Nitro Circus athletes talked the talk and walked the walk much to the pleasure of hundreds of appreciative Shell Cove Public School students on Monday.
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A team of six, including pro skateboarder Beaver Fleming and pioneer freestyle wheelchair rider Aaron “Wheelz” Fotheringham, dropped by the school to spread the safety message and encourage students to always “dream big”.
“It’s a combination of safety and anti-bullying with a couple of tricks thrown in for good measure,” Nitro Circus spokesman Nathan Brown said.
“The safety message is a little bit tricky because two of our athletes are actually injured but they were wearing their helmets so they weren’t injured more.
“All our athletes promote the anti-bullying message through their actions.
“All of them were told this [Nitro Circus] couldn’t be a career. They were told they were stupid to think they could make a career out of riding scooters, skateboards and dirt bikes.
“But, they didn’t listen to the haters and now they have the best job in the world.”
It was only a couple of weeks ago that pro-skater Beaver Fleming won the Big Air category, with a 10-foot backside air move at the Bowl-a-Rama event at Bondi Beach.
But the 23-year-old Nitro Circus star said he got just as much enjoyment from giving back and inspiring young kids to chase their dreams.
“I was a kid from Tennessee where a lot of people didn’t think I’d be able to make it as a professional skateboarder,” Fleming said.
“So to try and go and inspire people to really follow their dreams and their passions and work hard, is amazing and just shows that anything is possible if you put your mind to it and truly love what you do.”
Shell Cove Public School principal Simon Webb said it was great to have Nitro Circus visit.
“It was fantastic to have the guys come down and show our students some tricks and also talk about the importance of being safe and following your dreams,” he said.
Rebecca Taylor won a Illawarra Mercury competition to secure the school the Nitro Circus visit.
The action-packed Nitro Circus show is at WIN Stadium on Saturday, March 24.