sports

"I just love the feeling of catching a wave being able to do whatever you want."

Caroline Marks was just eight years old when she followed her brothers on a surfboard into the ocean.

The Florida-born teenager hated competing at first but quickly caught “the bug”, and at 15 has numerous national and international titles under her belt.

“I just love being in the ocean and feel like I have a special connection with the ocean for sure,” she said.

“I just love the feeling of catching a wave being able to do whatever you want. You feel so free and it’s just an incredible feeling, to be honest.”

LISTEN: We catch up with AFLW star Erin Phillips…

Caroline wants to be the best female surfer in the world and already holds the record for the youngest female to compete in a World Surf League Championship Tour event.

In other words, she’s well on her way.

“I want to be the best role model as possible and I just want to inspire young girls to want to surf and just to want to have fun actually love it.

Don’t do it because someone is telling you to do it, do it because you love it yourself.

Along with the AFL Women’s, Mamamia is proudly introducing Sport. My Way – a four-part video series that celebrates young women and girls who are doing amazing things in sport. You can check out part one and two as well.

If you know a girl aged five to 16 who is excelling in her chosen sport, send in a short video of them for a chance to be profiled on the Mamamia website and AFLW social channels.

Your video should be under one minute in length, have the sports star introduce themselves, showcase their talent and tell us why they love playing sport.

Stand-out talent will be selected for an appearance in the AFLW & Mamamia Sport. My Way video series. Simply upload your video to YouTube and send the link to submissions@mamamia.com.au