Koby Jackson stars at Oz Groms Cup in Coffs

Heading into the competition, the nine-year-old’s goal was to test himself against the the top young surfers in NSW and Queensland.

“My goal was to not get knocked out first round as it’s a long way to go to Coffs Harbour for a 20 minute heat,” Jackson said.

“I was a little bit nervous about going up to the competition, as I am still only nine years old and it was a 10s and under division, that means some kids can nearly be 11.

“Until a couple of days before the competition, I received the heat draws letting me know who I was surfing against.

“After reading the heat draws, I thought that’s not too bad considering I had surfed against most of these guys before and had came out on top.

“Some of the other competitors I hadn’t heard of before so I thought I might go alright.”

This confidence in his own ability saw the Ulladulla Public School student easily progress through the first round.

“My first round was pretty easy – I was in a four-man heat and the waves were double over head and I like to surf bigger waves, so I was pretty psyched up,” he said.

“I came first in that heat, easily taking off on some good sized waves and laying down some serious hacks.

“Round two was kind of similar, I just stuck to the plan and I was just going to pick the bigger waves and not go the smaller ones, as I knew the bigger were going to give me higher scores and the judges were looking for commitment and a good start and finish to the waves – I came first again in round two.

“Quarter-finals was next and I knew I had to come in third to get to semi-finals but I was up against older bigger stronger kids, which I knew were also doing well in their earlier rounds.

“I end up finishing third and got through to the semi-finals, which I was stoked about.

“Semi-finals was a four-man heat and I came up against two of the best surfers in the competition.

“I was leading the heat for the first 10 minutes but I was trying to concentrate on a good start and finish to my waves, which sometimes means just two big moves on each waves.

“The waves were really hard to surf and I found it really hard to find waves to suit me. I did get two good waves but my scores weren’t as good as I thought they would be and I came third and ended fifth overall.”

Jackson has another 10 competitions lined up 2017, including this weekend’s Werri Slash.