High school student chooses between seminary and surfing0

Enthusiasm for surfing seems to go hand-in-hand with living in Laguna Beach, Calif. Sean Kimball started at age five when his father, Stan, gave him a surfboard and "pushed me into the waves," Sean said during a telephone interview with the Church News.

The 18-year-old priest in the Laguna Beach Ward, Laguna Niguel California Stake, said he has been surfing seriously for about seven years. When he entered his freshman year at Laguna Beach High School, he was eager to join the surfing team which practiced before school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. (The early time was necessary, Sean said, to avoid the crowd of more casual surfers swarming to the waves later in the day.)

That led to a conflict with seminary, which was also held each morning before school.

At first, surfing won the battle, Sean said. But his parents and teachers encouraged him to stay involved in seminary and he did attend occasionally.

As the school year progressed, Sean said he became aware that on the mornings he missed seminary, "my days weren't as good."

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