Name: Lucyann Murray
Age: 19
City: Greenwich, CT
Sport: Snowboarding
Recent Results:

• Burton AM Series Halfpipe (Northstar, CA 2010)- 3rd place
• Burton AM Series Slopestyle (Northstar, CA 2010) – 9th place
• USSA Revolution Tour Slopestyle (Mt.Snow, VT 2010) – 3rd Place
• USASA Nationals Halfpipe (ages 18-22, 2009) – 5th place
• USASA Nationals Slopestyle (ages 18-22, 2009) – 10th place
• Red Bull Snow Warz (2009)- Best Female Rider
• USSA Revolution Tour Slopestyle (Mt. Hood, OR 2009) – 5th place
• Volcom Peanut Butter Rail Jam (Stratton, VT 2008) – 1st place (finals qualifier)

A little something you should know about Lucyann…

Lucyann is just a big city girl trying to make it in a big mountain world. She grew up in Washington, DC snowboarding in the small, baby hills of Wintergreen, Virginia. Lucyann first learned to snowboard at age 9, but began the ritual dedication of driving 3 hours to the mountains every weekend when she joined the Wintergreen Snowboard team at age 12. Lucyann started competing locally in boardercross and simultaneously learned how to hit rails and jumps. When she was 14,  her father got a job in New York City, and the family moved to Connecticut and she was determined to pursue snowboarding even further. Lucyann joined the Stratton Mountain Snowboard team and started competing in slopestyle and halfpipe, traveling the 3 hours to Vermont every weekend. As Lucyann continued to progress in snowboarding, she began to progress in all aspects of life, and she knew that she wasn’t letting this go anytime soon. At the same time, Lucyann was also a full time student athlete, playing varsity soccer and lacrosse and maintained a solid GPA. While her love and passion for snowboarding grew, she took time off of school to train during her senior year, Lucyann managed to get into Stanford University. Lucyann ended up tearing her ACL in the spring of her senior year, and went on to Stanford determined to make the most of the west coast experience. Lucyann is now a sophomore at Stanford University majoring in human biology with a focus in environmental issues and policy, and it is her second year competing for the Squaw Valley Snowboard team. Squaw allows Lucyann to compete and train in Tahoe, while living with the Stanford Ski Team on the weekends, and on the Stanford campus Monday through Thursday.  Lucyann had an awesome comeback season last year and went to Argentina this past summer to get summer training. To take her training even further she committed to a full time athletic strength and conditioning program, supplemented with a clean diet in order to be back  full strength to take on this upcoming season. While being a full time student and pursuing competition at a national level is certainly not the easiest thing to do,  Lucyann is determined to push her snowboarding to a new level and continue to compete… simply because she loves it.

Name: Andrew Pearce
Age: 12
City: San Francisco, CA
Sports:

• Gymnastics captain for Acrosports’ X Team.
• Plays outside right for the SF Viking Rebels Soccer team.
• Runs Cross Country for The San Francisco School Bears.
• Practices Freestyle Skiing at Alpine Meadows in Lake Tahoe.

His “NOT SO” Secret talent: He can jump, flip and twist for days.
Favorite conditioning piece: Jump rope “double unders”.

A little something you should know about Andrew…

Andrew Pearce is a 12 year old boy that caught my eye 5 years ago when he came to a gymnastics practice at Acrosports with a freakish talent, outstanding work ethic and great personality. Andrew inspired me, inspired me to care and respect gymnastics again, a sport that I had given up on years ago and that I was just involved with because it was an easy gig.  He made me want to perform well at my job. He made me want to learn more. He made me want to be his Coach. He made me care to guide him and work with him until we achieved our goal.  Our goal was simple: we both wanted to be the BEST we could possibly be at what we did.

At a young age Andrew was able to communicate with me what he wanted to accomplish and how I could help him. He was, and is , a self -directed and driven kid. He made me and the other kids push harder every day. He inspired me to have  the guts to believe that it was okay to put aside what I had been working on so hard for the past 5 years of my life.  So this is more than an Athlete Profile, this is the profile that inspired the creation of Naka Athletics and my decision to become Coach for the rest of my life.

Andrew still practices gymnastics on a regular basis, plays soccer, races Cross Country, skis at a recreational level (even though he is capable of more than many currently nationally ranked athletes). His goal is still the same: Andrew still wants to be the best at what he does, whatever it is. He has a great relationship with his coaches and teammates and he continues to inspire people to push harder. I am grateful to have him as my athlete and young friend. I look forward to seeing what the future holds in store for Andrew and what  Andrew has in store for the future.

Coach- everyone needs inspiration-Carl

P.S. - Take a sneak peak at Andrew during a freestyle sesh at Acrosports!

Name: Ed Johnson, aka BBoy Black
City: San Francisco, CA
Sport: BBoying

A little something you should know about BBoy Black…

Ed Johnson, aka "BBoy Black", has been dancing since 1999 and is part of San Francisco's own Renegade Rockers and one of the founders of the Eastbay breakdance crew known as Cloud 9 Tribe. Ed has won the many events within the Bay Area including the Out for Fame City title in 2007 and has also appeared in the Crown City Rockers video "B-boy" in 2006. In 2009 Ed traveled with Renegade Rockers to Korea to compete internationally at Incheon’s R-16 and is now currently teaching and perform around northern California.