It is the Christmas present Rhys Evans received five years ago that started his love of a new sport.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Port Macquarie youngster will do his thing at Town Beach this weekend as part of the inaugural Ride the Wave Festival.
"When I was seven years old my dad got me a skateboard for Christmas and I started getting lessons and just found I enjoyed it a lot," he said.
Evans will have some local knowledge at the Town Beach skate park as some of the state's best skaters ollie, kickflip and heelflip their way to success.
It will be the first local competition the 12-year-old has competed in.
"I've been in other competitions, but it's pretty good how there's one here because there's not a lot of competitions around here normally," he said.
"It's pretty good to be competing in Port Macquarie because I skate here a lot and I'm used to the skate park as well so it will be pretty fun.
"You can get a pretty good line in here and it's pretty nice because all the obstacles are perfect sizes."
He said he had no expectations and would 'try as hard as I can'.
"I'm looking forward to having fun, seeing new people and competing. I'm happy to see what happens but it would be pretty good to win," he said.
The festival aims to be the premier surfing and skateboarding event held in regional NSW.
Port Macquarie will welcome over 150 competitors and their families to compete in surf and skate festival scheduled for June 18-20.
It is a charity community event which will see competitors compete for major prizes.
100 percent of the entry fees will be donated to the Make a Difference mobile food van service to support people experiencing homelessness. Ride the Wave aims to raise over $20,000.
The skateboarding section runs from 11am until 2pm on Saturday with surfing heats to run at Town Beach between 7am and 4pm on Friday and Saturday. The finals will be held on Sunday.
What else is happening in news, sport?
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark our website
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- You can support us with a subscription
- Follow us on Twitter: @portmacnews
- Follow us on Instagram: @portmacnews
- Follow us on Google News