-known feature of the Cape Town calendar – the most recent being held on 6 December.

The therapy programme has had spinoffs, including awareness about the need for better beach access. It has influenced the City of Cape Town’s plans for the upgrade of the Muizenberg beachfront, where a universally accessible beach ramp will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Parking and ablution facilities will be universally accessible, including wheelchair-friendly showers.

The Davis couple are entrepreneurs who have a number of businesses that include the brands Ocean Freedom and Sally-Ann Creed.

Davis juggles many roles from the boardroom to the waves, and squeezes in time for her own surf therapy sessions at breaks around Kommetjie. She also took part in the open division of the World Longboard Surfing Championship in El Salvador in 2024.

“I can get all consumed by work and not surf for a while because I put everything else first. When I surf, that brings me joy and through that, the rest flows a lot easier. The waves don’t need to be great – they can be a three out of 10, but that is still fun.” DM

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.