Santa Barbara Surf Adventures

Review: During the two days at Santa Barbara Surf Adventures camp my 6 year old daughter experienced bullying and humiliation at the hands of lead instructor, [redacted]. When the children first entered the water my daughter panicked a little and told [redacted] that she felt like she couldn't breath. His response was to repeatedly splash her in the face and admonish her for being scared. "You just have to trust me", [redacted] shouted, all the while he's continuing to splash her in the face. When she tearfully told him that she couldn't trust him if he kept splashing her in the face he called her a baby for crying, took her out of the water and passed her off to a younger counselor, stating, "you'll have to be tough with this one." This younger counselor used kindness and patience and my daughter caught one wave that day, but was left feeling terrible. During team selection for the beach games [redacted] allowed other children to openly tease my daughter about being the littlest kid at camp and about her size. I immediately approached [redacted] to clear things up when I saw how upset my daughter was at pick-up. I was expecting him to show some compassion, but was met with beach-jock attitude and ego. I explained that P (my daughter) responded much better to patience and empathy when trying challenging new things, such as surfing. I was sure he got the point. That night I assured P that [redacted] wouldn't be so mean the next day and finally had her agree to give it a second chance. The next day [redacted] targeted P all day. He wouldn't let her be on her friends team, he let the children continue to tease her about her size and told her "I don't care that your mom gave me a hard time about me splashing you in the face. I don't have to listen to her." Now P is totally uncomfortable surfing. Last summer she loved the ocean, now [redacted] has instilled fear in her about going out in it. [redacted] has no business teaching young children. He is an unapologetic bully.Desired Settlement: I want my full payment of $147.50 refunded. Not only did she not finish the camp, but J.P. has created a fear of surfing in my daughter.