Reigniting competitive Bodyboarding in Australia with Benny O’borne

Benny O is passionate about competitive bodyboarding in Australia

Competitive bodyboarding in Australia has ebbed and flowed over the years. With its peak in the 90s, competitive booging seemed to slowly recede back into the depths of the surf industry in the early 2000s. With the surf industry downturn around this time, lack of financial support and lack of sustainable pathways to progression, bodyboarding in Australia took a massive hit.

Since then, a core group of people have tried to keep the dream alive with various national and international events. What lacked it seemed, was cohesion amoung all the stakeholders and the lack of local and global pathways to making a career out of the sport that so many people loved.

We sat down with Benny O, one of the core group of frothers that has an unwaveriung passion for bodyboarding and the progression of the sport in Australia. He was heavily involved in the ABA (Australian Bodyboarding Association) before its eventual collapse in 2020 with the cancellation of all its tour events. They ceased to operate to “recharge, restructure and renegotiate” and create a national tour that was financially viable and provided avenues to peruse competative bodyboarding in Australia.

In 2023, the ABL (Australian Bodyboarding League) was born. It’s the newer and shinier version of the ABA, with better structures and more focus on the financial viability of the tour. The aim is to allow them to focus on the athletes, providing opportunities on a world stage and maintaining longevity and sustainability of competitive bodyboarding in Australia. Take it away Benny…..

Q. Benny, give me an overview of your journey as a bodyboarder and how this has shaped the person you are today:

I caught my first ever wave in Point Lonsdale on the Bellarine Peninsula, my family had a holiday house there, so as a family we spent most summers surfing or exploring rock pools on the low tide. 

I didn’t really get involved in the competitive & administrative side of things until my early 20’s when I moved to the Gold Coast - I realised pretty quickly I had no chance of being competitive, so naturally transitioned into the administrative stuff. 

I had some great mentors in Mick Parkhill, Carina Hayes & Danny Bycroft. My dad has also spent more than 50 years in cricket admin roles, so I drew a lot of inspiration from that as well. 

What really drew me in though was the family connection that being involved in a local sports club has. There are so many people that I’ve met during my time within the sport that will be in my life forever. 

       Q. You have a passion for the bodyboarding community, promotion of the sport and club environments.  Tell me about the major clubs/events you have been involved in over the years:

My first offical role was with Gold Coast Bodyboard Club(GCBC). I was working for Mick Parkhill & Carina Hayes at the time managing their BSC Store in Coolangatta. We approached Richard Grey who was basically running the club by himself at the time - he was doing a great job, but was burnt out & didn’t have the support the help the club grow. 

Over the next 5 Years with support from a bunch of great people, we developed GCBC into the biggest membership club in Australia at the time (somewhere around 120+ members). From there I got involved with Queensland’s Association of Bodyboarding (QAB), which we rebranded & restructured as Bodyboarding Queensland - the intention was to align with Surfing Queensland in order to implement better systems for our sport & provide opportunities for coaching/judging certification.

Around the same time a good friend of mine - Nick Chandler was doing some great stuff with Mick at Sydney Bodyboard Club (Mick was up & down the east coast every few weeks in between his two stores). We had both had our fair share of insight into the current National Tour at the time(IBAA). We both passionately felt that there was scope to implement some change - especially with the downfall of the IBA, so that’s essentially how the Australian Bodyboarding Association (ABA) was formed.  

Q. In your opinion, what is holding bodyboarding back from being the juggernaut that is stand up surfing?

There’s no simple answer to this question & I am not one to place blame on any person or moment in time as to where things went wrong. What I will say though is that there are so many intelligent & passionate people within our sport - more so now than ever & the key to developing the sport is about bringing those people & their skillsets into a room to create a business plan. 

Benny on the mic after a heat at an ABA event

Q. Tell me about your latest project, The Australian Bodyboarding League:

The ABL (Australian Bodyboarding League) is basically part of the natural evolution of the ABA. The pandemic hit us pretty hard - however it couldn’t have come at a better time in terms of giving us the break we desperately needed to rethink how we were doing things. Nick & I both had some big personal things going on behind the scenes which were preventing us from giving it our full attention. 

There were a lot of things we think we did really well with the ABA, however there were a few key outcomes that we felt we never really ticked off. The vision has always been to create pathways for success through competitive bodyboarding - however we just never got there. The focus for the ABL is to ensure the seeding is generated solely through the progression events: club, state, national. 

Q. What is your vision for bodyboarding in Australia in the future?

I want to see bodyboarders become athletes, I want them to be paid their worth through sponsorship salaries & event prize money. I also want the Australian domestic tour to be a steppingstone towards to world tour. 

Q. How will you achieve this?

We have to start small & focus on what we know we can do right. By outsourcing event management to state organisations, we will cut down on operational overheads in order to have more revenue available for prize money. We will also be firm on creating the seedings in order to generate invested interest from the athletes. 

Q. What/where is your favorite wave?

I have an ongoing love affair with the Cook Islands. I first went there back in maybe 2008/9. I’ve since been back a number of times & even spent a year there with my wife in 2018. I have a deep connection with the people & the culture. There’s so many wave options there that you’re generally guaranteed to get a wave somewhere on the island on any given day. 

Q. What equipment are you currently running?

My current setup is a Nomad Cramsie Quad, Attica 4/3 Alpha Steamer & Limited Edition Original Fins. 

Q. What advice would you give to any groms that are thinking about bodyboarding as a sport?

One of the things I love the most about bodyboarding, is that it doesn’t have the stigma that exists in other forms of surfing. There is a lot more freedom to express yourself without the pressure of commercial expectation. So my advice to either kids or anyone for that matter wanting to experience bodyboarding is just give it a go, join a club & have fun. 

Benny on the tools

Story by: Kylie Palmer