In 2021, the sport of skateboarding was finally set to make its debut at the Tokyo Olympic Games. At the time, former professional skateboarder Trevor Ward was tasked with fine tuning a crew of up-and-coming Australian skateboarders for the world stage.

“There were no good training facilities in Australia,” explains Trevor. “My partner, Sarah, suggested we make the first High Performance skatepark in the country.”

Together, the duo launched Level Up Skatepark & Training Facility in Currumbin, after relocating from Arundel due to Covid. “[We wanted] to train the next generation of skateboarders and BMX riders so that Australia could be the best at these sports.”

Trevor’s experience in the skate world afforded him the ability to offer unparalleled guidance and training to Level Up’s cohort of aspiring professional skaters.

“We are a professional facility with pathways and information no one else has in this space purely because I was at the top of my sport for many years,” he explains. 

Nearly five years later, skateboarding has been inducted as a mandatory sport of the Summer Olympics and Level Up has emerged as the number one skate academy in the world for Gold Medal Olympians. “Nowhere else in the world has ever produced a Gold Medal Olympian from total beginner in four years,” adds Trevor. 

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“We were originally just a skatepark that did lessons, but now we are a full time academy with 50 kids doing their education with us and 500 kids doing lessons with us a week.”

The most notable alumni of Level Up Skatepark is Arisa Trew, the fourteen-year-old skater from Palm Beach who won gold at this year’s Olympic Games in the park event. 

Arisa started her skating career with Level Up, which identified her skill in its Lessons program and supported her training for the Olympics. 

A crucial factor in Level Up’s success has been its Gold Coast location, which has provided Trevor and his team a passionate skating community for the business to thrive within 

“We lived on the Tweed Coast but chose the Gold Coast because of the accessibility and the market in skateboarding and surfing.”

“The Skate Surf culture down the south of the Gold Coast has been very good for the success of our business,” shares Trevor. “After Covid, we reopened in Currumbin and the community has been amazing.”

“The Airport close also means people all over Australia and the world can fly in for events,” he adds.

As a custodian of the country’s professional skate community, Trevor has been emboldened to create a supportive and respectful environment for the next generation of skaters. 

“The Gold Coast Skate community is very divided,” adds Trevor. “Having been a pro I was always hit with this stigma so it has been my duty to change this.”

“We have built our own community based on being a good human … mak[ing] them understand the value in actually being great in the community and adding value.”

“Our community of kids grow into strong kids with a great self confidence not only in their sport but their education too.”

“The community we have built is very different, but it still holds onto the core aspects of skateboarding, being a self governing community that has elders who regulate it.”

Fresh off the back of this year’s Olympic successes as well as X Games Chiba, Trevor and the Level Up team are looking to bring this unique approach to the sport to the rest of the world, with facilities slated to open in California and Bali next year. 

“Level Up’s mission is to build the best humans possible,” says Trevor. “We want to create a pathway in action sports, not just to the Olympics but to have an actual career in skateboarding or Freestyle BMX.”