MEET Mia McCarthy, a 15-year-old local grommet who is making her name known in the world of waves.
Starting out as a gymnast from age five, Mia trained 20 hours a week until she was 11 when her love of the surf took over.
It all began when she was down on the beach one afternoon when her dad had finished surfing.
“I asked dad if I could use his board,” Mia said.
“I had never really surfed before and was just mucking around on a foamie.
“So I paddle out and waited for a wave.
“Then I caught one, stood up straight away and rode it all the way to the beach. I paddled out and did it again.”
From that moment she never looked back.
Mia’s skills have grown year after year; some of her greatest achievements to date include winning the under 14s State title and under 16s State title.
For Mia, winning the 16s Taj small fries comp was her favourite.
She said she still remembered her gymnastics beginnings fondly with another favourite win being a gymnastics State title when she was nine.
Some of her more recent successes have included making all three finals in the Subway Summer Series Surf Competition held at Trigg Beach.
Mia also won the under 21s pro junior, came second in the under 16s and fourth in the under 18s.
“I had amazing surf the day before the Subway comp at one of my favourite breaks Ulu’s rights,” Mia said.
“My board was feeling great and I knew it would work really well at the small Trigg waves. This made me feel good going into it.”
When not finding her way on the water, Mia is at Margaret River Senior High School pursuing her love of art.
Studying a Certificate III in Visual Art with a fondness for maths, Mia said she hoped to one day combine her love of surf and art.
“In the future I am really looking forward to surfing the best waves I can find,” Mia said.
“I love the feeling of surfing perfect waves.
“I love art and want to do more and more, and surfing works well together.”
Mia wished to express her appreciation for Billabong and Firewire surfboards for their support over the years.
