MACY CALLAGHAN TAKES US BEYOND THE SURFACE TO THE DARKER DEPTHS OF HER PRO SURFING JOURNEY

It’s October 15, 2018. Macy Callaghan has spent the week putting on a dynamic display of surfing. Her top-to-bottom Gilmore-esque wraps in the pocket scored Macy a second place at the Roxy Pro France as a WCT injury wildcard. That same day, with a small group of friends, Macy hightails it from Hossegor to Paris to celebrate the result and to bookmark another very special occasion.

“Derailed her into a darkness she didn’t see coming.”

A fancy French dinner, a meander around the Eiffel Tower marvelling at its lights sparkling against a backdrop of black night sky; what a way to spend an 18th birthday. It might surprise you that Macy shed a few tears that night, and not the happy kind. But for this self-described homebody, life on Tour away from family can be bittersweet. Macy explains this was just one of the many micro moments that derailed her into a darkness she didn’t see coming.

FROTHIN’ GROM

Life as a grom was rosy. Born at Gosford Hospital, the third daughter to Debbie and Gabe Callaghan, Macy then spent her childhood on NSW’s Central Coast, an area known for its local blue collar battlers and for its surf froth. “There are so many great beaches, more like a small-town vibe. I really loved that growing up,” Macy says. “My whole bunch of friends were super competitive, so they drove me to where I am today.”

“Macy surfed to victory in her very first contest”

Lucky for world tour spectators, a young Macy Callaghan came to her senses and ditched the pink bodyboard she was riding—and by riding, we mean standing on—in favour of a surfboard. No one was more stoked than her dad who had already carved his own surfing path with a historic monster wave ridden at Bells in 1981 and playing a key role in forming North Shelly Boardriders. He watched proudly as a ten-year-old Macy surfed to victory in her very first contest—the 2010 Wahu Surfer Groms Comp at Cronulla—on his 5’10” surfboard, no less. Macy says while her dad’s Plan A was foiled, he was pleased with Plan B. “I think he was hoping for a boy,” she laughs. “It was like, Okay, you’re my surfer then … we definitely had some good memories together.”

JUNIOR CAREER

Macy reflects fondly on her junior career, where every one of her goals were seamlessly achieved. At 16, she won the World Junior Championship, which meant she technically could surf two more years at that level, but Macy had momentum and was ready to ride it the whole way. In 2017, that same year as the world title win, Macy moved to the Gold Coast to be closer to Surfing Australia’s High Performance Centre. She missed out by one place on qualifying for the 2018 WCT. As luck would have it—for Macy, not so much for injured Courtney Conlogue and ill Tyler Wright—she was invited to compete at most of those events, anyway, as the injury wildcard. As exciting as that sounds, it was daunting and Macy admits that an existing connection made that experience easier. “I’m really close friends with Sage Erickson, and she took me under her wing. I was able to navigate that kind of life and make friends really easily,” Macy says. “However, I missed my family and my home a lot, so that was the first big obstacle. Getting used to being on the road all of the time and leaving them behind was huge for me.”

BEATING STEPHANIE GILMORE

At the end of her 2018 WCT wildcard year, during which she’d clocked up a few memorable moments, such as beating her idol Stephanie Gilmore in a heat at Snapper Rocks, and the aforementioned coming second at the event in France, Macy had one more task. A task almost too big to believe it could turn into a reality. The WQS Port Stephens event was the last on the calendar, and Macy needed a finals-placed finish to qualify for the 2019 WCT. “Going into that last event was such an emotional rollercoaster, I was thinking about not going. I actually brought filmmaker Dan Scott along. We were working on a project of where this next event could lead into,” Macy says, revealing she went into it not knowing if Dan would be documenting her next steps being on or off Tour. “My headspace was like, I’m definitely falling off Tour.” But Macy came second; no easy feat when she threw herself into a scenario shrouded by her own self-doubt and being somewhat at the mercy of Mother Nature.

