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Willi EdwardsBorn and bred into the waters around "Town," Ezekial Lau is quickly garnering international attention.

Ezekiel Lau is a warrior: Literally. The 18-year-old, who is affectionately called "Zeke," is a senior at Kamehameha Schools and its mascot is the Warriors. In addition, his middle name -- bestowed by his great-grandfather -- is "Kekoamaikalanimai," which translates to "warrior from the heavens." He is Hawaii's hope for the next world tour surfer from the birthplace of surfing. His recent event victory at the North Shore Surf Shop Pro Junior at Sunset Beach in January is one of several contest results that have Hawaiians touting Zeke as the next prodigy to do battle on the world tour.

In 2011, Zeke appeared in three ASP Star event finals. He won in El Salvador and at Sunset Beach and placed runner-up at Puerto Escondido. Two years ago Zeke broke his back after a poorly calculated floater, but won an NSSA National title with the injury. A three-month stint in a body cast, meticulous dieting and tenacious physical therapy made him healthier and stronger. Today, Zeke looks more like a wide receiver than a surfer. ESPN caught up with the athletic, Kewalo Basin local to talk about training, jocks, swag and surfing.

Where does your competitive drive come from?
The sheer will to win all the time and just working hard; you're gonna want that work to pay off. If it takes that little more to push through and if you need that score in the end, you're going to push through and do it. All the things you do to prepare, leading up to events pretty much gives you all that drive.

How often to do you train?
I trained twice a day during winter break and Monday, Wednesday and Friday in the morning with Uncle Kimo [Middlesworth]. I do my own weightlifting and core training in the afternoon. In between training days is surfing and whatever running regimen my dad makes that's aside from all the school stuff. It's a lot of work for me to get out there and I just want to make it count.

Where do you go to school and what makes it such a unique educational institution?
I go to Kamehameha Schools: it's a school for kids that have native Hawaiian ancestry so it's pretty prestigious just to go to that school so I just want to seize every opportunity that I get and just make things happen.

How did you feel when you saw so many of your friends that surf, like Keanu Asing, going to home school and you were in a stricter school setting with bells and schedules?
At first, I wasn't used to it and I didn't really see [the advantages] as clearly as I do. When you're young you want to do what everybody else is doing. Now, I see that [my school experience is] different. I think it's better to be different and not just trying to do the whole full-on-surf-thing all the time. It just sets your self a part.

How did the traditional school schedule affect your hunger to surf?
I just wanted to be successful and you see the different paths other kids take with school and how lucky I am to already have a career ready. All these other kids are working really hard to get into college and build their career. I know how fortunate I am and I don't want to take it for granted.

Willi EdwardsLau says he would have played football if he didn't surf ... but reckons he made the right choice.

You're the captain of the Kamehameha Surf Team, but we heard you cruise with all the jocks at school.
At school I'm pretty much hanging out with mostly all the football players. They're all my friends and I met them when we were young because we had something in common: we all played sports. All the athletes kind of clique together and I'm with all the football players. They're all bigger than me. They lift weights, get big, train hard and try to do good in school because school comes first. If they want to play any sport they gotta do good in school. Being around that kind of mentality just pushes you to want to do well.

If you didn't surf what sports would you play?
If I didn't surf I would probably be playing football, basketball and running track because that's what all my friends do. I already wanted to play football so bad this year just because you want to do what your friends do, but I had to sacrifice that just cause surfing is going good right now and I don't want to mess that up.

Your pops, Leonard Lau, used to play football for the University of Hawaii back in the day and is a football coach. Did that make you want to pick up the pigskin?
Yeah, for sure. He's a big part of my life and he started me out in sports real young. We did pretty much every sport possible except for football. That's the only one we didn't play. His experience with sports and athletics really helped build who I am. He instilled working hard and training to me. He ingrained into my brain that that was the only way I was going to make it. He is big on preparation."

As a Native Hawaiian, how important is surfing to you?
As a Hawaiian, it's really important. It seems like Hawaiians fell of the map lately just cause they're aren't very many Native Hawaiians surfing [on tour] now. I just want to make that come back and try to bring that whole thing back. We started this sport so I just want to perpetuate it.

