Rise and rise of our grom star

Back from Hawaii after a training camp on the North Shore life has no bounds for this 13-year-old.

BACK from Hawaii after a training camp on the North Shore life has no bounds for 13-year-old Ty Richardson.

“I started surfing when I was three then joined our family’s surf school’s first surfgroms at five. At seven I started surfing as much as I could before and after school and now I surf as much as I can – especially when there’s swell,” he said.

RANKED: OUR BEST MALE SURFERS

“Having my dad (surfing great Mark) as coach is great for his competition knowledge. Uncle Joel (Parkingson) and my cousin Mitch (Parkinson) are so inspiring.

RANKED: OUR BEST FEMALE SURFERS

“The rest of our family love surfing, they try to come to watch me at all my competitions which is awesome having their support and my mum (Bianca, Joel’s sister) films and keep me healthy.”

Ty was only seven on his first trip to Hawaii when he watched his uncle win the 2012 world title at Pipeline.

“Ty is a great kid with a huge amount of talent,” Joel said.

Ty Richardson getting coached by one of the best, Hid Dad Richo in Hawaii.photo by Mike Latronic Freesurf magazine.

“Not to mention he hails from a family where surfing runs in our blood. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for him.”

Ty’s favourite surfers are Amercian Griffin Colapinto and his Uncle Joel.

“I really like Griffin’s surfing as he has a great mix of rail, airs and charging big barrels,” he said.

“I love watching Joel surf because he is one of the most naturally talented surfers and is so powerful and smooth.”

His favourite surf breaks are the Gold Coast points, Keramas (Bali) and Backdoor Pipeline (Hawaii) where he had his best surf trip scoring 4-6ft offshore clean pipe with Hawaiian big wave legend Shane Dorian.

His best results include a win in 2017 at the Occy Grom where he scored a perfect 10 and then backed up with a win at the Skull Candy at Lennox Head.

Ty is building on small goals before ultimately trying to qualify for the World Tour.

Surfing at Snapper Rocks Surfriders keeps him on his toes with both the boys and the girls and well-grounded considering the depth of talent in Snapper.

As a high school student he is grateful to be in PBC Sports Excellence program which has had a great reputation from previous champions like Mick Fanning.

Apart from surfing, his favourite subject is maths, interests include fishing, cricket and Aussie rules (his dad was a former player) and is good at cards.

“All my teachers are extremely supportive as I’m away a lot from school competing, sponsorship responsibilities and training,” Ty said.

Which begs the question: will his proud parents allow Ty to be home schooled to surf more? He is concerned about the threat to the ocean environment.

“Everyone needs to be more way more conscious in protecting our ocean. It’s concerning the prediction in about 30 years there will be more plastic in our ocean than fish,” he said. “We can all make a change.”

He recommends the clean-up program, ‘Take 3 for the Sea.’

Ty’s motivational statement is “Work hard, have fun, make history.”