“Threw herself into a scenario shrouded by her own self-doubt”

Macy confesses that her catapult to official ’CT level froze her. “In your junior career, you set goals because you want to get to that main stage,” she says. “Once I got there, I didn’t know what to do. Obviously, you want to win an event and a world title but so much more comes into that, and it’s so much harder.” Macy says entering into that 2019 rookie year was both exciting and frightening. The thought of falling off Tour after just one year mortified her; she had put a lot on the line to be there. “I dropped out of high school after Year 10, so that was a big thing for me. I always wanted to finish school, but I didn’t really have enough time to attend school, and I’m not super driven in education to do homeschooling on my own,” Macy says, before explaining her mother wasn’t confident enough to take on the role of teaching on the road. “So I pulled out and solely focused on making the Tour. It happened so quickly, I was a little bit rattled. I was thrown onto the mainstage at 16,17; it was a big thing to take in, for sure. I put all of my eggs in one basket, kind of thing.” 

FAMILY TROUBLES

A string of ninths and 17ths in that rookie year made for a sluggish start to Macy’s WCT campaign, but that wasn’t even the biggest thing weighing her down. “My mum and dad split up when I was 17. It was a crazy, emotional, dramatic thing. Obviously, my dad got me to where I was—where I am now—and he was, like, my best friend,” Macy says, remaining composed as a vulnerability creeps into her voice. “All of my junior career was pretty much me and him together. I haven’t really spoken to him since [my parents’ separation]. That was so big for me and such a hard thing to overcome, and that’s where the darkness stemmed from in a way. It’s been a bit of a hard one, but I believe when the time’s right things will hopefully get better. But I don’t feel like I’m ready yet.”

“That was so big for me and such a hard thing to overcome”

Macy threw herself into helping her mother mend. “I do everything in my power to look after my mum. We live together and she supports me and I support her. Taking that on was a big thing when you’re so young. She’s my everything.” Macy credits her mother with having priceless advice in sticky or icky situations. And during a time when things got grotesquely personal while Macy was simply doing her job, Debbie didn’t hold back. 

BODY CONFIDENCE SHATTERED

“I’ve been sponsored by Billabong since I was 12 and have a really strong relationship with them. I love doing bikini shoots, and I love feeling good in my body and feeling good about [myself],” Macy says, admitting that as fun as it is, it can also be challenging when you’re navigating your teens as well as body image confidence. What is unacceptable is Macy’s next revelation: “I’ve been told that I look like a giraffe, am too tall, or I’m overweight for my height. That was super heavy,” Macy says. “I was so young and couldn’t believe that was said.” 

“I’ve been told that I look like a giraffe, am too tall, or I’m overweight for my height”

We might assume this is all at the hands of a faceless, gutless online troll, but Macy says we’d be wrong. “I’ve had someone from the surfing world, who is very well known, say that I should stop trying to be a model and just stick to surfing.” Macy shakes her head, clearly still rattled by those comments. “What is the definition of a model anyway? Why can’t you do both?” Macy clearly remembers her mother’s words of wisdom that helped her see the absurdity. “My mum sat me down and said, ‘You are who you are. You are your own human, and don’t let anyone tell you what to do. Run your own race’.”

FEELING DOWN

But there was a time when not even Debbie could pull Macy away from the black dog that was unexpectedly snapping around her ankles. With her parents’ split and the pressure of being in the surfing spotlight so young, Macy identified she wasn’t coping and needed help. “It all drove me into a pretty dark place to be honest. Made me question who I was, if I was good enough. To be 19 years old and thinking that, was really scary. It got to the point where I didn’t really feel like I wanted to do it anymore.” While she credits Surfing Australia’s sports psychologist as being “amazing” and recognises “he has definitely helped me”, she reached out to see what else was available to her. “I went and saw [another] psychologist. I needed to see someone outside of sport, and a female, for a different point of view. I went and got the help, and after about five sessions was feeling pretty confident I could do it on my own,” Macy says, and notes the key things that were unearthed: her putting pressure on herself to try and help the people she loves, wanting to win everything and not being satisfied if she didn’t, worried her losses would define her, and not allowing herself to enjoy the incredible journey she was on.

“Macy identified she wasn’t coping and needed help”

Macy admits she’s a lot “cruisier” now, and it’s likely got to do with the company she keeps. As documented in the 2021 movie Surfing, Macy has formed beautiful friendships with Stephanie Gilmore, Dimity Stoyle, Nikki Van Dijk, Tyler Wright and Tiana McNeven. “They’ve taken me under their wing as their little friend,” Macy laughs, but with a knowing seriousness that this kind of connection can’t be underestimated and that a teenaged her would be pinching herself right now. “Those girls are my rocks. The female energy is so cool; [they’re] such strong women,” Macy says. “I’ve definitely learnt a lot from them coming into my older years as a woman: from relationships or parents, moving houses or buying investments, [and] boy problems.” No surprises that Macy’s opinion of Stephanie is that she’s “super laid-back and the most competitive,” she adds, laughing. “She’s endeavoured a lot in her career and has so many great stories. I love listening to her talk about all of the things she’s done.” 

