Layne Beachley knew Poppy Starr Olsen was someone special the moment the skateboarding prodigy spent her Sport Australia Hall of Fame scholarship money.  

Beachley, the record-breaking seven-time world surfing champion and one of Australia’s most respected sporting stars, is a member of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame, which awarded Olsen a scholarship in 2018 that provided funding and mentoring when the then teenage skateboarding whiz was emerging as one of the global stars in the sport.  

“When we gave her scholarship money, she spent it building a ramp in her bedroom,” Beachley recalls.  

“I just thought that was fantastic. That is true commitment, absolute dedication to the craft.   

“I remember doing a mentoring session with her while she was in her room on the ramp, it was really cool.”  

In her mentoring role, much of Beachley’s focus has been on helping Olsen develop her mindset and “making sure she was in a happy, healthy place” as she tackled the challenges of competing around the world at a young age.  

Beachley, who herself was an avid skateboarder in her youth, cherishes the opportunity to mentor rising stars regardless of their chosen sport.   

Having begun her professional career at 16, at a time when formal mentoring programs simply did not exist in her chosen sport, Beachley understands more than most the pressures and challenges that a young athlete faces, and how a little wisdom and experience from someone who has been there before can help overcome them.   

“I love it. I learn a lot from the girls and guys that I work with,” Beachley said of her mentoring roles.  

“I have mentored a variety of different athletes across a broad spectrum of sports over the years and to have the opportunity to work with someone like Poppy has been very refreshing and fun, especially considering she is in a male dominated sport, that held a position close to my heart as well.  

“These styles of programs are extremely beneficial, especially for emerging talent.  

“I’m proud to be a member of the Hall of Fame and be able to offer the opportunity to share my knowledge, experience and wisdom with future generations of champions because most of the time we wait until people have reached the pinnacle before we start to invest in them, whereas this works in the opposite way.”  

Olsen’s career has continued to soar as high as the aerial tricks she executes with creativity, courage and precision.  

The 21-year-old was a world champion in the Over 14s age group in 2014 and retained the title in the Over 15s.   

In 2016 Olsen won the professional division at the Vans Combi Classic and became the first Australian woman to compete in the Summer X Games. In 2017 she won bronze at the X Games in the women’s Park competition and silver at the World Roller Games in China.   

Now the fourth-ranked skater in the world in the women’s Park format, Olsen is Australia’s highest ranked skateboarder as the sport prepares to make its debut on the Olympic stage.  

It is unlikely Beachley and Olsen will have a chance to catch-up before Olsen competes on August 4 in a world class women’s Park event, but Beachley says the national champion is well prepared for success.  

“She knows I am in her corner cheering her on. I have been ever since I met her,” Beachley said.  

“I just want to see her perform to her best. Poppy has everything in her toolkit to get the job done and perform to her best, she just has to believe in herself.”  

The Tokyo Games will be particularly special for Beachley. A pioneer for the growth of women’s surfing on the world stage, watching the sport she loves make its Olympics debut comes with a sense of pride.    

“I’d be disappointed if all the challenges and obstacles I went through amounted to nothing, so to first see the WSL show initiative and announce pay equity in 2018, and secondly to have our sport represented on the Olympic stage, is incredibly satisfying,” Beachley said.  

“It’s not like we need it (to be an Olympic sport) but it opens up a whole new playing field for surfing, a new audience, a new perspective, a new level of professionalism and a new pinnacle to aspire to.  

“It opens up the sport to nations that would not normally have the opportunity to compete for their country in surfing and it creates a tremendous amount of scope for the sport to continue to grow.  

“That’s what we really want, to get more people actively involved in surfing because it’s the best sport in the world to participate in. Obviously skateboarding comes in at a close second.” 

David Taylor