Singapore’s First Surfing Representative at Asian Games

In a country better known for skyscrapers than shore breaks, Singapore’s surfing story is about to get its first real swell.

Camille Spaccarotella, 21, will stand alone in Tahara, Japan later this month as Singapore’s first-ever surfing representative at the Asian Games, where the sport makes its debut on the continental stage. She is not going just to make up the numbers.

She wants a medal.

From Bali holiday to Asian Games history

Her journey began far from any national podium dream. A decade ago, on a family holiday in Bali, surfing was simply something to try between meals and sunsets. Then the waves hooked her.

What started as a holiday diversion hardened into a routine, then a discipline, then a career choice. The ocean stopped being a backdrop and became the point.

The first time she tested that passion in competition, though, it unravelled.

“I did my first ever competition in 2020, I believe, but obviously it was not a very serious one,” Spaccarotella recalled. “I was so stressed during that competition, I didn't catch a single wave in my heat. So I decided maybe this is not for me.”

No waves. No score. A brutal initiation. For a while, it looked like the end of the experiment.

It wasn’t. A couple of years later, back in Bali, she entered a local event again. This time she finished third. The result didn’t just restore confidence; it pushed the door open to something bigger.

Chasing waves abroad

The real breakthrough arrived in June 2023. Wearing Singapore colours, Spaccarotella lined up at the Asian Surfing Championships in the Maldives and came close to a podium finish. Close enough to feel it, close enough to want more.

It also underlined the central complication of her career: Singapore does not have the kind of surf that builds elite athletes.

There are no long, peeling point breaks at home. No reliable sandbanks. No daily rhythm of swell and tide to shape a training schedule. So she leaves.

Bali has become her unofficial base. She spends up to four months a year there, logging hours in the water, working on timing, positioning, and reading the lineup under very different skies to those over East Coast Park.

Competition has taken her further still. India. South Korea. The Philippines. Each trip has brought new waves and, just as importantly, new rivals.

“It not only changed the way I surfed and how I approached surfing, but it also allowed me to discover more parts of the world and connect with different people in the surf community as well,” she said.

On those trips, she has shared heats and lineups with surfers who have been competing for years, riders who grew up with contests as a seasonal norm rather than a distant ambition. She talks about them with clear respect: they carry experience and knowledge, and they have been willing to share it.

Aiming for the podium in Tahara

In 2024, that unconventional path delivered a landmark. Spaccarotella became the first Singaporean surfer to qualify for the Asian Games.

The surfing competition in Tahara starts on Sep 25. It will draw some of the region’s traditional powers: Japan, with its deep surfing culture and access to quality waves; Indonesia, a global destination for the sport and a production line of talent.

Against that backdrop, Spaccarotella is not shying away from ambition.

“I do want to have a podium finish. That is my aim for this,” she said. “But at the same time, I need to also recognise that this is a huge step in my athletic career as well, and I'm just really grateful for that.”

She knows the scale of the task. She also understands the weight of representation. Every heat she surfs in Japan will be a first for her country.

Building a surf culture at home

For Spaccarotella, the Asian Games is not just a personal milestone. She wants it to be a spark.

Singapore has surfers, but not a surfing infrastructure. There is enthusiasm, but not yet a clear pathway. The biggest obstacle is simple: there are no consistent, ocean-like waves to train on.

She believes that can change.

Spaccarotella points to South Korea, where purpose-built wave pools have helped create a training environment in a country not blessed with abundant natural surf. The technology exists. The model exists. The question is whether Singapore is ready to commit.

“What the next step could be is really to bring in a proper wave pool that generates ocean-like waves, and that's what will bring in, I think, a new generation of surfers here,” she said.

“It could be a huge game changer … and more people would be willing to try the sport.”

For now, she will keep chasing swells abroad and flying the flag alone. If a podium in Tahara does arrive, it will not just be a medal for a pioneering surfer. It could be the moment Singapore decides whether it wants to ride this wave with her.