FACTOIDS
Full Name: Rochelle Ballard
Nickname: Rochelle
Birthday: February 13, 1971
Height: 5’1”
Hometown: Montebello, California
Sports: Surfing
PROFILE
Rochelle Ballard is the premier female tube (the hollowed-out area of a breaking wave) rider in the world and is without a doubt the gutsiest woman on the professional surfing World Championship Tour (WCT). She's captured virtually every award and accolade for more than a decade as a Team O'Neill rider.
Ballard's mastery of big waves and steadfast support of women's surfing rank her among the sports elite. A never-ending passion for the ocean has driven Rochelle to Top 10 finishes each year since 1994. Pioneering the way for a new generation of women surfers, she fearlessly charged treacherous triple overhead Tahitian reef breaks and Hawaii's infamous Banzai Pipeline with its dangerous coral reefs long before big wave riding came into vogue for females.
She co-founded International Women's Surfing (IWS) and, together with O'Neill, launched the successful Rochelle Ballard Surf Camp series which focuses on advanced surfing techniques, cross training and education.
Ballard served as a stunt double in the motion picture Blue Crush and also starred in A Girls Surf Addiction, a surf film that O'Neill released in 2004. She also helped produce a "yoga for surfers" video series.
Winning the the 2002 Surfer Poll, Surfer Magazine's popularity benchmark is just one of Rochelle Ballard's many credits. But for all the awards, accolades and lofty status among the great Hawaiian surfers, Rochelle is known for her mastery of the tube. The legend grew to mythical proportions in 1999 when Ballard made women's surfing history at Burleigh, Australia during a semi-final clash with Australian Layne Beachley, scoring two perfect 10-point tube rides.
