Growing up in Southern California, I was always skateboarding distance from the beach—body surfing, boogie boarding, and surfing became the backbone for everything else. I started competitive swimming at 5 years old, and at 9 years old I was racing BMX bikes and playing junior all-American football.

My football coach, Coach Johnson, had these crystal-blue eyes. He was not a very tall guy, but when he looked at you with fire in his eyes, there was this discipline factor. I knew I had that intensity inside of me and I could bring it out through sports.

In 1989, I moved to Hawaiʻi and became a City and County of Honolulu lifeguard for District 1, Waikīkī and Ala Moana. Some friends invited me to join a sprint distance triathlon team, and my swimming background turned out to be a perfect anchor sport for doing these endurance events.

I learned pretty quickly that even in so called “individual” sports, it takes a lot of support around you to succeed. When I qualified for the first Kona Ironman World Championship in 1994, I had no idea what I was getting into. Raul Boca Torres of Boca Hawaiʻi bike shop took me under his wing and didn’t ask for a dime. I got connected with 20-year Ironman veterans who helped me prepare months in advance.

The race took me 10 hours and 16 minutes—an impossible feat without a balance of mental and physical strength. During another Kona qualifying event, I had a stomach virus and couldn’t hold anything down. I thought, Mind over matter, and put the pedal to the metal. About a hundred yards from the finish line, I dropped to the pavement and just started flopping around like a fish. My brain was telling me, This is going to be the best race of my life, but my body wouldn’t cooperate. Everything has to be in sync.

At Ko Olina, it’s gratifying to play a part in helping people transition to and maintain an active lifestyle. Even if they’ve never been into sports, that curiosity is there. I had a group of retirees go from being nervous about jumping in the ocean to competing in the North Shore Swim Series races over the summer. With a little encouragement, they were able to achieve things they never thought possible.

I recently crossed the Ka‘iwi Channel solo for the first time in the Moloka‘i 2 O‘ahu Paddleboard World Championships, instead of with a relay team. You’re next to all these elite paddlers from around the world, but it’s more about seeing how you handle the elements presented to you on that day— and the massive challenge of being on the board for six straight hours. During the last leg, you might get a little loopy and start singing old ’80s songs. But if you’ve got the right nutrition and hydration, and you can keep a positive mindset, there’s no limit to how far you can go.

Kirk Fritz is a multi-sport athlete with more than three decades of competition under his belt, from paddling the Moloka‘i Hoe outrigger canoe race in 1992, to multiple Honolulu Triathlon wins and Honolulu Marathon finishes, to advancing in the 2022 Hale‘iwa International Open surfing competition. He has served as director of Ko Olina Beach + Sports Club since 2010.

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