AS far as making a name for himself and hoping to make an impact on the sport of bodyboarding in the future, Mika Justino could not have done better in his debut competition. The Chelsea Preparatory School learner recently competed in the Warner Beach Pro Am Championships (Supergrom division) held on the South Coast where he not only dominated his division but won all three of his heats that where run over a period of two months.
He then went onto win the final in the ‘supergrom’ division and walked away with a handful of trophies and the drive to improve and try make the eThekwini Team ahead of the SA Champs.
“My dad introduced me to the sport, he has really been my drive, coaching me and supporting me in the sport. It’s hard not to fall in love with a sport when you have the backing of your family and the ocean which is just awesome. This was my first-ever competition and to be honest I never expected to place anywhere, I was going to use it as a learning curve. I’m so stoked to pull off a win,” he said.
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Justino said he is now trying his best to make ethekweni bodyboarding team to Represent KZN at the SA Champs, or at least use the competitive year as training for success in 2019 as he is quite a few years the younger in his division and at provincial level it gets alot tougher.
“I’ve set myself a few more goals following my success at the PRO AM Series. I would love to make the eThekwini team ahead of the SA champs if not this year then next year for sure. There’s a series of trials on currently and I need to be consistent in those events to make the team. It is a little daunting as I’m coming up against boys who are a lot older than me but that’s a great way to build character and the older guys are very supportive,” he explained.
“Three South African bodyboarding champs have become world champions and most from eThewkini, including Durban North’s Andre Botha who I really admire as well as Ian Campbell, so I would love to follow in their footsteps and emulate them. It’s a huge motivational factor for me to follow in their footsteps and hopefully one day become a South African champ,” he said. “With help and support from my family and sponsors I have all I need to enjoy the sport and see where it takes me in future.”
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