Publications
With her beaming smile and frilly pink dress she looks like any other six-year-old on her birthday. But at her feet sits a skateboard propped at a jaunty angle and she’s about to do what she does – and loves – best. Next thing she’s soaring 3,6m into the air, hair and frills flying – expertly ramping, spinning and landing.
Not surprisingly, little Paige Tobin of Lake Macquarie in Australia, has turned into a viral sensation with her daring skateboarding stunts. She started the sport when she was a toddler, her mom, Emma, says.
“Paige was about two when she picked up an old skateboard in the garage and started standing up on it,” Emma says. “It kind of started there.”
READ MORE| Cancer survivor (63) skates herself back to health
Paige first gained the world’s attention after a video of her dropping into a 3,6m bowl at a skateboarding park went viral.
In the clip, which was captured on 29 March on her sixth birthday, the mom-and-daughter pair visit their local skate park.
“Is it your birthday today?” Emma asks Paige who responds excitedly, “Yeah!”
“How old are you today?”
“Six!” responds the youngster.
Moments later, Paige is off, wowing with her cool tricks as she dips in and out of the bowl – all the while protected by black kneepads and a helmet with leopard markings.
“Happy birthday,” says her mother before handing the triumphant little girl a chocolate-frosted cupcake for the special day.
The reel has received more than 40 000 likes and been shared across various social media platforms with many users in awe of her daredevilry.
The youngster, who’s been dubbed the “skater princess”, is working hard at mastering many skateboarding tricks, one of them being the tricky “blunt to fakie” manoeuvre.
While Emma is proud of her daughter's progress and passion for the sport, as a mother she does worry about her safety.
“It definitely goes through your mind, 'If anything were to happen to her, would I blame myself?' I just have to hold my breath and keep rolling with it.”
Paige now joins an emerging group of trailblazing youngsters – such as Sky Brown (12) from the UK – who are redefining the male-dominated sport.
So far Paige has entered two competitions, one of which she won last month in the under-9 category.
Paige’s advice to other kids thinking of going into extreme sports? “Never give up,” she says.
Sources: Instagram, CNN, Daily Mail, GMS
