half pipe hero
AT JUST 17, LOCAL PRO SKATEBOARDER KIERAN WOOLLEY IS REPRESENTING AUSTRALIA AT THE TOKYO OLYMPIC GAMES
Words Kate O'Mealley Images Mark Woolley, Ryan Grant, Eric Pallozza, Brett Margaritas, Joel McDonald, Therese McIntosh
Minnamurra teenager and skateboard sensation, Kieran Woolley, is currently in Tokyo after being named on the Australian Olympic skateboarding team - his ultimate dream realised! We had the pleasure of chatting to Keiran last year, and can’t wait to see him in action in the Aussie colours!
How did you get into skateboarding?
When I was younger, I rode motorbikes and surfed and did competitions for three or four years. When I was surfing, I would ride my SmoothStar skateboard to the beach, so I knew how to skate a little bit. Then my dad had a serious accident out at Mystics Beach in Kiama. He went head first and broke his neck, and after that I couldn’t surf as much. In the afternoons, I started going to the skate park – I fell in love with skateboarding instantly and haven't stopped since.
Tell us about your training routine...
I go to the skate park and train, work on all my tricks and try to improve. When I'm training for a competition, I do strength and conditioning training at the gym plus physio and stretch programs. I started training with a coach, Brett Margaritas, and a group of four other skaters that are trying to get into the Olympics. Brett used to be a pro skateboarder and travels to all the competitions with us. In 2019, I travelled to Sao Paulo and Rio for the Worlds, Long Beach for the Dew Tour skateboard competition and China.
You have a huge following on social media – do you feel like a celebrity when you roll up to the skate park?
Nah, not really. I'm trying to stay true to everybody. Social media has changed my life – it's super cool to get lots of followers, but you don't want to turn into an idiot because you think you're cool.
My dad films my videos – I always ask him to film clips of me skateboarding and he's just gotten better over time and now he's really good at it! It's helpful for my social media, and I can look back on the clips and see what I'm doing wrong if I don't land a trick, or see what I did different to land it.
Who do you admire in skateboarding?
As a skater, I look up to Pedro Barros from Brazil. He's insanely good. He goes super high and he's very powerful. One of my favourite Australian skaters would be Jackson Pilz. He's extremely talented and has thousands of crazy tricks. He blows minds.
How do you find travelling on your own?
I've been travelling a lot on my own. The most I've done at one time by myself is five or six weeks, maybe a bit more. When I go to Brazil, I still travel with my dad or with my Santa Cruz team. When I'm travelling around Australia I'm by myself. I like it a lot. It's good being independent and having to work stuff out for yourself, like learning how to travel and budget… it’s good.
How do you fit in study and school?
I'm enrolled in distance education so can work on the plane when I travel. I work out when I'm going away and bulk-do my work, like two weeks’ worth in three days. Mum and Dad are both teachers, they help me out and give me quizzes all the time. And I'm learning lots of life skills!
Tell us about the skate community in the Illawarra…
The skating community here is super tight. Ryan Grant and Sam Giles are two of the main dudes and they always bring good vibes and create amazing sessions. Ryan was my first skateboarding sponsor. He owned a shop in Wollongong called Mondo Deluxe and sponsored me.
The skate culture is slowly building around here. There's not as much as other places. The skate parks could be better, but recently there was a competition and skate festival at Shellharbour. It was super cool, everybody killed it, and we were thankful to the council for putting it on.
WE HAD THE HELP OF THREE ASPIRING SKATEBOARDERS TO CONDUCT THIS INTERVIEW, EACH HAD A TURN IN ASKING KIERAN A QUESTION:
ARCHIE (Aged 7)
What was the first trick you learned?
”The first trick that I learned was an ‘Ollie’ – you hit the back of your tail, lift your front foot up and your board gets air. Then you land back on it.”
NICK (Aged 7)
Where is your favourite local place to skate?
”Fairy Meadow skate park! But my favourite in the world would be CATF, which is a skateboarding training facility in San Diego.“
SUNNY (Aged 7)
How old were you when you learned how to skate?
”Nine or 10 years old. I couldn’t surf as much so I switched to skateboarding.”