How do you describe your style in the water?
Speed, power and flow.

How do you describe your style on the street?
"Swag: Just swagged-out all day. One hundred percent."

Are you a gangster?
No, I'm not a gangster, but I am swagged-out. [laughs]

Why do you think some people think you're a gangster?
I don't know. Probably because of the music I listen to. That whole hip-hop vibe and we just kind of grew up into that whole thing, especially at school. All my friends are like that and just that attitude: you don't take no BS.

What are your career goals?
The ultimate career goal for me would to become world champion, but I'm trying to take it slow right now and build off of the success I'm having right now. Just try to do my best and see where it takes me.

In the above video, Maddison details the various issues that plagued him throughout training, including a back injury and problems with Australian immigration. Ultimately, Maddison did break the world record in practice, jumping 392 feet, but during the live event, he came up just short of the 391-foot record, landing at 378 feet, 9 inches.

"I would have liked to have gone further, but I am just happy to have landed safely on the other side," Maddison said after the jump, and over the past few weeks, he's had enough time to reflect on the event from start to finish, and that means he's already thinking about another distance jump. According to Maddison, "It leave another opportunity for me to go out there and send it as far as I can."

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"Pat Duffy is one of street skating's made men, a true godfather with style. Handrails with kinks? Duffy's had that since 1991. Skating rails in the rain? Yup, he did that first, too. Few other skaters still rolling can lay claim to a legacy with as much impact as the one Duffy has... and he's still rolling, still progressing even after enduring one of the most brutal slams the Mega Ramp has ever meted out. Recently, Duffy got a session in at the Oceanside skatepark in San Diego and talked with our man Corey Cabrera about skating, Plan B video projects, fatherhood and more."

BMX has allowed me to live inside the history books that once just 
weighed  down my backpack as I rode my bike school.  A few years ago 
on an Etnies trip we hopped a fence and rode a bank-to-rail in front 
of Hitler's former airport in Berlin. That was crazy. I've also got to 
pedal down the same streets that Manuel Noriega once marched his army 
down in Panama. I've manualed through Red Square in Moscow,  done a 
barspin in front of the former KGB headquarters and past countless 
memoirs of Stalin.

This video is a brief glimpse into an experience that goes beyond 
words. Riding in Saddam Hussein's palace was insane. These brief 
minutes of riding through his former empire made things more vivid to 
me than any history book or Discovery Channel program ever could. I'm 
thankful for the experience and hope you enjoy.

Video edit by David Leep.

BK doing his thing at Saddam's former palace.

From Denver to Aspen, the big air contest moved across Colorado with riders throwing it down at Winter X Games. Horgmo landed a triple cork to post the highest total score of 80, with second and third close behind. Canada's Sebastien Toutant scored a 79 to take silver with our Kostenburg earning a 77 to finish with bronze. To say that we're proud of Sage is a severe understatement, for him to step up like this and take home bronze only cements what we already know...that he one of the best up and comers out there. Right on Sage!

Sage under the lights.

Big ups to ESPN for posting this rad video and nice interview with our boy Sage.

The other day I found myself passing through Chicago again, and every time I do, I make an effort meet up with DK's Brian Kachinsky. The funny thing is, he's always traveling when I come to town, and we never get to meet up. I run into him more in other parts of the country throughout the year than in Chicago. I guess that's just the life of a pro BMXer, but Kachinsky's is more like that of a celebrity. He's always on the go, traveling on some of the most unique and coolest trips that go down in BMX. And as luck would have it, we finally did get to meet up on my last pass through Chicago.

Of course, Brian just got back into town and was already packing his bags to fly out to Calfornia the next day. He was off to stay at Rooftop's house and get out of the snow. We didn't have much time to shoot photos, but he had a minute to grab some coffee and catch up. He told me about some of the wild trips he's gone on lately, in addition to the whole etnies team change. This is our conversation.

