At 17, Mount Maunganui's Elin Tawharu has packed in an extraordinary amount of international sporting experience into her short life.

And now, the serial junior national surfing champion is taking it up yet another level. She's packed her custom-built board and flown out to Tahara, Japan, to represent her country at the World Surfing Games – the premier event on the International Surfing Association's calendar.

Teams from 42 nations are there, with 202 athletes in total representing the royalty of world surfing, including New Zealand icons Paige Hareb and Billy Stairmand.

Zen Wallis, Levi Stewart and fellow Bay teenage surfing prodigy Raiha Ensor complete the New Zealand team, which is favoured to acquit itself well as the sport looks towards the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

Originally named as a reserve for the team, Elin got the call up a few weeks ago when Whangamata's Ella Williams was forced to pull out.

It's an extraordinary achievement for her to be competing in the Open Women category at the world champs at such a young age, but one the effervescent Year 13 Mount Maunganui College student has been building towards since her dad, well-known Mount surfing identity and teacher John Tawharu, chucked her in the surf on a boogie board at around the age of six.

At nine-years-old she met her best friend, fellow Mount College student and New Zealand team contender Tiana-Breeze de Mooij, and they started surfing together on longboards.

'I started to enter some competitions when I was about 11,” says Elin, 'and I won my first national competition over in Taranaki. Ever since then I've caught that bug.

'The competitive side of it came into play and I've just been competing since pretty much 11.”

Six years on, Elin is no stranger to the podium in national junior competitions and international events as well. A third in the under-16 girls' division at the 2016 World Junior Surfing Championship in Portugal is probably the highlight of her career so far.

She's also put in time on the Australasian Pro Junior Series in Australia.

Born in 2000 in Tauranga Hospital and brought up across the road from the ocean, Elin believes her childhood has pointed her firmly in the direction of the surf.

'That's been a big influencing factor towards me loving the beach and getting into surfing,” she says. 'My dad was really into it and my brother as well, so I had him to surf with all the time. I've always been a beach baby.”

That's one factor, but it doesn't turn you into an elite world class athlete by itself. So what has done that for Elin?

'I guess I've just put a lot into it, and had a lot of water time. Because I started so young and got selected in the New Zealand junior team when I was 13, I got straightaway that experience of the international level.

'I also had my brother, who was a little older than me and also doing the competitions, so he was pushing me a lot.

'There's not that many New Zealand girls who are at the younger age group in surfing, so the group we've got is pretty tight. We're friends, and we're all pushing eachother.

'I guess what sets me apart is I've always been really competitive, and all the sports I did when I was younger I was really competitive with.”

Volleyball, netball, touch, rippa, basketball, athletics, and cross country are all sports Elin tried at a younger age.

'But once I got to college, I just quit everything to focus on surfing,” she explains.

And it was a decision, Elin believes, that has helped put her where she is today.

'Yeah I think so. I think being fully committed to something is how you're going to get there. If you can balance them that's okay, but for me just focusing on surfing and school as well has been enough.

'It's about surfing whenever there's surf, training, competing, trying to get myself overseas to those competitions and just being dedicated, I guess.”

Going for an NCEA merit endorsement this year and having only a few more internals to deal with means Elin has school well under control, but even so, fitting it in around surfing – or perhaps vice versa – has been a challenge.

'I've been having to surf after school, before school, and whenever I've got a free period if I can,” she says.

'But this year they've been a bit more lenient with me allowing me to surf. You've just got to manage your time wisely.”

Preparation for the world games means getting as much surfing in as she can with a bit of cardio, mobility work and yoga on the side.

It also means getting just the right board. She has a brand new one for the trip, shaped for her by Pete Anderson of Whangamata.

'It's really light and short,” says Elin. 'it's very custom for me and especially designed for Japan.

'It's going to be really good in the small kind of sloshy waves that don't have much power. It's going to be fast and easy to get turns on when there's no power in the wave.”

The experience of competing at the World Surfing Games in Japan is going to be memorable for Elin for many reasons, but particularly for the fact she's going to be in the company of the legendary Paige Hareb.

'I'm really excited to have Paige there to look up to, and to see how she does things and get to know her a bit better. It's pretty awesome that I'm getting to go away with those older role models and be able to surf with them.”

Not that she sees it just as a learning experience. She fully intends to pull her weight in the team effort.

'I'm going there to win and do well for our team,” she says. 'New Zealand's been announced in the Olympics for 2020 in Japan, so this competition is quite a big thing for us. Hopefully everyone does really well.

'I want to make the finals and do the best I can for me and for the team.”