Cutback to the big time
Mitch Parkinson battling back after losing prized Billabong sponsorship
BEING dropped by major sponsor Billabong and then having to dig ditches could turn out to be the best thing to happen to surfer Mitch Parkinson’s career.
After parting ways with his sponsor of more than a decade early last year, Parkinson, 22, is forging his own path by labouring while trying to qualify for the World Surf League Championship Tour.
The cousin of 2012 world champion Joel Parkinson said it wasn’t easy to lose the safety net he’d had since childhood.
“I was pretty burnt out and there were some personal issues I had to deal with,” Parkinson said.
He stepped away from the sport altogether for six months last year. “Because I lost my main sponsor I had to battle back from that and go to work and live a real life for a little while,” he said.
“But I’m back now and that’s what brought me back I think, an honest day’s work.”
He took up two blue-collar trades – landscaping and working in a brewery.
But he stuck with landscaping, for the sake of his health.
“I went and worked at a brewery, at Balter, which was fun, but my liver wasn’t loving it so I thought I would give that up,” he said.
“I started landscaping which is a lot harder work and got me really motivated to surf.
“When you’ve got that much time to think when you’re digging holes for eight hours, you just want to be anywhere but there.”
Parkinson bounced back halfway through last year to take out the Queensland Championship Circuit and the Taiwan Open of Surfing in November.
He finished 2017 as the World Surf League Australia/ Oceania rankings winner.
Losing a sponsor meant losing a few hang-ups that might had held back his performance, Parkinson said.
“It was weird because I felt like I was just Joel’s cousin
I’M BACK NOW AND THAT’S WHAT BROUGHT ME BACK I THINK – AN HONEST DAY’S WORK MITCH PARKINSON
when I was with Billabong – that’s how I felt I was looked at,” he said.
“Now I’m fired up when I’m competing because I’m doing it for myself and for my family.
“It feels better, that’s for sure.
“As soon as I left Billabong I felt so much better in the water. There’s no stress.”
Now 2018 is beginning to line up as another successful year for Parkinson, who finished fifth in the Volcom Pipe Pro in Hawaii early this month.
He also won $25,000 in the Oakley Battle Clips Competit-