India Robinson has become an advocate of brain safety among surfers following history of concussions

India Robinson is one of the young guns of the World Surf League Championship Tour, but she is making her presence known. In her second year on the CT, Robinson is making waves in the field of brain health while she rides real waves in the ocean. The 23-year-old is speaking out on the necessity of following safety protocols in the water and is advocating for proper treatment of head injuries including concussions in surfing.

Robinson competed in five CT events back in 2022, before being cut at the midway point. She worked hard to get herself back on tour, and after winning enough on the Qualifying Tour, she secured her spot on the 2024 CT. The fight was not only a tough one in the water for Robinson, she was dealing with several head injuries as well that forced her to take time off. Many professional athletes are driven and want nothing to do with time off, the same can be said for professional surfers. Robinson was determined to get back on tour following 2022, but she knew that taking time away could be the best medicine, in a way, to heal from her injuries. She spoke with Fansided about her mission to raise awareness for brain health in surfing and more.

"Coming into this year, I just wanted to show what I'm capable of at this level, and then make my way to the final five and give myself a good chance at winning a world title," she said. "That was the end goal. But along the way, there are a lot of little goals that I'm slowly ticking off as well."

Many people may not see surfing as a dangerous sport, after all, water is soft, right? Not the case most of the time. The best waves in the world are formed on sharp and jagged reefs. A fall the wrong way can mean injury or death. These days the younger generation of surfers are learning their lessons from the surfers of the past and helmeting up. Robinson can be seen rocking the helmet these days following a series of injuries.

"I've, unfortunately, had three concussions in a pretty short amount of time," she explained. "The first time around, I don't think I really knew what concussion entailed, and how to rehab it properly. So I made a few mistakes along the way that led to post-concussion syndrome, which was a 12-month process of me trying to get back to being 100 percent healthy again. Unfortunately, I got another one, but when I did get my third one, I knew what to do. I'd learned all of the valuable information from so many different specialists. So I just thought that it's important for me to share that with others who are going through it because it's something that we're still learning about every day. There are so many little intricacies that we don't know about the brain. So it's important that we take the time to let it heal. I think I'm just trying to make sure I let people know that if you don't do it properly, there are repercussions of that."

Robinson has been speaking out on brain health on her social media pages and on various platforms. In addition to this quest, she has been an advocate for inspiring young girls interested in surfing. She has started a program called "Queen In Me." This program is pushing for equality in surfing and giving girls a voice in the fight for equal opportunities.

"It's a platform for the younger generation, designed to inspire, empower, and educate them," Robinson said. "We try and run workshops or camps and just teach them about values and goals, and how they can manage to deal with certain things that pop up in their day-to-day life and giving them tools to deal with that. I think it's something that I would have loved to have had when I was a young girl. So being able to give back to the next generation, feels really special. I just think they're getting a lot out of it as well. So it's pretty rewarding."

Robinson is currently sitting in 16th place as the tour continues on its Australian leg. Robinson will need to do well at the Western Australia Margaret River Pro beginning on April 11 in order to avoid the mid-season cut and continue her quest for a world title. As an Australian, Robinson has experience at this Margret River break and has some past success in Australia. In 2023 she won the Boost Mobile Gold Coast Pro.

Fans can tune in to see Robinson and the other WSL athletes at the Western Australia Margaret River Pro on the World Surf League YouTube channel, on their app or on the website at WorldSurfLeague.com