Broken Backs and Mended Dreams, Zeke Lau's Recovery

Nearly a year ago, Zeke Lau finally won the National title that had been eluding him for so many years. He'd been immortalized in more pages of more magazines than he could count, but this was the title he really wanted. A national title. He'd promised himself that he'd keep his head shaved until that moment came. He trained, tried, and tried again. But last year, when he finally found himself on the winner's podium at Lowers, he could think about one thing and one thing only: his back. Make that his broken back.

That's not to say that the 16-year-old Honolulu native wasn't overcome after his win, as he reportedly smiled for days, but nothing dampens the mood quite like a fractured vertebra. Pain has a nasty habit of overwhelming the senses. And although he didn't know the severity of his injury, Zeke's first order of business when he returned home was to pay a visit to the doctor.

"I basically just did a floater and landed bad a few months before Nationals. When I came down it was pretty soar but I just kept surfing on it for a while, just hoping it would get better. And it didn’t. I didn’t know it was broken during Nationals or anything, but it hurt pretty bad," recalls Zeke. "So as soon as I get back to Hawaii I had an MRI and the doctor said that I’d broken one of my lower vertebras."

Understandably, Zeke came away from the visit deflated. Clearly, a sturdy back is a necessary ingredient in polished surfing. But in the face of adversity, Zeke did the only thing he could. He let go and did absolutely nothing. Not a damn thing. It was time for his body to heal.

When asked what the road to recovery entailed, Zeke stated that, "I didn’t surf for three months. I didn’t do any exercise or anything like that…I just let it heal. It wasn’t so bad though. I was able to do a lot of the things that I don’t normally have time to do. I focused a lot on school [Zeke is a student at Kamehameha Schools, a school for Native Hawaiians] and went to driver’s ed. At the time, I was pretty bummed, but now, it was actually good because I'm all healed up now and I was able to do a lot of the things I couldn't do when I was surfing all the time."

And now, with his back mended and a fresh froth at hand, Zeke is looking forward to the prospect of another achievement added to his name. A junior world title.

"My back is all healed now. One hundred percent. Coming up, I'll be heading off to New Zealand for the ISA Junior Games. I'm stoked, I can't wait to go."