Liv is naturally an athlete, but she has spent most of her life wondering what her “thing” really was. Although she practiced a no-limits approach to trying out just about every sport growing up, she didn’t feel like anything truly fit her natural talents or stood out as her unique and gifted purpose. Like most teens, she wanted to fit in and struggled with common themes of body image and self worth. 

“I wanted to be like everyone else, to be normal. I didn’t want to talk about my limb difference,” said Liv. “But I eventually had to face that I am forever different and that there’s some things that I can’t do. That was really hard for me.”

And yet, it was precisely through recognizing and honoring her own differences that lead Liv to a moment of clarity on a surfboard in Del Mar: “I felt like everything else disappeared.”

Becoming a Surfer

Returning home to landlocked Pennsylvania, Liv focused on getting closer in her relationship with God and taking the steps to pursue her newfound passion. She reached out to the Challenged Athletes Foundation that works with para athletes and was invited back out to California for a week-long surf experience. She then followed that up by seeking out a surf coach on the east coast, making a 2.5 hour drive both ways on most weekends to surf in New Jersey. 

Then just two years after her first wave, Liv was invited to join Team USA in Para Surf to compete in La Jolla, California in 2019. 

“I got totally engrossed in the sport of adaptive surf at that point,” says Liv. “My heart was pulling me.” 

A Big Move

Liv convinced her parents to move to California shortly after her first experience of the World Championships to train as a full-time surfer. Realizing her own potential, she trained hard in the gym and in the water with a professional coach. Then in March of 2020, right before the strike of the global COVID-19 pandemic, she placed first in the Women’s Para Surf 1 Division and be given a gold medal on behalf of Team USA.