The most talented surfing juniors in Australia are lifting weights and practising gymnastics, to hone the aerial acrobatics needed to take on the world's best in surfing.
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00:00Dane Henry's goal is to win Olympic gold, but he's not a gymnast, he's a surfer.
00:06It takes years of practice to perform aerial manoeuvres like this on a wave.
00:13Having the aerial awareness opportunities on the trampolines have opened my eyes to
00:18what's possible in the sport of surfing.
00:20The newly crowned under 18 world champion is one of 40 future stars in Surfing Australia's
00:25elite pathway program.
00:27The country's top prospects are identified at the age of 12 and trained at the High Performance
00:32Centre at Casuarina in northern New South Wales.
00:34You can't just go for a surf and expect to be a pro surfer anymore, there's people willing
00:39to put in a lot of work and train in different ways that you can get better.
00:43At Palm Beach Currumbin State High School, the Gold Coast's most talented juniors train
00:49three times a week.
00:50Adding that power and that strength into their surfing and creating those good habits from
00:55an early age is what's going to set them apart and what's going to help propel them
00:59forward.
01:00It's where Mick Fanning got his start in the 90s under coach Phil McNamara, who went on
01:04to coach Fanning to three world titles.
01:07He's still mentoring the next generation.
01:09What it ensures is that any world class talent won't slip through the cracks.
01:14Thirteen year old Sonny Clark wants to follow in Fanning's footsteps.
01:18Such an inspiration and makes me want to go bigger and better and be exactly like them.
01:23For classmate Maddy Kensington, it's all part of becoming a pro.
01:27I want to try and get on to the world tour and yeah, I want to just try and rip.