LC Waikiki is supporting young people with the Hatay Surf Center.

LC Waikiki, which sees the responsibility of producing projects that will benefit people and society, has taken on the main sponsorship of the Hatay Surf Center project, which will allow young people to socialize and gain self-confidence.

Placing participation in social responsibility projects among its core values, LC Waikiki has taken on the main sponsorship of the Hatay Surf Center project, which will enable young people in the Hatay Samandağ region to socialize, gain self-confidence, and acquire new competencies. The Hatay Surf Center aims to provide a new motivation for young people who have been deprived of socialization opportunities due to the decrease in resources in the region after the earthquake. At the same time, this center is creating a new area of activity for young people where they can have fun and gain self-confidence. Among the goals of the project, which connects young people with the healing power of the sea through surfing, is to establish a surf-focused tourism area in the region and create a new economic opportunity.

“Today’s students will be tomorrow’s surf instructors”
The Hatay Surf Center offers a three-stage free training program for students under the age of 16. The first level basic surfing training will begin with 1,000 students, and those who progress and are willing at this level will develop their surfing skills with the second level training program. Students selected from the second level training program will earn the right to start the third level Surf Leadership Training and will continue their training during the winter months. Within the scope of the sustainable Hatay Surf Center project, 20 young people who undergo advanced level surfing training throughout the year will teach surfing to their peers in the new term starting next summer.

“We prioritize creating value for society”
Sinem Akgül Yılmaz, Deputy General Manager responsible for Customer Insights and Marketing Communication at LC Waikiki, stated: “LC Waikiki is a brand that operates with the mission ‘Dressing Well is Everyone’s Right.’ Creating value for society is among the most important issues we care about, alongside our activities. We acted with this perspective during the earthquake disaster we experienced. We provided support to the local people and helped heal their wounds, delivering assistance in clothing, school renovations, and educational scholarships, among others. Additionally, while various projects were implemented to reach children and adults in the region after the earthquake, we received feedback that young people were overlooked in the field studies. With this project, of which we are proud to be the main sponsor, we want to reach out to the youth in the region and connect with them. One of the reasons we chose surfing is that Samandağ is very suitable for the sport. Moreover, water sports, especially surfing, have a rehabilitative effect. This contributes to the young people’s adaptation to social life, especially after disasters like earthquakes. By introducing young people to this sport, we aim to support rehabilitation processes and contribute to the long-term development of new athletes and surf instructors.

“Samandağ will be the locomotive of wave surfing tourism”
Deniz Toprak, the founder and instructor of the Hatay Surf Center, stated that training will continue throughout the winter and that work for the 2025 group will begin in June of next year. Toprak continued: “We can consider this project as an important start to introduce children and young people to surfing. Within the scope of the project, we reached out to 11,000 young people through neighborhood meetings, social media, and schools. We are filling the 1,000-person quota we envisioned for the beginner level training. In the first phase of the project, we aim to reach 1,000 young people and include 20 of them in advanced training. Our target for next year is to reach 2,000 young people. Thus, we aim to introduce a total of 3,000 young people to surfing over two years. In addition to our main sponsor LC Waikiki, the project will continue with collaborations with Hayata Destek and various NGOs, and it is also expected to provide a permanent surf-focused tourism area for the region. There is a serious segment interested in surfing. This surf-focused tourism area targeting this audience, which is in pursuit of a much more sustainable and authentic experience, creates a sustainable alternative for the region. Samandağ has the longest summer season, the warmest sea, and the longest beginner-level wave period in Turkey. We aim for this place to be the locomotive of wave surfing tourism, and for the young surfers raised at the Hatay Surf Center to lead the region’s transformation towards surf-focused tourism.