ESPN.com: Shortly after coming back from your Iraq trip for "Bike Over Baghdad," you flew down to New Orleans just to ride an abandoned Six Flags Theme park. What was that like? Who all went and did you find much to ride?
Kachinsky: Aaron Ross, Jeff K., Walter Pieringer and myself went on a spur of the moment adventure that couldn't have gone much better. It was fun, scary and interesting all wrapped up in two action-packed days. The result will be in an upcoming issue of Ride UK. It's going to be awesome. Keep your eyes out for it.

You've been busted before riding and fined pretty heavy for riding a spot in the past. Were you scared that you might get arrested or fined riding the Six Flags park in New Orleans?
Nah, I'm over it. I'm just going to keep riding my bike, having fun and hoping that I don't make anyone mad while doing it.

You just left for California to kick it with Rooftop and Kat Von D. How's it going? What are you guys up to? Are you planning on getting a tattoo while you're out there?
I'm just out in California avoiding the worst part of the Midwest winter. Rooftop was nice enough to let me crash at his place. No Kat sightings so far but I've met her before, she's rad and very down to earth. Tattoos? Nah, tattoos are not my cup of tea but well-done tattoos do look pretty rad.

There were just that big shake up with the entire etnies team for 2011. What are your thoughts about it all and are you excited about the direction things are going?
I think the etnies team for 2011 is awesome! That being said, I thought the 2010 team was amazing too. Things change and what goes on behind the scenes is really none of my business so I stay out of all that. I am stoked for trips this year with the crew and being able to wear some of the best shoes out. Thanks etnies!

What's your number one goal for 2011?
My goal is to get rad at least once a day. So far so good!

BNQT

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The country spans nine time zones, with a population exceeding 142 million and a vast array of landscapes. It's also considered one of the world's energy superpowers, boasting mass amounts of oil and natural gas. Even richer than its resources is its history in government, art, science, literature, architecture. This place has it all and yet, for many Americans it remains unexplored.

Growing up in the US, you can't help but have certain stereotypes about Russia, reinforced by years of schooling and Cold War ideology. After all, they were our "enemy" through many major conflicts, as well as major competition in technology, weapons, space exploration and sports.

In school we learn all of these things, but we don't get to see much the real Russia. Luckily, BMX has allowed me to do that.

I met some Russian BMXers in Estonia during my first visit to Eastern Europe in 2008. And that's where my true curiosity about Russia started to grow. If these people were fierce enemies in our textbooks, why are they giving me a high five after pulling a trick? If these people didn't like us, why are they so happy to buy me a drink? If these people weren't welcoming, why were they be asking me to visit their country?

It turns out I was dead wrong about everything I had known about Russia -- except the cold weather.

When I received an invite to attend the Snickers Urbania BMX event in Russia this past September, I instantly accepted. Upon further research, I kept stumbling across articles talking about "the new Russia," and how their economy had turned around. Of course, I also researched the BMX scene. If you've seen any Russian videos online in recent years, you can't help but be impressed. And if BMX is any indication of the "New Russia," I'd say that Russia is thriving.

And the Russians I met during my trip were by far some of the most welcoming people I'd ever come across in my travels. Alexander Sokolay, his wife Dasha and many of the other riders I'd met there were eager to show me what Russia was all about and wanted to make my experience a memorable one. I rode skateparks, rode street, rode in a demo, went sightseeing, sampled lots of Russian cuisine, did TV interviews and even got to visit the countryside. All of this in an action packed six-day adventure. My girlfriend joined me in the adventure and needless to say, we were both thrilled and pleasantly surprised at the charm that Russia had tucked underneath its previously harsh exterior.

Maybe what I learned in school is true. Maybe the Soviet Union was a dark, oppressive, dangerous place. But maybe not. I will never know for sure.

What I do know is what I saw on my visit to the Russian Federation. And the future is bright, with a BMX scene is on the brink of changing the game. Unknown riders are pushing the limits of riding, and leaving us waiting for the next video. It's awesome to experience people that share the love for BMX that I have. Doing many of the same tricks and in search of the same things we are: fun on bikes, just halfway across the world.

Thanks to the Sokolay family, Snickers Urbania and every single Russian rider I got to meet and ride with. Keep doing what you're doing, the rest of the world loves to watch it.

For a complete photo gallery of Brian's trip please visit ESPN.

Check the full interview by Chris Nieratko and ESPN right here...