LOS ANGELES, California/USA (Monday, May 6, 2013) – Glenn ‘Micro’ Hall (IRL), 31, may be competing in his first year on the ASP World Championship Tour (WCT), but he’s hardly a rookie. Like many ASP WCT veterans, Micro’s been breathing the life of competitive surfing for decades and now that he’s earned the right to battle alongside the ASP Top 34, he’s looking to do some damage in upcoming events. ESPN caught up with Hall prior to the Billabong Rio Pro to hear what has changed for him this year. This… is their story…
Hall was born, raised, and currently resides on the Central Coast of New South Wales. Or, at least, that’s where he spends time with his family between Tour events. Which is what he’s doing when I catch him in April to discuss the competitive life, that persistent nickname, and, naturally, the reason behind his allegiance to the Emerald Isle.
The nickname came first, when Hall was still in primary school. He’d hang with the coffee-drinking old-timers after his early morning surfs.
“They started calling me Micro when I was really little, but … I am still really little. It just stuck,” he says.
Nickname aside, few things were simply handed to Hall. “I was on the qualifying series for probably, I don’t know, 10 years before I qualified? So, it was a long road,” he says. With a slew of strong finishes in 2012, including a win at the Mr. Price Pro Ballito and a runner-up at the Nike Lowers Pro, he joined the Top 34 at 31 years old.
“I suppose [with] surfing, like all things in life, once you get older, you get a little bit wiser,” he says. “You’ve got a cooler head on your shoulders when things go wrong. I think that’s going to be a great advantage for me.”
“People know that in surfing, you’ve got to take your opportunities when they come. For me, it was an opportunity to continue surfing and do something different. A lot of people are more interested than disappointed, really,” says Hall about representing
Hall did the junior series with Mick Fanning and Joel Parkinson, and has been battling many of his elite competitors for a more than 10 years, but he claims not to have rivals.
“It’s funny, one of my best mates, Adrian Buchan, is on Tour,” he says. “We had a good, close heat at [the Rip Curl Pro] Bells, but he got me on the hooter. I wouldn’t say there’s any rivalry at all, but it’d be good to get him back!”
For the full Glenn Hall interview log on to ESPN.com
