Linking her past to surfing’s Olympic future
“Having grown up in Torquay I feel like I have come full circle, and in some aspects, this role as brought me home.”
In a way Crane was always destined for this job. Her late father Maurie was such a legend in the sport that his images remain plastered along the Torquay Surf Life Saving Club’s walls.
His name is so synonymous with the sport that when Crane’s Surfing Australia role was announced, dozens of her dad’s old friends got in touch.
“My younger brother and sister (Mark and Natalie Rayner) were prominent competitive surfers in Victoria, and both went on to work in the surf industry for many years,” Crane said.
Prior to transitioning into highperformance sport system roles, Crane held senior coaching and training positions, where she led business operations and systems.
“In the lead-up to the 2012 London Olympics I was seconded to the role of Hockey Australia’s national highperformance manager, allowing me to work closely to the executive and national teams,” Crane said.
“I also led a range of NSWIS Olympic projects that saw me at the coal face of this large scale multisport event, and facilitated a coach development tour to the London Olympics; this and the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games remain a career highlight for me.”
Some of Crane’s earliest memories
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are at Bells Beach. She has the sunwashed pictures to prove it. The old images show four-year-old Crane, long haired and sun-tanned, lying on a surfboard and paddling through the ocean.
“All of my memories are of sitting on the beach — watching the event as a kid,” Crane said.
“Coming back you feel the thick grains of sand at Bells. There’s no other sand like it.
“It was wonderful to feel the sand between my toes, like no other sand in the world.”
Crane doesn’t doubt the road to Tokyo will be one of her biggest challenges yet. But she feels blessed to be involved in a sport with a great culture and strong leadership.
“The Olympics has simply acted as a catalyst for change. Surfing has grown so fast and it is on an upward trend. Organisationally in the high-performance space, we also were ready to change and grow,” Crane said.
While there is some debate as to whether surfing should even be an Olympic sport, Crane said the athletes were so excited to take part in a multi-sport event.
“There’s no doubt (the Olympics) will increase surfing’s global profile,” Crane said.
“I feel pretty blessed to have inherited a sport that has the most incredible role models — our athletes already bring this purpose and vision to life.
“The task now is to make sure we have the best strategy backed up by good systems and process, to ensure there is a sustainable pipeline of this talent coming through.”
Crane has high hopes for Australian surfers at the Rip Curl Pro and will be focusing on developing a strong team relationship and building relationships with all surfers.
“My main focus will be just supporting our Australians,” Crane said.
“We’ve been starting off pretty well with four Australians placing out of the six available podium positions. I’m hoping that we can produce a similar result.”
Whatever the result, surfing will always bring Crane back home.