After years of professional skateboarding, a youth worker in a remote Aboriginal community is passing on his skills to children, encouraging them to dream of the Olympic stage.
With skateboarding making its debut as an Olympic sport at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, Mr Hayes is dreaming big, hoping to see young Territorians — particularly those from his hometown of Santa Teresa, or Ltyentye Apurte, east of Alice Springs — compete on the world stage.
"The reason I wanted to work with kids is to give them the opportunity to do anything … I never had that," Mr Hayes said. After helping to set up the First Skate Park in Alice Springs in 2004, Mr Hayes started a campaign to get a park built Santa Teresa in 2017. "When you bring something different, it's kind of like a big scary thing as well, especially for remote communities where it's all about the football," he said."That's the main thing for these kids or these young people. If they want to succeed in anything [that's what they need], that's my advice."
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