Team Bios
Matt Ward -
I've known Matt for a long time, when I was in middle school he was the top dude in Kellam, skating wise. Real quiet guy, knew him through my friend Mike for a while. He was one of those main dudes I looked up to, like "Oh damn, Matt Ward was over here skating?" or "Damn, Matt did that?" When I got into high school, I kept skating and Mike would tell me that Matt had quit for different reasons, but I would always remember like how good Matt was, like back then, doing the craziest sh*t, being so mellow and laid back. About halfway through my ninth grade year, Mike said Matt was gonna start skating again and was gonna come on trips with us. It was so cool, didn't seem like he lost anything, like I had heard stories where he would skate randomly for a day a throw down tricks at the ODU PE rail like crooked, nosegrind, fifties, all this sh*t. So when he finally came back it was super cool skating with him just cuz I had looked up to him when I was younger. His skating is so good, like real laid back. When he wants a trick, he'll usually get that sh*t, if he's not feeling it, he'll sit back and chill. Rarely gets angry, never stresses, and doesn't know a thing about skateboarding sometimes. "Yo Neal, I want to try a fakie nosegrind, right? Is that what it's called?" He'll like do this crazy sh*t and not know what it's called, its super weak. He's the funnest dude to skate with, always goofing around and truly making skateboarding fun. He's a best friend of mine so we're skating all the time and chillin here and there. Real nice dude, always relaxed, skating is still off the hook. Just like will blow your mind away like landing switch flips down 7 stairs almost 2nd try like "what?" or talking about his imaginary entity "Jackson". I was super psyched when I heard he was getting on Cardinal cuz he's one of the few guys in the area that I can truly just watch skate and motivate me to do the sh*t I try. There's been times where we're doing absolute sh*t and someone will spark some kind of motivation and we just feed off it, it's great. Matt is the illest to skate with and I'm stoked he's on the team. -neal wood
Click on the pic below to see more of Matt by photographer Howard Tarpey
Peter Caple -
When I met Peter through his brother Jon Probably six or seven years ago we were at Chesapeake skatepark. Back then Jon and I would skate there after school/work just about everyday. We lived there during the week. After a while of Jon and I skating together Peter started showing up and crushing it. Peter is always the last one to stop skating at any session or skate spot or whatever. He is extremely talented on and off a skateboard and when you watch him; he is the type of skater that motivates you no matter what you're skating. He is always smiling. I have seen him slam and bounce of his chest and smile as if he just landed a new trick. Watching Peter skate over the years has motivated me to skate with a better attitude and for that Peter is one of my favorite skaters ever. -kyle berard
Neal Wood -
A few years ago Neal and me started skating and chilling together and since then become good friends. Neal was young little ripper when I first met him but he grew up and excelled at skating pretty damn fast. He is one of my favorite people to skate with because you know that he is having fun and not thinking about anything else. He just chills and jokes around and I end laughing half the time listening to his random comments or movie quotes. Neal also really never cares where we skate because he skates anything and everything and rips at all of them. Everything from handrails, ledges, gaps, bowls, it really doesn’t matter, he does it all. I can’t really say out of all of them is his favorite but I know I have seen some pretty gnarly handrail tricks thrown down by him. Other than skating Neal goes to school and is a smart little bastard. He just started partying recently and from what I can see has already turned pro. That is all I’ll say about that. Neal is just cool kid that loves to skate and have a good time. -matt ward
Click on the pic below to see more of Neal by photographer Howard Tarpey
Kyle Berard -