STILL WORK TO DO

Creating engaging content and doing projects that allow Macy to showcase her freesurfing are definitely of interest to her, but for now Macy knows there’s still a lot she wants to work on to get to the next level of her competitive career. “My coach tells me that my freesurfing is, like, top-five surfing. But I get into a heat and sometimes just absolutely buckle,” she says. “I do get super nervous and frustrated at myself when I don’t surf like [I do when freesurfing]. So, I’m still navigating that and working out what best works for me.” What about her air game? “Obviously, more progressive surfing is on the cards,” she says. “I see Sierra Kerr and those girls, and it’s scary. Pretty inspiring. I’d like to take things from the younger generation and the older generation and meld them into a middle generation kind of vibe.”

“I get into a heat and sometimes just absolutely buckle”

Shortly following our interview, the Teahupo’o event was cancelled. Based on Macy’s response when the interview turns to discuss big-wave surfing, we can’t help but imagine she’s a little bit relieved. “I’m such a scaredy cat,” she says. “My best friend is Laura Enever, and I say to her all the time, ‘How do you do it?’ She’s like, ‘I don’t think. I just do it.’ I’m such an overthinker; her just saying that makes me overthink it even more!” Macy goes on to mention her experience at this year’s Margaret River contest. “I was super scared in the first heat. It was pretty big, wild and woolly,” she says, but expresses she’s proud that she always tries to push herself over that edge despite her fear. “It’s the unknown, and you’ll probably surprise yourself,” she says. 

TAPPING INTO COURAGE

One person who did just that at the same Margaret River competition was Sage Erickson, who very publicly expressed a fearful plea that the conditions were too big for her. “We were staying together,” Macy says. “I made my first heat, so I didn’t have to surf Round Two, the biggest day of the event. We all knew that the swell was coming. We didn’t think they were going to put the girls on.” Well, they did. And Sage stepped up to the challenge to win that second round heat. “Seeing Sage overcome [her fear] was really cool,” says Macy. “She held herself with great composure and shined in a really tough environment.” 

“I think the waves here in Australia are so good, I find it hard to leave”

Macy admits that, generally, the times spectators see her surfing wild waves of major consequence—Teahupo’o, Sunset, chunky Margaret River—she’s doing so as part of the job and to help women’s surfing progress, more so than for the love of it. Her personal preference, the type of break she’d book a holiday for, is anywhere tropical with playful, rippable waves. “Bali, Fiji, those types of places are my favourite,” she says. “But honestly,” she adds, “I think the waves here in Australia are so good, I find it hard to leave. There are so many good places to surf up and down the coast, and I love surfing Snapper and Kirra.” 

WATCH THIS SPACE

There’s so much more room for Macy’s career to grow. Her competitive surfing has you on the edge of your seat: not knowing which way she’s going to swing, blow your mind with something unexpected, or do something silly like surf so casually she falls at the end of a ride to miss out on progressing by a point. Either way, we’re here for it, and Macy’s response is authentic. “I hope I’m someone relatable on Tour. You see people like Italo and Gabi, and they live such an amazing, luxurious world title-winning life. But it’s definitely not that all the time. It’s really hard, and it’s emotional, and there’s a lot behind the scenes that happens,” she says. “I’m just a normal, 20-year-old girl trying to navigate my way around the world.”

Macy turned 21 in October, and as she circles around the sun again, we’re behind this fierce athlete all the way. 

 

This feature was first published in Surfing Life magazine. To keep the stoke alive, subscribe here.
Images:
1st: Pic by: Andrew Shield @macyjanecallaghan
2nd: Pic: @macyjanecallaghan
3rd: Pic: @danscotttt @macyjanecallaghan

 

 

Tags: Australia, interview, Macy Callaghan, Stephanie Gilmore, surfer girl, surfing, women's surfing, world surf league