THE BALANCING ACT: The Awesome Foursome

THE Surf Coast and Bellarine is bustling with an abundance of surfing talent, and among them inspiring locals are standing above the rest, paving strong paths towards making professional surfing a reality.

Surf Coast stars Ben Considine and Xavier Huxtable and the Bellarine’s Bea Conroy and Ellie Harrison are all looking to turn their surfing prowess into a full-time job, chasing competitions around the world on their chosen crafts year-round.

Longboard surfers Ben Considine and Bea Conroy can most often be found hanging their toes over the nose at the breaks along 13th Beach, endeavouring to escape the day-to-day stresses of their chosen healthcare careers by getting salty.

 

For Considine, it’s been just over a decade of hard work and dedication that has seen him go from winning open men’s categories in his local boardriders in his early teens, to taking it to the world’s best in some of the biggest events around the globe.

Through his efforts, Considine has become a two-time national champion, a one-time winner at the prestigious Noosa Festival of Surfing and a common fixture in world tour events.

Considine said the attempt to balance his physiotherapy career with surfing can get hard at times but is well worth it.

 

“I started trying to chase the world tour in 2018 when I was studying… I needed to get plenty of extensions to head away for competitions, but my university was very good with helping me out,” Considine said.

“One year I went to New York and Portugal and I was still taking my books and doing homework…. and still now with being fully qualified, I’ve got to balance it with my annual leave.

“It’s good to have surfing on the side and I certainly want to keep pursuing it… I’ve been lucky enough to snag a few Australian Titles and have just come off a semi-final finish at the Noosa Festival of Surfing in the world qualifying division.

“I’m just looking to try qualify for more world tier events…. Bells is a big one this year and I’ll be trying to get into that as a wildcard or outright.”

 

Point Lonsdale local Bea Conroy is only just starting to kick off her professional career, balancing her dream job while studying radiography.

Conroy, who is 19 years old, has already competed in prestigious world tier events in Mexico and New Zealand and has accumulated wins at the Noosa Festival of Surfing and Byron Bay Surf Festival.

Conroy said she is beginning to feel a newfound confidence that she believes can set her on a path towards contending with the world’s best athletes.

“My intentions have changed this year with my studies becoming a bit more intense… it’s just all about balancing my professional career with my surfing,” Conroy said.

“Surfing and competing has taught me to be prepared and learn how to embrace the changes…. It’s an uncertain sport and plenty of it is about luck as well as talent.

“I just want to keep challenging my comfort zone…. The best thing for me was going to Hawaii last year to immerse myself in the core of what surfing is…. when I got back I was able to take out the Byron Bay Surf Festival which is my favourite win to date.

“It would mean a lot to make that jump onto the tour, but I know that if it doesn’t happen this year, there’s always next year!”

On surfboards more than three inches shorter, Xavier Huxtable and Ellie Harrison are forging a path of their own.

During the past week, Xavier Huxtable tasted the nirvana of his sporting career by surfing in the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach as the local wildcard trials winner.

 

Pitted against world number one Jack Robinson and 11-time world champion Kelly Slater in his second Rip Curl Pro experience, Huxtable took it right to the world’s elite and in the process sent Slater to the elimination round by defeating him.

While surfing in the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach is touted as his greatest achievement, Huxtable is also a URBNSURF World Qualifying Series event champion and has won a multitude of national titles.

 

Barwon Heads local Ellie Harrison is also looking to make it up to the world elite and inched closer to that dream by qualifying for the Challenger Series Tour in March.

The current Australia/Oceania Pro Junior champion has accumulated accolade after accolade in the last 12 months, winning the Cape Naturaliste QS event in Western Australia and a series of professional juniors’ event in New South Wales to put her amongst Australia’s rising surfing stars.

 

Harrison also had the privilege of surfing in the ISA World Junior Surfing Championships in 2022 and is making a charge towards the world’s elite with sheer determination and grit.

While all four surfers have shared different paths to date, they are all striving for the same goal of making it one day as a professional athlete.

For the awesome foursome, it’s just one day and one surf at a time.