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The University of Kentucky is widely known as a training ground for future NBA superstars, from Anthony Davis to John Wall. But Shelby Taylor, a senior international communications major at UK, has changed up the game, trading basketballs and sneakers for waves and a paddle. A breakout athlete and top international competitor in the sport of stand-up paddle boarding (SUP), Taylor has become the first pro in the sport from Kentucky with more than 40 wins since she started her career in 2013.
Known as Hoe he’e nalu in its native Hawaiian, SUP is an emerging global sport with roots as ancient form of conveyance around the Pacific islands. Whereas traditional wave surfing is confined to the breaking surf of shorelines, SUP riders use larger boards and a paddle to propel themselves for long distances over many types of water, including oceans, lakes, rivers and streams. It has re-emerged as a competitive sport in recent years, and Taylor is making efforts to raise the profile of the sport here in her home state.
“People are always shocked when I tell them I’m from Kentucky,” Taylor said. “They are curious how a girl from Kentucky grows up to be a competitive SUP competitor.”
While Taylor’s path to SUP wasn’t necessarily straightforward, she had an early sense she would one day become a professional athlete. From her youth, Taylor swam competitively and played club soccer; by age 16, her skills on the pitch caught the attention of the USA Olympic Development soccer program and college scouts. She earned a berth in the program and was being considered by several universities when, at training camp during the summer before her junior year of high school, she blew out her knee during routine play. She was dropped from the ODP’s roster and subsequently lost her scholarship offers.
“Ever since I was a little girl, the one thing that has been my passion and what drives me more than anything is competition,” Taylor said. “At such a young age, I had seemingly lost everything I worked so hard for. I was lost.”
Afternoons that Taylor had once spent practicing with her teammates were replaced by physical therapy sessions to regain her strength and stability.
“I healed after several months, but I had fallen into a very deep depression,” she said. “I had lost my identity. Without sports, I didn’t know myself.”
Taylor had gone from being a star athlete, student, and life of the party to being a depressed and withdrawn young adult in the span of just one year. After graduating from Bryan Station High School, she enrolled at the University of Vermont, resigned to the fact that she would never be an athlete again and seeking to branch out and travel. After two years in Vermont spent focusing purely on academics, she decided to take a gap year and move to coastal Mexican town of Sayulita, where she regularly vacationed with her family as a child and adolescent.
The friends Taylor had made during her adolescent years had gotten her immersed in local surfing culture, and when she came back as an adult she started surfing daily, eventually picking up stand-up paddle boarding for fitness. Her decision to move to Sayulita – a region on Mexico’s Pacific coast known for its warm water, spectacular beaches and constant surf break – turned out to be a blessing.
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“The ocean became my passion,” Taylor said. “I felt so much more happy, healthy and confident.”
As Taylor got stronger, her work ethic garnered the attention of a local SUP race organizer, who invited her in 2013 to attend a SUP race taking place at a local beach, the inaugural Punta Mita Beach Festival.
She not only attended, but she also entered the race – ultimately winning first place in the women’s division against seasoned veterans.
“For the first time since I was 16, I felt my swag was back,” she said. “I was victorious.”
After that first race, Taylor was taken under the wing of SUP Mexico, a local SUP organization and outfitter that provided her with training, a job giving lessons in their shop, and sponsorship to travel to competitions in the U.S and Mexico. In her first year of competition, she placed in the top third of every race she entered, winning first place in Georgia’s St. Simons Island SUP classic as well as the 6-mile Chattanooga RiverRox Race in Tennessee, where she managed to eclipse by eight minutes the time of top SUP athlete Candice Appleby, who is often considered “the face of stand-up paddle boarding.”
Where she had once been on track to become an elite soccer player, she now found myself working hard to join the elite ranks of SUP.
“I feel like is the perfect sport for anyone anywhere,” Taylor said. While she spends much of her time training and competing abroad, she enrolled in the distance education program at the University of Kentucky. “You can do it for fun, or competitively. You can do it on a lake, river, ocean, whitewater, surfing, tandem, take it fishing, do anything.
“It puts you in a very intimate contact with nature, and you can experience beautiful things while on the water,” she added. “In Mexico, it’s amazing to train on the ocean, but in Kentucky there is something so exciting and tranquil knowing you are the first and only paddle board to become a part of the river and forest around you.”
With a professional career that goes beyond competition, Taylor sees her role as a professional athlete to be a multi-faceted vocation: part athlete, mentor and ambassador.
“I’m determined to learn all I can from my fellow racers, to grow as a woman and a competitor, and hopefully, to have a long and fruitful career,” she said.
While her strength and conditioning has certainly come a long way in recent years, Taylor continues to be inspired by the beautiful and healthy women who race well into their 50s and beyond, and she strives to reach the elite level racing condition that she admires in those role models who race alongside her. But more importantly, she hopes to help young children find self-confidence and inner strength through SUP.
“Having really been through the bad stuff in life – facing eating disorders, injuries, illnesses, knowing the power peer pressure has on a young kid – [I] realize how much more powerful a good mentor and friend is,” she said. “I want to make sure that I am doing everything possible to help youth, boys or girls, so they never have to feel the lack of self-confidence or fear of being different that I had to overcome.”
2015 Bluegrass SUP Derby: The Palisades Paddle
Sept. 5-6, 2015
Shaker Village, 3501 Lexington Road, Harrdosburg, Ky.
paddleguru.com/races/ThePalisadesPaddeattheBluegrassStandUpDerby
To help raise awareness about the stand-up paddle boarding and kickstart the SUP revolution in the Kentucky, SUP professional Shelby Taylor and her mother, Sarah Taylor, have teamed up with Riveria PaddleSurf, The Southern Stoke Race series and Surfaid to organize a local celebration and competition of stand-up paddle boarding.
Taking place at Shaker Village, the inaugural Bluegrass SUP Derby is largely geared toward recreational and first-time SUPpers and will take place in conjunction with Shaker Village’s inaugural watershed festival. The SUP Derby will feature amateur and elite SUP races, SUP Yoga, a nighttime glow paddle, water conservation education, recreation SUP YOGA and exhibitions by various paddlesport companies.
Taylor will also host a two-hour race clinic focused on paddle technique, race and training tips. Make sure to bring a paddle, standup paddle board, hydration, PFD and appropriate clothing if you plan to participate in the clinic. cc