Professional BMX athletes with the No Hate High School Tour zoomed up ramps and caught air in the Lake City High School gym, soaring overhead into Superman stunts, 360s, backflips and other aerial acrobatics that caused jaws to drop and applause to explode.

While the bike tricks inspired awe and excitement, the athletes took time between performances to share practical tricks they use in daily life when dealing with hardships like depression and online bullying.

No Hate Tour emcee Zack “Catfish” Yankush spoke of challenges he faced in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I lost almost all my BMX sponsors, I lost a whole bunch of money, I fell into a gnarly depression," Yankush told students who filled the bleachers Thursday morning.

He said he was then dumped by his girlfriend, to which the students responded with sympathetic cries and boos.

"Right? Who does that? At the height of the pandemic," Yankush said, speaking into a microphone from a platform between ramps in the center of the gym.

Now in a happy long-term relationship, the professional BMX announcer shared why this personal story was relevant.

"Every single one of us in this gym is going to have highs and lows," Yankush said. "We are all going to experience anxiety, stress and depression."

Two things saved his life during that post-COVID low point.

No. 1: His friends.

"I love them very much," he said. "It's so important to surround yourself with good energy. If you take something away from the show, take that. At this point in your life in high school, surround yourself with friends you can laugh with, you can learn from and most importantly, friends that have your back."

No. 2: His passion — BMX.

"Ever since I was 9 years old, if I'm having a bad day, if I did bad on a test at school, if I came home and my parents are arguing, I could hop on my bike and reset my brain, I can forget everything else," he said. "It's so important at this point in your life to have something like that to offset the crazy, and that thing can be BMX, it can be basketball, it can be creative writing, music, art, video games. There's a million outlets for you to experience what you're passionate about."

For 26 years, ASA Entertainment's No Hate Tour has combined the spectacle of high-energy BMX action sports with positive and supportive messaging that relates to students. The U.S. Marines have also been a partner for 10 years, having a presence with the BMXers as they tour the country to present the free program.

"We go to every different type of high school you could possibly imagine," tour manager and flatland rider Dane Beardsley said. "Out in the middle of the corn fields in Iowa, in Idaho, we’ve done shows all the way down to the border in Texas where 90% of the students speak Spanish, inner city schools, we did Compton High School, South Central L.A. and the richest suburbs you can imagine. Every type of demographic you can imagine."

Beardsley, who has been with the company nine years, started as a math teacher in Georgia before he had the opportunity to join ASA and the No Hate Tour.

“It’s just a fun way to bring everybody together in a positive way, share with students some tricks and some tips of how to deal with difficult situations, bullying situations," he said. "We all deal with difficult people throughout our lives and we’re just here to share our passion, which is BMX riding, with the students, and how that helped us deal with difficult times in our lives."

According to stopbullying.gov, a resource on the No Hate Tour's website, nohatetour.com, bullying ranges from teasing, name-calling and taunting to spreading rumors about someone, embarrassing someone in public or physically hurting someone or their possessions. Cyberbullying occurs via cell phones and electronic devices, through texting, phone applications or online in social media, forums and gaming. It includes sending, sharing or posting harmful, negative or abusive content about someone else.

The 2022 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey (National Center for Education Statistics and Bureau of Justice) indicates that nationwide, about 19.2% of students ages 12-18 in grades six through 12 reported being bullied, with about 15.4% of students reporting being bullied with a power imbalance, 14.5% being repeatedly bullied and 12.7% being bullied with a power imbalance and repetition. Among students ages 12-18 in sixth through 12th grades who reported being bullied during school, about 21.6% reported being bullied online or by text, including nearly twice as many girls (27.7%) as boys (14.1%). 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, 19% of students in ninth through 12th grades in the U.S. reported being bullied on school property in the 12 months preceding the survey.

Senior Sydney Beyersdorff said she was completely blown away by the No Hate Tour.

"It was so awesome. I enjoyed every moment," she said. "I was expecting more talking. I was expecting an anti-bullying assembly, not awesome guys with cool wheels."

Senior Scout Brown said she was skeptical at first, not knowing exactly how BMX, Marines and anti-bullying worked together, but soon found it to be exciting and entertaining.

"I think it's really cool to see our life skills classes so excited about it," she said. "They're so cute, I love watching their reactions and they're recording it. I know it means so much to them, so honestly, that's my favorite part of this whole thing."

She said even if all the messaging doesn't come through for every student, it was a positive, uplifting and uniting event for Lake City.

Senior Spencer Heasty said he wasn't into BMX before the No Hate Tour presentation.

"Now I am! It was awesome," he said. "It was so cool to see the whole school come together over something and have a positive way to spend T-Wolf time."

    Oscar Marquez soars above the BMX ramps during a stunt Thursday morning as the No Hate Tour visits Lake City High School. The tour provides free programming to high schools throughout the country, mixing action sports with positive messages that promote anti-bullying and kindness.
  

    From left, professional BMXers Mason Ritter, Oscar Marquez and Wesley Hark prepare to race down a ramp Thursday morning as the No Hate Tour visits Lake City High School.
  

    U.S. Marines PFC First Class Anthony Castellanos, right, throws lanyards to students Thursday before the start of the No Hate High School Tour at Lake City High.
  

    Professional BMX emcee Zack “Catfish” Yankush gives some love to the short kids in the crowd Thursday morning as the No Hate High School Tour stops at Lake City High School.
  

    Sgt. Cheyenne Shuey, U.S. Marines, left, and Lake City High School Spanish teacher James Anderson are cool, calm and collected as a BMX athlete soars above them Thursday morning during the No Hate High School Tour.