Kase aims to skate his way to Games
The “I want to go to in 2032 Olympics Brisbane”
AT just eight years old Kase Manns is taking on a major role at the NQ Games, as its skateboarding ambassador.
The talented junior is delighted to be competing in the inaugural Josh Solomon Cup at Northshore on Saturday, after only taking up the sport 10 months ago.
Kase got a taste for it, after watching the Tokyo Olympics, but he is already the number one ranked skater for his age group in the country and has already been sponsored by Folklore Skateboards.
He now aspires to wear the green and gold himself.
His father Peter Manns said his son used to play a lot of sports including football, but now everything revolves around skateboarding and he was now travelling around the country as part of the Australian skateboarding tour.
“At Yeppoon I got second, and in Kiama I got fourth and recently I competed at Toowoomba and I got fourth again,” Kase said.
Already he has set his sights on the Olympics.
“I want to go to the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane.”
His father said his son would not have progressed so fast if it had not been from the mentoring he received from older riders.
“These include Dean Cunningham and Josh Clark from Townsville and other skateboarders including Rick Thomas from Toowoomba,” Mr Manns said.
“A lot of respect has to go back to the other open competitors because they mentor the young skateboarders so well.
“I have never seen another sport like it where the older competitors take so much of their time to help young kids.”
Skateboarding Community Initiative director and event organiser Donny Fraser said some of Australia’s top skateboarders would be at Northshore for the cup, which would become an annual fixture on the Queensland circuit.
He said it was called the Josh Solomon Cup to honour Townsville’s skateboarding legend.
“Skateboarding has a long history in this country and he (Josh Solomon) was one of the main talents up here for 20 years and helped develop skateboarding in North Queensland.
“A lot of the talent here now and in the opens, he has helped nurture them over the years.”
He said now that skateboarding was an Olympic sport it had opened up more sporting pathways for riders.
“Skateboard riding has always had the pro tour but what the Olympics has done has encouraged those who were not familiar with skateboarding and it is encouraging a lot more participation in the grassroots level.”
There will be up to 50 riders across all age groups competing in the cup with the event starting at midday.