Mount Maunganui surfer hits big time in Mexico
Mount Maunganui surfer Cooper Roberts has been asked to represent Mexico at the International Surfing Association World Championships in El Salvador in three months’ time.
Roberts’ family moved to Mexico in 2020 to volunteer with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) and helped build houses for homeless Mexicans with Homes of Hope.
Roberts, 15, grew up in Mount
Maunganui and started surfing at the age of 9 and was only a minute’s walk away from the beach, which meant he always had easy access to waves.
“Living there was really good for my surfing, all my friends were surfers and that got me really interested in the sport.
“As I got older the waves seemed to get worse, and [the] worse they were the better I got. Moving here [Mexico] was so better because there are better waves, they’re more consistent.”
During his time in Mount Maunganui, he excelled in multiple Bay of Plenty and New Zealand-wide competitions, including Bay Boardriders and the Billabong Grom series.
Last year, he finished second in two nationwide Mexican competitions on the coastal beach resort of Ixtapa Zihuatanejo, one in the Under-18s finals, and the other in the Under-16s.
In 2021, he won the Mexican Under-14s national competition and qualified for the world championships in El Salvador but was unable to compete as he didn’t have a Mexican passport and was not allowed to represent the country.
“I was pretty bummed,” he said. “It was cool to see all my friends compete, but it was hard watching them and not being able to be there.”
Roberts has once again been invited to represent Mexico at the World Championship this year in May, however he will need to get his Mexican passport issued before the competition in order to compete.
He said his family got involved with YWAM long term and was pleased with their decision to stay.
“We are Christians. My parents came here for a mission for YWAM but we all loved it here so much that we decided to stay.”
He says he is enjoying school and finds interest in learning a new language.
“Going to a local school has been great. I’ve made a lot of new friends and I’ve been able to learn Spanish.”
Like many surfers, he has high hopes of surfing in the World Surf League.