A $15,000 paycheck is huge for a 17-year-old girl. But it’s even bigger for the 180 kids of a New Zealand surfing club.
Hawaii teenager Carissa Moore won the TSB Bank Women's Surf Festival at Fitzroy Beach, New Zealand, on Friday and promptly handed over the check from her second professional victory to the local surfing club, the Waitara Bar Boardriders Club.
"I'm really lucky to have the support of my family and my sponsors and to be able to contribute in this way," she said. "And it's a great way to give back to the community. They have been such a great motivation to me this week."
Moore told the local Taranaki Daily News that she made the decision before the competition to help inspire her.
“I've placed ninth in my last two events and we thought it would be a really good motivator for me to know I was doing it all for these guys," she told the paper.
Members of the surf club performed a haka, a traditional Maori dance, on the beach before the final to help inspire Moore.
Moore, ranked No. 6 in the ASP Women’s World Tour, beat No. 2-ranked Australian Sally Fitzgibbons, in the final.
