A young Mount Maunganui surfer is riding his dream wave after being selected to represent New Zealand on one of junior surfing’s biggest world stages.

Fifteen-year-old Sol Fritchley finished top of the national under-16 rankings to secure his place in the New Zealand team.

He will compete at the International Surfing Association World Junior Surfing Championship in El Salvador in September.

“It means everything, and hopefully this will be the start of many more,” he said.

Sol’s selection follows years of dedication to the sport he first picked up as a 5-year-old, and growing up in a surfing family helped shape that passion.

Both of his parents surf and his sister also competes, meaning time in the water has long been a part of everyday life.

“Surfing was already in the family and we always used to go down to the beach, so it was just there for me really. Like I was made to surf,” he said.

Since winning his first competition at 11, Sol said qualifying for the World Championships had been one of his biggest goals.

“I’ve been trying for a while. I didn’t quite make it last year so I was determined this year and was stoked I could pull it off.”

Qualifying for the New Zealand team required surfers to compete in events across the country, accumulating ranking points throughout the season.

Sol Fritchley says qualifying for the World Championships had been one of his biggest goals. Photo / CPL

Only the top three athletes in each division earned a selection.

Sol’s campaign took him from Mount Maunganui to Gisborne, Christchurch, Dunedin and Westport, producing a string of podium finishes.

He claimed victories in Westport and Christchurch, finished runner-up in Mount Maunganui, Dunedin and Gisborne, and secured fourth place at the national championships in Gisborne.

He topped the national under-16 rankings and booked his place in the New Zealand team.

Sol said the deciding event in Gisborne came down to a crucial heat featuring several surfers vying for selection.

“I just had this feeling I was going to make it, and when I came in I won the heat, but it didn’t sink in I had made the team until later.”

When asked to describe the feeling of catching a perfect wave, Sol simply said, “you just feel free”.

“You know when you’ve got a good one, but really it’s a feeling you can’t describe.”

Sol Fritchley has been surfing since the age of 5, learning the sport from his father, Simon Fritchley. Photo / CPL

The World Junior Surfing Championship runs from September 4 to 13 and is one of the world’s premier junior surfing events, attracting hundreds of surfers from around the globe.

It is considered a key stepping stone for future professional surfers and Olympians.

“This will literally be the biggest competition I’ve been in and I’m excited to see how my surfing matches up against the best groms in the world,” Sol said.

“I’ve always been taught to aim high, so I’m hoping to do the best I can and win it.”

Sol’s dad, Simon Fritchley, said watching his son progress from a young “grom” to representing New Zealand was a “proud parent moment”.

Fritchley taught Sol to surf and said it was a challenging sport to master, with the basics taking time and persistence to learn.

“With Sol I’d struggle to get him out of the water. It would be getting dark, I’d be standing on the beach and he wouldn’t stop until he’d land the manoeuvre he wanted to do.”

He said Sol “hit the ground running” when it came to surfing.

“He’s got a good professional attitude and you lose a lot when you compete, so you have to learn how to lose and how to have a winning mindset, which he has a natural ability for.”

Fritchley said it was exciting to see how Sol, at just 15, carried himself.

“It’s amazing to see that he really got into it, put his head down, puts time in on the water and just fell in love with it.”

Kaitlyn Morrell is a journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has lived in the region for several years and studied journalism at Massey University.