National Olympic skateboard coach Beau Mitchell is taking his tricks from Northern Beaches skate parks to Paris for the 2024 games.
Hitting the local Manly Keirle Skate Park with his new Christmas present – a skateboard – left Beau Mitchell, then 10, with a lasting gift.
“It was kind of that feeling when you first get a bike, it’s like freedom,” he recalls. “Back then there was no internet or skate videos, so we learned just by just trying and watching other people. It was super addictive. It’s still addictive.”
Now in his role as the national coach for Skateboarding Australia, the 41-year-old is passing on the skater skills he honed on the Northern Beaches to the highest level as he mentors a group of Olympic skateboarding hopefuls in their journey to qualify for the 2024 Games in Paris.
Northern Beaches skaters, Liv Lovelace, 19 and Ruby Trew, 14 are two of those 15 athletes training with Beau to qualify. “They’re both on track to make the Olympics,” says Beau. He explains that Ruby’s discipline is park skating, which is skating the ramps and the bowl; while Liv’s discipline is street skating, which is riding on obstacles like rails and stairs. Both disciplines debuted at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
You’ll find Beau Mitchell sharing his knowledge around the local skate parks. Image credit: Mark Woolley
Recently Beau’s national team practiced at the Mona Vale Skate Park in front of amazed locals. It was a training camp for the upcoming Olympic qualifying events. “These guys are insanely good,” he says. “Watching them live is incredible because they are so consistent at doing the hardest things in the world to do.”
Beau himself toured professionally as a surfer for 10 years. At 20 he became the 2002 junior world champion. His coach was famous Manly surfer Barton Lynch, Beau’s mentor. “No matter what the conditions were, he always showed up,” recalls Beau.
It’s something he now models in his own coaching. “That then develops the trust,” he explains. “Particularly with skateboarding, when you are sitting there trying to get someone to do something that is extremely dangerous, you have to have trust.”
An ankle injury led to Beau’s retirement from surfing at 27 and a career shift. He would assist other skaters at the local ramps, and demand for his coaching grew. “I started doing it one day, and then two days – and all of a sudden I was a full-time coach creating programs for high schools,” he says of founding The Boardriding Academy.
Beau started coaching Liv when she was 14 and while a broken elbow ruled her out of qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics, she is now 19 and on the journey to Paris. “Right now as it stands, she is just outside the top 10,” says Beau. “So we’ve still got four more events before the qualifying is over. But she’s on target right now to qualify for Paris.”
Beau Mitchell with Olympic hopeful Liv Lovelace.
Beau started skating at 10 and is now the National Australian Coach for the Paris Olympic team. Image credit: Mark Fulloon
Meanwhile Ruby recently won a silver medal in Argentina in a qualifying event.
Beau’s work in the lead up to the Tokyo Olympics saw him successfully apply for the Australian national coach position for the Paris Olympics.
Back home, Beau spends time with his family, wife Melinda and children Addison, 11, Levi, 8 and Cleo, 5. He skates at Keirle Park, Manly, Mona Vale skate park and the vertical ramp at the Aquatic Reserve skate ramp in Frenchs Forest.
He agrees the sport has boomed since the Tokyo Olympics. “It has completely changed the landscape of what skateboarding looks like,” Beau says. “Now you go to an amateur skateboarding event and it’s standing room only.” And there’s more action to come. “There’s still tricks that haven’t been created,” he says. “They’re still inventing things. And that’s exciting.”
And his advice for those wanting to try skating? “I would say, get a board, and the fun is in the learning,” he recommends. “You’ll fall off a lot more than you’ll make it, but it’s a lot of fun!”
By Tamara Spray
