AusLeisure

Skate Australia, in collaboration with the nation's leading skateboard competition organisers, have announced the development of an Australian Skateboard League to help identify the sport's best talent and potential future Olympians.

Starting next month with the Moomba Street Championships in Melbourne, the Australian Skateboard League will be developed over the next three years, with the goal of sanctioning national-level Street and Park competitions in every capital city and some regional cities around the country.

Working with the event organisers of already established tournaments in Australia, the League will not only create more national-level competitions for Olympians and World Cup level athletes to perform for local fans, but will also serve as a talent identification opportunity for coaches and pathway managers of Skate Australia’s National Performance Program.

Following Australia’s successful Olympic campaign in Tokyo, which saw Keegan Palmer win gold in Men’s Park, and the recent silver medal at the UAE World Championships by Chloe Covell in Women’s Street, the Australian Skateboard League will help identify Australia’s future Olympians.

Skate Australia’s High-Performance Manager, Debbie Savage notes “as we head into our first cycle of Olympic qualifying for Paris 2024, creating local performance opportunities for the young skaters coming through is critical to discovering our sport's best talent.

“We have seen so much growth in the sport since its Olympic debut in Tokyo, with datasets estimating around 900,000 people skateboarding at over 1500 skateparks throughout Australia.

“We’re really excited to support the community through more programming and more opportunities for engagement. Given the fast development and short pathway to success in skateboarding, members of our Los Angeles Olympic Team in 2028 could come from the League.”

Recent World Championships silver medallist and Paris 2024 Olympic hopeful Chloe Covell said it’s exciting to see the local opportunities that will arise from the establishment of the League.

“Domestic competitions have been a huge part of my development growing up,” Covell said.

“Not only has it allowed me to skate with and against other female skaters from across Australia, it has helped me deal with the pressures of competition skateboarding from a young age.”

Skate Australia is working towards a goal of 10 sanctioned competitions across Street and Park in the first year of the League, kicking off in Melbourne next month with the Moomba Street Championships on 11th-12th March as part of the City of Melbourne Moomba Festival with The Y (formally YMCA).

Athletes from the 10 and under category, all the way through to Opens will have the opportunity to compete at Riverslide Skate Park in Alexandra Gardens, Melbourne. There is a $10,000 prize pool up for grabs in the Opens division, and over $5,000 in prizes for age categories.

Registrations are now open. 

All established skateboarding events in Australia will have the opportunity to apply to be part of the Australian Skateboarding League. Further details on the process for being awarded sanctioning will be shared on skateaustralia.org.au in the coming days, with further announcements of competitions to follow.

More information on Moomba Street Championships 

Image top: Australian skater Ethan Copland; Image above: Australian Skater Arisa Trew 

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