Playing her own game

Kaleigh Gilchrist struggles to describe what she loves about surfing.

A Newport Beach ocean baby born and raised, it’s as if the Newport Harbor High School sophomore’s attraction to the sport isn’t a conscious one she’s had to think about — it’s just the way it is.

She’s lived on the peninsula her entire life and began swimming when she was 6. By 8 years old she was on a local club’s water polo team. Her dad, Sandy Gilchrist, competed for Canada in the swimming events in the 1964 and 1968 Olympics.

Throw Kaleigh’s dad’s competitive edge and focus in with a life by the beach, and that may help explain why the 16-year-old excels at, and loves, being on a surfboard.

“I’ve always been really competitive. I’ve always been into sports since I was really young,” Kaleigh said. “It’s just fun being in the water.”

Her mom signed her up for a surfing class in Huntington Beach when she was 8, but she didn’t get into it seriously until she was 10.

“My friends started [surfing], and I just wanted to hang out with them, go in the water with them,” Kaleigh said.

Her competitive edge propels her to be the best she can be whenever she paddles out, her coaches said.

“She’s a really aggressive surfer. She’s a charger. She’s as tough as any of the guys out there,” said Newport Harbor surfing Coach Scott Morlan. “She understands competition. She’s not intimidated by competing against everyone else out there.

“She just focuses and plays her own game.”

Kaleigh is shaping up to be a homegrown surfing superstar. She has four corporate sponsors, has won several individual competitions around the country and helps her team stand up against other high school surfing powerhouses on the coast, her coaches said.

Oh, and she’s going on a second year with the PacSun USA Surf Team, which just came back from international competition in France where they placed fourth. She gets mostly A’s with a couple Bs and hasn’t let the success go to her head.

“She knows she’s the best, hands down. But she doesn’t act the part. It’s refreshing,” Morlan said.

Kaleigh said she plans to go to college before pursuing a professional surfing career. Universities have already expressed interest in her water polo skills, she said. She’s hoping to go to UCLA because it’s close to the beach and close to home, she said.

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JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at joseph.serna@latimes.com.