Sienna Bush

Where It All Started

My parents first enrolled my little sister (Savannah) and I into nippers at Currumbin SLS just to learn basic surf skills and to be competent in the water. As we got older we started going to training sessions and then competing and just grew to love it.

The Journey Nobody Sees

I was always a very active kid, my sister and I were always running around the house or swimming in our pool and driving mum and dad mad with how much energy we had, so they put us into nippers and running to burn off some energy. To be honest I was always a bit scared of the surf (especially big surf) and still am, so I focused more on my running (cross country and track). I eventually got really good at that and started winning state and national medals. When I made my first AUS Cross Country team I had my heart set on going and running in an American College, but shortly after that I got a really bad injury which put me out of all activities for 9 months. I realised I was just doing too much and had to make a choice out of running and surf, and decided that surf was the lifestyle that I wanted most. I am at Burleigh Surf Club at the moment and have never loved this sport and training with all my friends more. While I am so glad I made the decision to stick to surf, I am so grateful that I have my running and endurance background, because it is a major strength I bring into the surf with me.

Your Greatest Moments

A lot of my achievements I am most proud of were early on, like winning my first state and national medals in track and cross country and aquathons, then making the AUS U20’s Cross Country team 5 years under age. Running results came to me a lot easier than surf results did, and it took until I was 15-16 to start winning events in my age group at States and World Ocean Series events. Since then my proudest moments have to be coming 5th in the Open Iron at W.O.S Maroochy Classic, along with 2nd in the Aussie iron both this season. (Another honourable mention is also doing the board rescue with my sister for the first time and winning state then getting 2nd at Aussies this season too, it was very unexpected).

Beyond the Sport

When not racing/ training I love hanging out with mostly the Burleigh Girls, as it is such a like minded group and we have something fun planned almost every weekend to look forward to. I probably spend like 95% of my time with my sister too, because we are so similar, have all the same interests and were inseparable as kids, so we naturally go everywhere together. I have a very close family, so my parents (and my puppy Maple) are very involved in my life too which I am very grateful for. Other than my social life I put a lot of importance on studying and getting really good grades. I’m in grade 12 at the moment and have lots of exams coming up, so that’s also a major priority for my last few months until I graduate!