Mr Higgins, who surfs but admits he likes the backroom stuff more, was named chairman at a Surfing NZ board meeting at the weekend.
Mr Higgins said age did not mean a lot in the surfing world and he was not even the youngest member of the Surfing NZ board.
‘‘I have been told I am the youngest-ever chairman of a national sporting organisation, although there may be some minor sport out there that has someone younger,’’ he said.
He started surfing when he was 4 or 5 years old.
He liked it and realised at competitions he would rather sit and watch and help out than go and surf.
‘‘So I got into judging and then I was the contest director for the South Island championships in 2019.
‘‘I think I have organisation in my blood.
‘‘One of my grandmothers ran Thieves Alley for years and the other one put on heaps of events for the Motor Caravan Association. My dad ran events.’’
Two years ago, he was appointed to the Surfing NZ board as the South Island representative and now has the big job.
‘‘The board have put faith in me and I think I can do it. It is what I enjoy doing — working in the background, helping out and spreading the word on how great surfing is.’’
Surfing as a sport had loads of potential. There were 330,000 recreational surfers in New Zealand and they were an untapped resource, he said.
The organisation had lost funding for high performance, which was unfortunate, but it could continue to support communities, he said.
An administrator in a government department, he was also studying extramurally at Massey University, specialising in defence and international security.
His brother Jack, 16, is a top surfer and finished fourth at the national championships in Taranaki earlier this year.
