The story of tweens signing contracts to ride surfboards isn’t such a strange one these days. The major surf brands are all eager to entice the “what’s next” kids into their perspective folds. It happens every year in Florida. It happens every week in California.

But it doesn’t happen all that often on the “sandbahs of New Yawk.” While the East Coast is hardly the stepchild it once was, the Northeast isn’t exactly funneling kids into the ASP Top 100. Sure, New Jersey, Virginia, and North Carolina have that handful of pro talent, but anything north of there, the performance level drops with each millimeter of neoprene.

Take away all the talk of influences and industry support. Water below 48 degrees for half the year doesn’t exactly motivate little kids to go out and learn alley-oops. Unless they have extremely supportive parents, what young whippernsapper can even afford a $450 winter suit? Sure, there’s summer, but that’s fleeting and often flat. Hence, why it’s such an amazing accomplishment that 19-year-old Balaram Stack has already been on the Quiksilver Pro Team for so long.

Easily the most talented surfer to have ever come out of the Empire State, Stack is looking a big year of travel, comps, and a new World Tour event in his backyard. And he hasn’t lost his East Coast pride.

Read the entire article and interview at ESPN.com