Extreme Gulfshore Althlete- Skateboarder Elissa Steamer

Before she became the first female skateboarder to have a pro-model street board and a pair of shoes named for her, and before she appeared on PlayStations everywhere as the only female in Tony Hawk's ProSkater video games, Elissa Steamer was the only girl to skateboard in her central Fort Myers neighborhood. After a turn on a friend's board, Steamer made it her goal to become the world's best skateboarder. "I wanted it so bad, and I practiced so much," she says-a mantra she repeats to those who ask her for advice. In the days before skate parks, she and her friends rode the bus with their boards to the parking lot of Sonny's on Winkler or to downtown Fort Myers. Steamer eventually moved from skating with the guys to winning against them, and her dazzle attracted attention and endorsements. The winner of the women's 2004 World Cup and the 2004 X-Games, she's traveled to Japan, South America and other places as part of the California-based Bootleg Skateboard team. Although she has a place in the Bay Area, she says home is Fort Myers, where her mother, Cheryl Lawson, lives, and where her father, Joseph Steamer, is in nearby Lehigh Acres.