Sunshine Coast skateboard company Chiggy’s Skateboarding in hot demand with sport in the Olympics
It was formerly the domain of punks but a Sunshine Coast skateboard business says it is booming, with more than 500 kids a week now on their books. Read why here.
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An Olympic inclusion has triggered massive growth for a popular Sunshine Coast skateboarding business as the sport rapidly enters the mainstream.
Chiggy’s Skateboarding founder and coach Mat Chigwidden said the inclusion in the Olympics had changed the sport’s image and sparked an avalanche of interest.
“Now it’s not recognised as a rebellious (sport),” Mr Chigwidden said.
Mr Chigwidden, 31, has operated Chiggy’s Skateboarding since 2012.
Today his business spanned a giant indoor skatepark at 2/28 Access Cres, Coolum Beach which opened in 2020.
His skateboard empire also offers skate tours, camps, events, and private and group lessons at his skatepark, pop up skateparks, and various skateparks and schools across the region and nationwide for beginners, intermediates, and the next Tony Hawk.
Mr Chigwidden, alongside his skateboard-mad team of 12, said his services have exploded in demand and they now coached about 500 kids a week compared to just a handful in 2012.
Mr Chigwidden said this demand was partly backed by the sport debuting at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Japan in mid-2021, adding that interest in it will only catapult further because of the upcoming 2024 Summer Olympics in France.
“It’s growing really fast,” he said.
He said other reasons for its rise in popularity were a natural increase in demand, local governments supporting skateboarders by creating events and building skateparks, and less stereotyping towards the sport.
“Now it’s weird if you don’t skate,” he said.
He said the sport wasn’t going to slow down either, especially on the Sunshine Coast, which consistently produced talents given the range and quality of parks in the area.
Mr Chigwidden, a skate junkie since 1999, was a star himself after winning a skateboarding competition in New South Wales when he was only nine years old. In 2003, he moved to the region with his family and was a short drive away from a skate park in Coolum.
Now after setting up a booming skateboard company, he said he wanted to take it further by opening a new facility and branching out overseas – all while enjoying the sport himself and his new son, Bodhi.
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