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Dream opportunity for wildcard groms
30th September 2021 The Gisborne Herald Jack Malcolm
Photo: James Harvey - 2021 GromLab wildcard.
TWO budding surfers have been given a grommet’s dream opportunity — wildcard entry into Gisborne Boardriders’ Grom Lab.
Charlotte McDiarmid, 11, and James Harvey, 10, have been selected for a four-day surf camp that will be coached by New Zealand’s Olympic surf coach Matt Scorringe.
The camp runs annually in the first week of the Term 3 school holidays. It is high-performance-focused, and is attended by surfers from around the country. Spots are booked out well in advance.
After Covid-19 lockdowns forced 11 Auckland and Northland surfers to withdraw from the camp, Gisborne Boardriders Club (GBR) was unable to fill the vacated spots at short notice.
GBR surfing development officer Flo Bub said the club decided to take on the cost of two spots in the camp and offer them to Charlotte and James.
“We decided to use it as an opportunity,” he said.
“It’s an awesome thing and money well spent.”
James, from Ruatoria, got the “surfing bug” from attending GBR’s learn-to-surf days last summer, and says he loves the fun of riding a wave.
“Mum rushed into my room to tell me (I had got a wildcard).”
His mum, Moana Rickard, said she didn’t think he realised how lucky he was to be given such a “big opportunity”.
She drove him to town once a week for surf lessons with GBR . . . surfing was in his genes.
“His papa (also called James Harvey) was quite a surfer in his time.”
McDiarmid has also taken to the sport in a big way.
Having started surfing two summers ago, she won the Year 6-and-under division in the OPSM Tairawhiti Junior Champs in February and was third in the under-16 division of a Gisborne Boardriders competition in May.
As neither of her parents surf, Charlotte has been attending GBR’s Rippers programme and all-girl surf lessons with Holly Quinn, and her surfing ability has skyrocketed.
Her mother Janine said she had always been sporty and was a natural surfer.
Janine said her daughter was excited to get in the water with surfers from around the country and see what they were like.
“She says even if she learns one thing out of it, it’ll be worth it.”
Janine said she had wondered whether Charlotte might get more value from the high-performance coaching next year, when she’d had more experience, so it was a surprise when she was selected as a wildcard for the camp.
