Born far from the sea, a young surfer is making waves through determination, sacrifice and fearless ambition.

At 5 am, the first orange-red glow spread across the sea off Bali, Indonesia, as 12-year-old Xu Yuehan walked toward the waves with a surfboard under her arm.

Xu comes from Anning, Yunnan province, an inland city surrounded by mountains and nearly 1,000 kilometers from the sea. In Bali, however, where she was attending a surfing training camp, her days revolved around the water.

She got up before dawn to catch the early waves and surfed until about 9 am. After breakfast, she returned to the water for another session. She spent the afternoon on physical conditioning and ended the day with stretching, massage and recovery.

The schedule kept her in the water or the gym for most of the day, but she did not find it exhausting.

"Standing on a wave makes me feel free," she said. "I can try whatever moves I want."

Her grueling training regimen is already paying off.

Xu recently finished fourth in the Open Women division at the Legian Boardriders-LSI Club Series 2026 in Bali. The division had no age limit, and some of her competitors were adults more than a decade older than her. Many had also grown up in coastal areas with easy access to the sea.

Still, Xu said she felt neither nervous nor intimidated.

She has been surfing for just over a year but has already won several trophies. In August 2025, she claimed her first national title, winning the girls' under-12 shortboard event at the Guangdong stop of the National Surfing U Series.

Her rapid progress began with a chance encounter during a family holiday in Wanning, Hainan province, over Spring Festival in 2024.

Xu, then 9, noticed a leaflet in the hotel lobby advertising a surfing lesson and persuaded her father to sign her up. She managed to stand up on the board on her third wave.

The sensation of being lifted and carried forward by the water captivated her immediately.

After the family returned to Anning, surfing might easily have remained a holiday memory. But Xu could not let it go.

That summer, she told her family she wanted to return to Hainan and earn a surfing certificate. Her parents suggested other vacation plans, but she turned them down.

"When I see big waves, I don't feel afraid," Xu said. "I feel incredibly excited. I want to learn to surf properly and go further in the sport."

Her mother later recalled seeing the light in her daughter's eyes and realizing that surfing was not a passing interest.

To continue training from her home in Anning, Xu had to fly repeatedly to the coast while keeping up with school. At the end of 2024, she decided to transfer to a school in Lingshui Li autonomous county, Hainan.

Her goal was simple: to be closer to the sea. "After transferring, I could study and train at the same time," she said.

Family follows waves

Xu's journey from the mountains to the sea would not have been possible without her family, who reorganized their lives around her dream.

Her parents run a beverage business in Anning and had no previous connection to surfing or other water sports. Once Xu decided to pursue surfing seriously, her mother stepped away from work to travel with her, first to Hainan and later to Bali.

Both parents began learning more about surfing. Her mother also started teaching herself English so she could accompany Xu to surf spots farther from home.

"They've both become amateur surfing enthusiasts," Xu said with a laugh. "Now we always have something to talk about when it comes to surfing."

Xu said she understood how much her parents had sacrificed for her.

"I know that some of my peers' parents worry that surfing is too dangerous and want them to quit," she said. "That's why I'm especially grateful that my mother has placed so much trust in me."

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While her family's support allowed her to stay close to the sea, entering competitive surfing required professional training.

In September 2024, Xu began training independently and competing as an amateur. At a competition in Hainan in April 2025, a coach from a provincial surfing team noticed her performance and selected her for the province's reserve team, where she began training and competing with the squad.

Xu's journey also reflects the gradual growth of surfing in China. As competitive programs have expanded, children from inland provinces have gained more opportunities to take part in a sport once largely confined to coastal communities.

Professional training not only helped Xu progress more quickly but also gave her a better understanding of how judges evaluate a ride and which techniques earn higher scores. She is now focusing on the "snap", a sharp turn performed near the top of a wave and an important scoring maneuver.

She eventually aims to master aerial moves and barrel riding, in which a surfer rides inside the hollow section of a breaking wave.

Xu also wants to compete at higher levels, both at home and internationally, and hopes her experience will encourage other children growing up far inland.

"Distance may keep you from the sea," she said. "But it cannot keep you from your dream."

Contact the writers at guiqian@i21st.cn