Pro Guest Ryan Decenzo

On February 16^th, Ryan Decenzo made his way from Huntington Beach, CA to Anaheim to show support to our efforts. Ryan was familiar with our organization; however, he didn’t know that our mission is to break the cycle of high school drop out, drug use, and gang involvement among our Anaheim youth. After Ryan toured our Success Lab, we headed to the skatepark. Ryan Decenzo’s skills are absolutely impressive! After session was over, we went back inside to watch some of his remarkable video parts and to ask him some questions. The Q&A was engaging and filled with interesting questions from our students. We had the chance to talk about Decenzo’s first contact with a skateboard, his family support, first sponsors, and favorite countries to travel,. He shared his passion about skating big gaps and rails, as well as his slams,and surgeries, and one very important thing – his positives thoughts and affirmations about life and his career. After our Q&A, Ryan said, “You guys are very lucky to have Next Up! I wish when I was growing up I had something like this.” That gives us the desire and motivation to keep doing what we are doing and reach out to more youth in our community. He also added, “Next Up is an amazing organization. It’s great to see so many kids introduced to skateboarding, learning life-lessons, and new tricks. Thanks Next Up for all that you do.” Thanks for coming, Ryan! Our doors are always open to you!