Buckpitt, who hails from Culburra Beach, pulled in a fantastic third place finish in the junior pro competition, a result she said she's "stoked" with considering all the hard work she had put in leading up to it.

"This was the first pro junior for the season and I really wanted to do well in it and make a few rounds," she said.

"I've been working all summer, training towards this."

Buckpitt put forth a killer performance in what she described as a "stacked field," going up against 40 surfers in the competition.

The young surfer won every round up until the final where she ultimately finished third.

"The waves were so fun and I got some great rides throughout the day," she said.

"I just needed another wave score to better my last wave by 0.50 and I would have placed second but the clock beat me."

"I got caught inside early on in the heat which put me behind with the clock but its something I've learnt from and hopefully next time the ocean will cooperate with me."

Buckpitt said she's grown a lot mentally in how she approaches competitions and said that its really helped her with her nerves.

"I have learned to focus on what I can control instead of what I can't," she said.

"The competition was really tough, every girl in the pro junior rips and any one of them could have taken out the final."

Buckpitt approached each heat aiming to get two mid to high scores and remain focused on the elements of her heat that she could control.

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"I had to choose my waves carefully. If you took the wrong one and it went fat you were washed out of position and caught inside," she said.

She surfed a total of four tough heats on the day.

Buckpitt has had a whirlwind 12 months which has seen her profile in the surfing world continue to grow.

Highlighted by her trip to El Salvador with the Australian Irukandjis surfing team where she competed against the best in the world at the IAS Juniors.

"I had an amazing experience surfing at the Waco wave pool, made some lifelong friends and did some training at the Surfing Australia High Performance Centre where I was accepted into a high performance program with them for 2023," Buckpitt said.

She was also awarded 2022 Illawarra Academy of Sport Athlete of the year award and the DRD group Tobin Family award and Lonestar of the year award.

"I have had some great highs and not so great lows which is all apart of the sport but my confidence and self belief is growing."

"I'm so lucky to have great people who support me."

"Mum and Dad of course but my sponsors Kent and Juanita at Southernman surf Ulladulla, Roxy, Ocean n Earth, Sunbutter Skin Care, Otis Eyewear and Dedly Cecils all help make it happen."

"I was really lucky to have had the Culburra Bowling Club, Culburra Beach and Ulladulla Community, my friends from near and far all step up to help me raise money to get to El Salvador."

"They all believed in me and helped me follow my dream. I felt overwhelmingly special."

Buckpitt lives for the "sealife" and said she wouldn't trade it for anything.

"I love that the ocean can be so different every day so when you are surfing you can always be doing different things," she said.

"It's peaceful and a great place to think and unwind. The sealife is amazing."