Lyn-Z Adams Hawkins

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Not to be confused with LynZ.
Lyn-Z Adams Hawkins Pastrana
Personal information
Full name Lyndsey Adams Hawkins Pastrana
Born September 21, 1989 (1989-09-21) (age 22)
San Diego, California, U.S.
Height 5 feet 4 inches (1.63 m)
Weight 120 pounds (54 kg)
Sport
Country  United States
Sport Skateboarding
Medal record
Summer X Games medal record
Competitor for  United States
Gold 2004 Los Angeles Vert
Gold 2007 Los Angeles Vert
Gold 2009 Los Angeles Vert
Silver 2003 Los Angeles Park
Silver 2005 Los Angeles Vert
Silver 2008 Los Angeles Vert
Silver 2010 Los Angeles Vert
Bronze 2003 Los Angeles Vert

Lyn-Z Adams Hawkins (born September 21, 1989) is a professional skateboarder from Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California.

Contents

[edit] History and family

Lyn-Z Adams Hawkins was born in San Diego and raised in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California, although spent part of her childhood growing up in Sayulita, Mexico, just outside Puerto Vallarta. Her legal name is Lyndsey, and Adams is her middle name. She started using the nickname Lyn-Z in the 4th grade.[1]

Hawkins was very athletic and started surfing at the age of 6.[2] She also participated in a variety of sports like soccer, baseball, basketball, and gymnastics.[3] Lyn-Z got into skateboarding after her brother, Tyler, bought her a membership at the Encinitas YMCA when she was six years old.[4]

Hawkins' often uses her artistic talents to customize the griptape on her skateboards. Many bear the letters RIP, in memory of her late father, who died in December 2003.[5]

On June 4, 2011, Hawkins and boyfriend Travis Pastrana were engaged at the Nitro Circus Live World Tour in Las Vegas, when Pastrana stopped the show dead in the middle and got on one knee.[6]On October 29,2011 Hawkins and Pastrana were married in front of several family and friends in Southern California, near the home of Hawkins.

Lyn-z is considered one of the top female skateboarders in the world today. At the tender age of 21 she is already considered a legend. With 8 X Games medals under her belt (1 bronze, 4 silver, 3 gold) she’s been the face of women’s skating for many years. She started skating at a young age and was constantly surrounded by some of the top women and men in the field. Lyn-z has been impressive to watch since she stepped on the board and today she regularly finds herself atop the podium at almost all of the contests she enters.

Lyn-z doesn’t limit herself to one discipline, she skates vert, bowl, street, and mega ramp and rips at all of them. She was the first women or should we say girl to skate a big jump ramp such as the mega ramp at the age of 15. She has had extensive exposure in television and print media in both national and international markets. After loosing her father, and biggest fan, at age14 she went on to win her first Gold, becoming the 2nd youngest gold medalist in X Games history, while keeping the love and support of her father in her heart along the way. Lyn-z then had a small set back with a knee injury in 2006. She kept active in the contest scene by attending all the World Cup Skate events and commentating for them, while doing correspondence for various shows. Today she continues to enjoy capitalizing on these skills when the opportunities present themselves.

Always one to raise the bar in women’s vert, she set a grand goal for herself in 2009. Lyn-z wanted to be the first female to land a McTwist 540 in competition. After wowing the crowd she was unsuccessful in landing the trick at X Games. Not one to be discouraged, Hawkins moved to her next venue. She successfully landed the McTwist at the Tony Hawk Show in Paris, France in November 2009 to the cheers of 7,000 supporters in the Grand Palais. This same year Lyn-z also secured her 3rd X Games gold medal after winning the first ever ISF World Champion in women’s vert.

Her passion goes well beyond skateboarding with interests and experience in almost all “action sport” activities. She has started riding dirtbikes in her off time and has taken advantage of the winter seasons in the past by moving to Mammoth Mountain to cross train with snowboarding. Lyn-z has placed top 10 in many of the snowboarding events she has entered. When it comes to board sports Lyn-z started out young, competing in surfing as part of the culture while living in a small fishing village in Sayulita Mexico.

Currently Lyn-z is a character in the Tony Hawk video games. Her life is an eclectic bag of fun. She travels the world with the greatest live action sports show ever “Nitro Circus Live”. Lyn-z is on the Athlete Advisory Panel for The Women’s Sports Foundation. She regularly does her part with The Tony Hawk Foundation, as her gift back to the community that has supported her for so long. She can be seen in many tv shows and movies as a skate stunt double for key characters. You can catch her big smile as she welcomes any opportunity to share her zest for life, commitment to her sports, passion for learning new things, and ability to inspire.

[edit] Skateboarding

Hawkins is at the forefront of a very small group of professional female skaters. She is also one of a few skaters to skate the DC Mega Ramp, and the first female skater to do so.[7]

Due to a broken arm in 2005, and a torn ACL (resulting in surgery) in 2006, Lyn-Z has missed out on many competitions. In lieu of participating, she was the on-camera host for the girls competition at the West 49 Canadian Open in Hamilton, Ontario in September 2006.

In 2007, Hawkins returned to competition, and won the gold medal in the Women's Vert competition at X Games 13 in Los Angeles.[8] In 2008, she placed second in the same competition, and in 2009 she returned to win another gold medal in 1st place, also in the Women's Vert competition.

Major sponsors include Volcom,[9] Nixon Watches, Birdhouse Skateboards, Oakley eyewear, Type-S wheels, S-one helmets, and K-five Boardshop.

In 2008, Hawkins appeared on the cover of Concrete Wave Magazine's annual Skateboard Directory.[10]

On November 21, 2009, Hawkins became the first female to land a 540 McTwist during the "Quiksilver Tony Hawk Show" in Paris, France.

[edit] Snowboarding

While focused mainly on skateboarding, Hawkins is also an avid snowboarder. She has recently begun entering snowboarding competitions. In 2007, her year-end National ranking was 23rd in Slopestyle and 9th in Halfpipe.[11]

[edit] Video games

Lyn-z Adams Hawkins made her video game debut as a playable skater in Tony Hawk's Project 8. She was the second female skater to appear in a Tony Hawk game, following Elissa Steamer. She was replaced in the following game by Vanessa Torres, but returned to the series for the 2009 release Tony Hawk: Ride and the 2010 Tony Hawk: Shred.

[edit] Sponsors

[edit] Skateboard videos

Hawkins is featured on a number of skate DVDs including Getting Nowhere Faster[3] and the Groms series of DVDs [4], which highlight some of the top Grommets in various Extreme Sports.

[edit] Major contest results

[5][6][7]

  • 2010
  • 2009
  • 2008
  • 2007
  • 2005
  • 2004
  • 2003
  • 2002

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.usatoday.com/sports/2004-09-16-teen-skateboarder_x.htm
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ http://www.lyn-zadams.com/
  4. ^ Skateboard Directory interview with Lyn-Z Adams
  5. ^ http://www.lyn-zadams.com/
  6. ^ [2]
  7. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzR7fQvMj3w
  8. ^ http://expn.go.com/expn/story?pageName=sx13_results_skbvertw
  9. ^ http://www.volcom.com/girls/team/lynz.html
  10. ^ http://www.concretewavemagazine.com/index.php
  11. ^ http://expn.go.com/expn/athletes/bio?id=24887

[edit] External links

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