She was surfing with her dad at Salmon Hole in South Australia when she spotted a shark lurking below her.<\/p>\n
READ MORE:<\/strong> Suns sack coach after 'relationships soured'<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n READ MORE:<\/strong> Thurston warned by NRL over Origin antics<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n READ MORE:<\/strong> Thurston reveals Maroons' reaction to spicy comment<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n \ufeff"Me and my dad pulled up at this spot and no one was out. We were like, 'Aw, no one's out. How good's this?'. It was pumping and we paddled out and we were surfing for a bit," Buckpitt told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n "I was out the back and dad had just caught a wave in.<\/p>\n "Then a shark went underneath me and he said he's never heard someone scream so loud.<\/p>\n "I literally just basically walked on water until I was up on the rock platform and I ran away.<\/p>\n "I was like, 'Nope, that is not happening'. I was so scared. I fully saw it. I think that's why it full spooked me out so much.<\/p>\n "I got out real quick. I don't think I've ever paddled so hard in my life … I was zooming, I was so scared, I was going so fast."<\/p>\n Five years after being shocked to the core, her attitude is astonishing.<\/p>\n "If I get eaten I get eaten," Buckpitt said.<\/p>\n "We're in their territory.<\/p>\n "Die having fun \u2014 that's not too bad a way to go."<\/p>\n Buckpitt took up surfing because she got sick of watching her dad and two older brothers from the sand.<\/p>\n She began surfing about the age of eight and was competing within a couple of years.<\/p>\n She was recently one of 25 kids selected in the initial uptake for Pursu32+, a high-performance program introduced to assist talented teenagers from rural areas in their sporting endeavours.<\/p>\n A program launched by the New South Wales Institute of Sport\ufeff (NSWIS) and the Regional Academies of Sport (RAS), it gives the promising youngsters access to NSWIS staff and national-level coaches.<\/p>\n It's a game-changer for Buckpitt, who wants to be competing in the World Surf League within two years and dreams of taking on the world at the Olympics.<\/p>\n "I think it's really cool. Kids from rural communities don't really have as much as what the kids who live in the bigger cities have\ufeff," Buckpitt said.<\/p>\n "I think it's really cool they've given this opportunity to all these people.<\/p>\n "It's crazy the difference (between opportunities for city and country kids). I\ufeff'm away with some kids in Bali that live in a bigger town than me and they've got a lot more opportunity than I do. I'm not saying I don't have a lot, but they've got it all at their fingertips, whereas I've got to travel quite far and it's quite costly."<\/p>\n Buckpitt was stunned when she found out she'd been selected for the Pursu32+ program.\ufeff<\/p>\n "I was shocked. I was like, 'What in the world?'. I had no idea that I would even be considered for something like that. It was crazy," she said.<\/p>\n "Mum told me. She just told me when I was in the carpark at the surf. She was like, 'You just got picked for this thing', and I was like, 'What? No way!'."<\/p>\n Buckpitt idolises Aussie surfing legend Stephanie Gilmore\ufeff, who won her eighth world title in September last year.<\/p>\n "Her style is impeccable," the youngster said.<\/p>\n "She rips."<\/p>\n Buckpitt has played soccer since she was five\ufeff, and also loves to snorkel, but there isn't anything she enjoys more than surfing.<\/p>\n "I love being in the water\ufeff and with the sport of surfing you can travel wherever and it's different every time," she said.<\/p>\n "That's what I love about it."<\/p>\n For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n
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