Dani Campbell had little sleep the night before winning an Australian title.
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It wasn't so much the nerves settling in, as much as trying to rest his head on a mate's couch without a pillow.
The 21-year-old was significantly more comfortable on his skateboard the next day, finishing second behind Frenchman Manu Etchgoyen, but claiming the national prize as the top-ranked Aussie.
It's fuelled the fire for Campbell to travel to the US in July and compete against the world's best at a Pro Tour event in Los Angeles. It could even open the door to qualifying for the Olympics, where skateboarding will make its debut on the biggest stage in Tokyo next year.
"I'd stayed with a mate in Sydney the night before and got a lift up to Bateau Bay the next day," he said.
"So it was about 12-and-a-half hours of skating after about three-and-a-half hours sleep, it was a long day.
"But then I qualified fourth for the finals and didn't stack a trick, so I knew I'd gone pretty well, but it's pretty crazy to be there."
To try and describe Campbell's talent on a board with written words fails to do it any justice.
If you watch the Australian Championships of Street Skating men's final (see Campbell at the 2min mark), it only takes a couple of minutes to soak in how ridiculously impressive these guys are.
Campbell is now nursing an ankle injury, having also previously broken his leg a couple of years ago skating in Melbourne at the Australian Skate Park League.
Now he just wants to be fit again in time to make it on a plane to the US where he could be skating against some of the stars of the sport.
At this stage it seems like a wild long shot, but the dream would be to earn enough rankings points to qualify for the Olympics, or make it to next year's world championships, where the top three make it to Tokyo.
Australia already has some of the top skaters on the global street rankings, Shane O'Neill and Tommy Fynn, while Illawarra Academy of Sport star Kieran Woolley is another dreaming of making the Olympics and has long been earmarked as a future star of the sport.
Woolley is only 15, but has already competed at the Park Skateboarding World Championships in China last year.
Park skating is the bowl or half-pipe discipline, while street skating is the rails, slides and stairs version, both events on the Tokyo schedule.
When fit, Campbell spends most afternoons working on tricks of the trade at Fairy Meadow Skate Park, hoping it will all pay off in July.
"Even just to be over the against these guys would be a real dream come true," Campbell said.
"All the pros will be there and with the world championships and Olympics next year, it would be pretty crazy to be there competing."
