For the past three summers, Stoked has partnered with Nike to create really rad experiences for our youth. This year, we created the Summer of Stoked. This program supports swimming lessons, a surf mentoring piece, a skateboard building program, and an action sports photography program in NYC & LA. Here is a clip of some of our kids at the Nike US Open of Surfing event last week.

Six years ago, I was just launching our surfing program for New York City teens in Rockaway Beach through my organization Stoked. The idea was simple… well at least I thought it was. I wanted to take kids and mentors surfing in NYC. I managed to hustle six surfboards from Quiksilver and I was able to take six kids surfing along with a handful of volunteer mentors. Beach 90 in Rockaway was empty! In 2005, they just made it legal to surf in NYC, so it wasn’t as popular as it is today. Little did I know that we were the first non-profit to take kids surfing in NYC. A few years later, Stoked was instrumental in opening the second surf break at Beach 67. Today, with the help of Nike, we’re taking over 150 youth surfing in NYC and around 40 youth in Los Angeles this summer. Needless to say I’m stoked!  The line up in Rockaway and the beaches of Los Angeles have never looked so diverse. I just like to think we’re democratizing action sports a bit.

Check out more pics from our NYC and LA programs after the jump.