World-class trio
Schoolmates to represent New Zealand at surf champs
Three Whangamata students will represent New Zealand at the ISA Junior World Surf Games in Brazil next month. Whangamata Area School students Lola Groube, Leia Millar and Pia Rogers were recently named to compete in the event, known as a stepping stone into the world of toplevel surfing.
The competition is the largest junior surfing event in the world, hosting more than 340 surfers from 44 nations.
New Zealand is this year sending a full team of our best 12 athletes to compete in the Under 18 Women, Under 18 Men, Under 16 Boys and Under 16 Girls divisions. Pia, 17, is an U18 rep and Leia, 16, is an U16 rep along with 12-year-old Lola.
The team leave on November 17 and will spend five days at the event site before the competition starts.
The junior team have had two training events in the lead-up to their departure; Mount Maunganui in August, and recently in Raglan.
Pia makes a return to the team in the Under 18 Women’s division.
She described herself as “super, super stoked to make the team”.
“My goal for the juniors is to try to make the top 30 this year.”
With her experience from the 2022 event, joining the seniors at the ISA World Surfing Games this year and heading to Bali in August for the Anoc Beach Games, Pia hopes to improve on her 37th place finish.
Leia “really got into surfing around 7 or 8 years old”.
This is her second time representing New Zealand in the U16 team, after competing last year in El Salvador. She moved from Piha to Whangamata specifically to join the local Surf Academy. The academy is essentially a subject choice in the Whangamata Area School curriculum that students can apply to be part of at the beginning of the year.
“Having been around the team at surf events it looked like a great team environment and a really good thing to be part of and had the benefit of combining the usual school subjects with surfing,” she said.
The cost of the trip per athlete is about $12,000 and over Labour Weekend Pia, Leia and Lola raised funds by coaching surfers aged 7-15
They are also holding a quiz night at Whangamata Area School on Saturday at 7pm.
There is a $50 entry fee for drinks and dinner, and the evening includes raffles and auction items.
In a shared statement to HC Post, all three athletes said they were “excited to represent the country”, and were looking forward to the challenges ahead “to be both physically and mentally prepared”, and they aim to “learn and practice making good decisions under pressure”.
The ISA World Junior Championships are an International Olympic Committee-recognised event, in which New Zealand has been represented since 2003 when the junior divisions were separated from the World Surfing Games. The last time New Zealand competed at the championships was El Salvador in 2022, where the junior team placed 13th.