Some of the country\u2019s best Indigenous surfers congregated on Bells Beach over the weekend for the seventh annual Australian Indigenous Surfing Titles.<\/p>\n
Surfing Victoria\u2019s Jordie Campbell, one of the event\u2019s organisers, said the competition had gone from strength to strength each year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year there\u2019s 54 individual competitors from around the country competing across six divisions including junior boys and girls, open men and women, longboard and masters,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they win they\u2019re recognised as a national Australian champion. It\u2019s a fantastic event for Indigenous kids because it gives them positive, strong role models.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of them don\u2019t have the best role models in their lives, the open guys are really nice and want to be involved and\u00a0 teach them about surfing and life it\u2019s an amazing opportunity for the kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Campbell said he found out about his own Indigenous heritage later in life and this event had allowed him both as an organiser and competitor to make life long connections.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve met some amazing mentors who are now good friends of mine. This event allows a lot of people to connect with other Indigenous people. Everyone loves to come, for most of us catching up with friends you see a few times a year is just as important as the competition itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said after moving to Torquay over three and a half years ago, the worldfamous surf spot had become one of his favourites.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a hard wave to get to know because it changes so much but it\u2019s one of my local go to spots and I\u2019m reasonably confident,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of my mates hate me because I get to go to the beach, go surfing and to surf competitions as a job and they\u2019re grinding it out at work.<\/p>\n
\u201cSurfing has been everything to me, in a lot of ways as a kid it used to get me out of bed to go surfing. I\u2019ve turned my passion into a career and it\u2019s not something I ever thought I\u2019d be doing for a job as a kid.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over the course of the weekend, Rohnin Henry-Micale (Woolongong) and Summer Simon (Port Kembla) claimed the premier Open Men and Women divisions.<\/p>\n
The Over 35 Masters Division saw the first ever Victorian to claim an Indigenous Australian Title with Anthony Hume winning the final.<\/p>\n
The Longboard Division saw perennial winner Tom Avery claim top honours for the third consecutive year.<\/p>\n
Len Collard (Pingelly) won the Elders Expression Session – a new edition to the competition in 2018 to pay respect to elders in the Indigenous community.<\/p>\n
For more details and photos, head to australianindigenoussurfingtitles.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Some of the country\u2019s best Indigenous surfers congregated on Bells Beach over the weekend for the seventh annual Australian Indigenous Surfing Titles. Surfing Victoria\u2019s Jordie Campbell, one of the event\u2019s organisers, said the competition had gone from strength to strength each year. \u201cThis year there\u2019s 54 individual competitors from around the country competing across six […]<\/p>\n