Mount Maunganui surfer Cooper Roberts has been asked to represent Mexico at the International Surfing Association World Championships in El Salvador in three months’ time.

Roberts’ family moved to Mexico in 2020 to volunteer with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) and helped build houses for homeless Mexicans with Homes of Hope.

Roberts, 15, grew up in Mount Maunganui and started surfing aged 9 and was only a minute’s walk away from the beach which meant that he always had easy access to waves.

“Living there was really good for my surfing, all my friends were surfers as well and that got me really interested in the sport.

 “But as I got older the waves seemed to get worse, and [the] worse the better I got, so moving here [Mexico] was just so much better cause there’s better waves and they’re more consistent.”

During his time in Mount Maunganui, he excelled in multiple Bay of Plenty and New Zealand-wide competitions, including Bay Boardriders and the Billabong Grom series.

Last year he finished second in two nationwide Mexican competitions on the coastal beach resort of Ixtapa Zihuatanejo, one in the Under 18s finals, and the other in the Under 16s.

Cooper Roberts moved with his family to Mexico in 2020. Photo / Tamickphoto

In 2021 he won the Mexican Under 14s national competition and qualified for the world championships in El Salvador but was unable to compete as he didn’t have a Mexican passport and was not allowed to represent the country.

 “I was pretty bummed,” he said. “It was cool to see all my friends compete, but it was hard watching them and not being able to be there.”

Roberts has once again been invited to represent Mexico at the World Championship this year in May, however, he will need to get his Mexican passport issued before the competition in order to compete.

He said his family got involved with YWAM long term and was pleased with their decision to stay.

“We are Christians. My parents came here for a mission for YWAM but we all loved it here so much that we decided to stay.”

He claims to be enjoying school and finds interest in learning a new language.

“Going to a local school has been great. I’ve made a lot of new friends and I’ve been able to learn a language, Spanish.”

Like many surfers, he has hopes of surfing in the World Surf League. By the way things are going, he’s on the right track.

- Louis Johnston is a 15-year-old Mount Maunganui College student with a passion for sports and journalism. If you have a community sports story idea, please contact: [email protected]