TEAM | The Neal Family

The Neal family from Texas has become a staple shred fam over here at Phase 5 over the last couple of years. Mark and Bree Neal, along with their daughters Collins and Heidi, are fully in on the lake life and are all about sharing it with others and getting as many people as they can on Phase 5 boards. And with Collins and Heidi taking to surfing like fish in water – eventually at least – the Neals traded in their old run around boat and went all in on surfing! We caught up with Bree to chat a little bit about how they got their start, how they keep it fun, and how they manage to keep Collins and Heidi under control! Check it out below! 

PHASE 5: Hello, Neal Family! How’s it going? Tell us how y’all got into surfing!
Neal Family:  When Collins was 5 years old, we went on a friends surf boat and she rode on their shoulders. She couldn’t stop talking about how much she loved it so we decided to sell our cobalt and buy a wake boat. We bought an A22 at the end of the 2020 season and fell in love shortly after.

PHASE 5: How long did it take Collins and Heidi to get into it?
Neal Family: It actually took a few years for them to decide to want to surf, at least by themselves! They surfed with us regularly but it took until age 7 for Collins and 5 for Heidi to take the plunge and surf by themselves.

PHASE 5: Why do you choose Phase 5 boards to ride?
Neal Family: The girls have been on Phase 5 from the very beginning. We started with the entry level Scamp and Shrimp for them and then moved to custom sized pro models when we felt they were needing something more fine tuned. We love the P5 team, everyone there is so kind and knowledgeable. The boards are so great too. The lineup spans all types of surfers in every stage of their journey. I love that when someone asks for a board recommendation, I know that there is absolutely a perfect P5 model for them.

PHASE 5: They say that “a family that shreds together, stays together.” With that, how do y’all keep it fun on the water?
Neal Family: We do a fair amount of training time, but we also know it’s important to have fun. The girls are OBSESSED with riding all variations of doubles, triples, same board, different boards, etc. They even love riding the Zilla together. We put ALOT of hours on our boats but barely any of that time is floating. It’s something that we truly love to do together and seeing the girls have passions that we can share in is magical.

PHASE 5: Give us an overview of a daily lake trip looks like for the fam…
Neal Family: We always start our weekend lake days with breakfast at First Watch. Always! Then we’re usually on the water before most people wake up. The girls will argue about who gets to surf first, and several hours later, if we’re lucky, it will finally be mom and dad’s turn for some pulls. We sprinkle in some foiling and front flips off the swim platform, but it’s back to business pretty quick. We’re also not above going out twice in a day, sunrise & sunset!

PHASE 5: Out of Collins and Heidi, which one is more willing to SEND IT?!
Neal Family: That will be a dogfight to the end. I will say Collins is more calculated in her “sends” and more likely to land whatever it is, but Heidi gets a feral air about her and will just go all out, and occasionally it sticks!

PHASE 5: We’re stoked to have y’all repping Phase 5 and sharing the stoke with whoever you can! Is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
Neal Family: We’re just looking forward to riding your boards until we’re old and grey, and then some!