Camille Spaccarotella: Singapore's First Asian Games Surfer

In a country better known for shipping lanes than shore breaks, Singapore’s surfing story begins with a single board and a young woman who refused to walk away after a wipeout of a debut.

At 21, Camille Spaccarotella is about to step onto a continental stage no Singaporean has ever touched. When surfing makes its Asian Games debut in Tahara, Japan, she will not only be chasing a medal; she will be carrying the flag for an entire sport back home that still has no real waves to call its own.

From holiday hobby to high-performance

Her journey started far from the concrete and calm waters of Singapore, on a family holiday in Bali a decade ago. What looked like a bit of beachside fun quickly turned into something else. The thrill of dropping into a face of water, the speed, the noise, the chaos of it — it hooked her.

The romance faded quickly in her first competition.

“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. Just nerves and doubt. Many careers end that way, quietly, before they even begin.

Hers didn’t. A couple of years later she went back to Bali, back into a jersey, and this time she left with a third-place finish at a local event. The result didn’t just restore confidence; it redrew the map. Surfing stopped being a flirtation and became a serious pursuit.

Training on borrowed waves

Serious surfers live by the rhythm of swell charts and tides. Singapore, with its sheltered coastline and lack of natural breaks, offers none of that. To chase this dream, Spaccarotella had to leave home.

Bali became her training ground and, in many ways, her second home. She spends up to four months a year there, stacking hours in the water, sharpening technique, learning to read different kinds of waves. The island’s reefs and beach breaks have shaped generations of surfers; now they are shaping Singapore’s first Asian Games qualifier.

Her breakthrough came in June 2023 at the Asian Surfing Championships in the Maldives. Wearing Singapore colours, she pushed deep into the event and only just missed a place on the podium. It was a marker: she could compete with the region’s established names.

That performance opened the door to more travel and more tests. Events in India, South Korea and the Philippines took her out of familiar line-ups and into the path of seasoned regional contenders.

“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.

Those competitors, hardened by years on tour and countless heats, became an informal classroom.

“They have been competing for years, and they've gained so much experience and knowledge in this domain that they were very willing to share what they had learned.”

The learning curve has been steep, but so has the progress.

Making history in Japan

In 2024, the reward arrived: Spaccarotella became the first Singapore surfer to qualify for the Asian Games. For the sport, it is a landmark. For her, it is both a summit and a starting point.

The surfing competition in Tahara will begin on Sep 25, with Japan and Indonesia expected to lead the charge as traditional regional powerhouses. They bring depth, history and infrastructure. She brings something else: a sense that she is surfing for more than herself.

“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.”

The target is clear. A medal would be a shock to the established order, but even without one, every heat she surfs in Japan will be a first for Singapore.

Building a surf nation without an ocean

Back home, the challenge is more basic: how do you grow a sport that has no real stage?

The lack of consistent, ocean-like waves in Singapore has kept surfing on the fringes, more travel hobby than training discipline. Spaccarotella believes that has to change if her story is to be the beginning rather than a one-off.

She points to South Korea as the model. There, purpose-built wave pools have created a controlled, repeatable training environment in a country hardly blessed with world-class natural surf. The result: a growing scene, rising standards, and athletes who can now hold their own internationally.

“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, Singapore’s surfers train on borrowed waves in foreign waters, relying on personal sacrifice and passion rather than a system. Spaccarotella is the proof that this path, as narrow as it is, can still lead to the Asian Games.

The question now is whether her performance in Tahara can do more than rewrite a record book. Can it persuade a city built on efficiency and ambition to invest in a sport born of unpredictability and swell?