Body boarding his way to the top
Thu 06 December 2007
Melissa Spurgin, Bachelor of Journalism
In the world of surfing, body boarders like Thomas Robinson don’t get much recognition.
Unlike his surfing counterparts, the Sunshine Coast teenager is hardly a household name among locals, despite reaching 10th in the world.
But that doesn’t seem to bother the easy going 20-year-old who has just returned from a three month around-the-world body boarding trip.
“I wouldn’t expect people to know who I am,” he said.
“Body boarding isn’t as mainstream as surfing, it’s a relatively new sport compared to it, and so it’s really no surprise that people don’t take much interest in it.”
Sunshine Coast residents may not, but the rest of the world seems to. Having already graced the covers of body boarding magazines in Europe and South America, Robinson seems to be setting the body boarding world on fire.
Notoriously being the protégé of famous pro ex-body boarder Mike Stewart has thrust Robinson into the world of professional body boarding.
“Having Mike Stewart pick me to be part of his Science label is just the biggest honour any body boarder could receive,” he said.
“I grew up idolising him and so when he said he wanted me to join Science, I couldn’t believe it.”
Robinson began body boarding at the age of twelve, after a friend’s older brother let him try out his board.
“I’d played around with body boards when I was younger,” he said.
“But it wasn’t until my friends started to get into it that I really took it seriously. I began to experiment and took risks and grew to just love it.
“Heaps of people would disagree with me but I think body boarding is a lot harder than surfing. It doesn’t look like it but it takes a lot of control and timing to become good.”
After competing in Chile and Mexico last year and making it as far as the top 20, Robinson has spent this year overseas doing photo shoots for magazines and filming the upcoming as-yet-unnamed body boarding documentary.
“Around seven of us have just spent about three months in South America and Europe filming the movie,” he said. “It was an awesome time. We went to Chile and Mexico again and then went to England and Ireland, the entire time just surfing and having a good time.”
With the release of his own special edition Science body boards out this year, Robinson has been very busy. For now, however, its back to mum and dad’s on the coast, trying to save up some cash.
“Hopefully I’ll get enough to be in Hawaii by February,” he said.
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