49ers’ Mostert surfed his way on long wave to success

MIAMI (AP) >> Raheem Mostert froze as the menacing fin sliced through the ocean surface just 2 feet from his surfboard. It was a shark. OK, now what? The San Francisco 49ers running back was 16 at the time and in trouble in the waters off New Smyrna Beach, Florida the “Shark Bite Capital of the World.” As the shark’s fin slowly bobbed, Mostert’s mind raced with fear and he whipped his head around to find his surfing buddies.

“I had my legs in the water and I looked at my friends and they were like, ‘Raheem, whatever you do, don’t panic.’” Mostert recalled. “The only thing I could do at the time was pick my feet up and just sit on the board and balance.”

Until, eventually, the curious shark swam away.

Then, Mostert could breathe — and surf — again.

“That’s really the first time I ever experienced an encounter with a shark,” he said with a smile.

And, it wouldn’t be the last.

There would be two or three more anxious moments in the water over the next few years. But, Mostert can proudly say, without any shark bites.

“It doesn’t get old, that’s for sure,” he said. “It’s a little bit of a thrill, but you’ve just got to be smart.”

See, that’s why tacklehungry defensive linemen and linebackers are no sweat for the now 27-yearold Mostert. He has been dodging danger since he was a kid.

In the water, and sometimes in the neighborhood.

The breakout star of the NFC championship game with 220 yards rushing — the second-most in NFL postseason history — and four touchdowns against Green Bay would head to the ocean when things got too hectic. Even with the sharks stealthily swimming around in there.

“Surfing was very important simply because it helped me get away from, you know, the stuff that was on the inland,” said Mostert, who partnered with Ocean Conservancy this season to support ocean health for the “My Cause My Cleats” campaign.

“Getting away, being in the ocean,” he added, “the tranquility, the peace, yeah, it was just like a getaway for me.”

Skateboarding was actually Mostert’s first passion, regularly rolling through the streets and trying to perfect his wheelies and tricks — and constantly bouncing back up for more whenever he’d fall.

“I loved it,” he said. “We used to have a skate park down in New Smyrna. Actually, two of them. They built a new one once I left. And, yeah, I went back and started to go out skateboarding a couple of times on a half-pipe. So that was pretty fun.”

But living in a beach town 30 minutes south of Daytona that had a reputation for being a prime surfing area, the ocean called to him.

So, Mostert went from skateboards to surfboards. From sloping ramps to breaking waves.

And for all the amateur surfers out there, Mostert feels you. He has been there, too, with that first experience seared in his memory.