Bates said he was “beyond stoked” with the result in the under-16 age group.

“All I wanted was to finish in the top 10,” he said. “The standard of the competition was definitely higher than I’ve ever competed in before, it was everyone from around Australia so it was a very hard competition. Almost everyone riding was really good and around my level.”

Bates had qualified for his first national titles in March and was excited for the opportunity to travel to Sydney.

He arrived on the Thursday before the competition and said he was smiling the whole five days.

“I had so much fun with my mates,” he said. “I visited many places I would have never thought I’d get to visit and I got to make so many good memories.”

He said the opportunity to ride at the skate park for three days prior to competing on Sunday helped settle some nerves.

“The park was pretty scary at first but I rode it three days in a row before my comp to get use to it and go practice my run,” he said.

The good result left Bates hungry to continue his improvement in his second season of competing.

“I will definitely come back bigger and better next year to try get back the nationals,” he said.

“Next year I’m fully committing my time to the sport of scootering and will stop playing my other sports to give myself more time to practice. It would be great to maybe come top three in the professional level next year.”