Portfolio: Joe Curren
I spent a lot of time hanging around Tom’s contests back then. At the time when I was around 5 or 6 years old, I was very, very hyperactive. I would wreak havoc at all the events—running around, getting into trouble in various ways, maybe by throwing sand at people, et cetera. My brother’s friends would provoke me but I guess I was just also in my own world. I’m not sure why, but after I went through that hyper stage I eventually became pretty shy and didn’t like the being the center of attention anymore.
JB: What was it like growing up around Tom? Did you feel pressure to match his achievements?
JC: Actually, I didn’t really grow up with Tom simply because he’s that much older than me. Of course, I have early memories and Tom was always around when I was very young, but by the time I was conscious of who I was—about the time I started surfing, eight years old—Tom was 18, married, and spent most of his time on tour or in France. It was tough competing in amateur contests because while my brother was world champ I was just starting out and people expected great things of me.
