Waves of Change
How a Decade of Coastal Coaching Is Reshaping Ramanathapuram
On 13 September 2026, The New Indian Express profiled the coastal coaching work behind Ocean Ambassadors Foundation's programmes in Ramanathapuram, in a Sunday Brightside feature titled "Waves of Change" by M S Thanaraj. The piece follows fishing community children who once spent mornings collecting plastic bottles and discarded lines off the shoreline, and traces how many of them are now paddleboarders, divers, and coaches in their own right.
A programme built on presence, not visits
The story centers on Jehan Hoshi Driver, an OAF-affiliated coach, International Surfing Association coach in Stand Up Paddle and Lifesaving, and Secretary General of the Surfing Federation of India, alongside Upasna Mody, General Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Surfing Association and an ISA-certified coach. Jehan first came to the Tamil Nadu coast in 2002 and returned in 2013 to pursue kitesurfing at Dhanushkodi, helping organize a Red Bull sponsored kitesurfing event that introduced the sport to a community that had never seen it before.
What followed was years of consistent, in-person coaching in fishing hamlets along Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar. The feature describes a simple philosophy behind that work. Training one athlete was never the point. Real change happens when a child becomes a coach, a diver, or a protector of their own coastline, because that is what moves the whole community forward.
Groms Quest, and how it fits together
Much of this work now runs through Groms Quest, one of OAF's core programmes, developed with longtime collaborator Arun Vasu. Groms Quest brings stand up paddleboarding, water safety, and environmental awareness training to children across coastal districts in Tamil Nadu. OAF designs and runs the programme, Quest Adventure Sports Academy provides training infrastructure and organizing capacity as a partner, and the Surfing Federation of India sanctions the competitive side. Groms Quest is an OAF programme, delivered in partnership, not a Quest Academy product.
What ten years of coaching has produced
The New Indian Express feature counts more than 15 local coaches and instructors now active along the Ramanathapuram coastal belt, most of them former trainees of the programme. Fifteen year old Aarthi is now India's National Stand Up Paddle Champion in the women's category. Sixteen year old Kanthaswaram is training to become a PADI Divemaster while already helping lead marine conservation and reef development work in the Gulf of Mannar. Muthukumar, Kaali, Naveen, and Reagan are among the other trainees who have gone on to win national medals and now coach the group coming up behind them.
Why it matters to OAF's mission
This is the outcome OAF's community - driven model is built to produce: coastal youth who move from participant to coach to conservation steward, without leaving their own village. Ramanathapuram's coastline sits inside the Gulf of Mannar Marine Biosphere Reserve, and every local instructor trained through Groms Quest becomes another set of eyes and hands protecting that reef system.
To support Groms Quest or learn more about OAF's coastal youth programmes, visit theoceanambassadors.org.