Elsik High School students started their Thursday morning off with a show presented by the Action Sports Athletes, which included the top five skateboarding and Bicycle Motocross pros from the X Games, as part of their bullying prevention campaign.
The X Games are a range of extreme sports events that stretch across the globe that include stunts on skateboards or backflips on BMX bikes.
The ASA high school tour is part of an effort to increase awareness and prevent bullying in school, citing that one out of four high school students reported being bullied.
The group plans to visit more than 100 high schools in 20 cities across the nation using their talent to not only entertain but also education and leave a long-standing impact on the students.
The tour in Houston stretches to schools from Alief Independent School District to Channelview ISD to Houston ISD and then to Fort Bend ISD schools.
“The ASA High School Tour is probably the most rewarding program we produce,” said Rick Bratman, ASA Entertainment CEO.
Tour manager, Tyler Hank, said he has been part of the ASA tours for 12 years when it was first launched as an anti-tobacco campaign to encourage kids to stop smoking.
This year marks the tour’s 18th year, visiting more than 1,500 schools.
Hank said soon after when they would prepare to set their tours and contact schools, administrations would say they no longer had a tobacco problem in school but instead problems with bullying.
“We did some anti-bullying campaign, but then that fully transitioned from the anti-tobacco to anti-bullying,” Hank said.
ASA partnered with the U.S. Marine Corps and they pay for the program allowing this to be free to the schools.
“For us to be with them it’s really important because we are like everyone’s hero, everyone looks up to the Marines,” said Staff Sgt. John Liddell.
The program kicks off with an introduction, as they move forward ASA incorporates facts about bullying and what to do in case of bullying within the show between stunts. Students are then asked questions specifically about the bullying facts mentioned for a chance to win prizes.
At the end students are encourage to volunteer and randomly selected for the pull-up challenge. Each student attempts to do at least one pull-up or more to win prizes from the Marine Corps.
“When kids come up to us and say they decided to help a classmate avoid a difficult situation through an act of kindness because of our program, it is exceptionally gratifying,” Bratman said.
Pros on tour are Trevor Meyer, Mykel Larrin, Coco Zurita, Steve McCann, Jimmy Walker, Zack Warden, Colton Satterfield, Paul-Luc Ronchetti, Josh Stafford, Nolan Munroe, Mat Olson and Eito Yasutoko.