Adam Taylor back from head injury, to compete in Skate Vert at X Games – Skateboard News
American professional skateboarder Adam Taylor has been given a green signal by the doctors to compete in Skateboard Vert at the upcoming X Games Los Angeles.
The 22-year-old Florida-based rider had remained out of action for a better part of six months after a suffering a traumatic brain injury following a snowboarding accident on New Year’s Day in Southern California.
Taylor, nicknamed “adam bomb” by his peers, had no intention of heading to the latest edition of X Games in Los Angeles. However, a good progress of late convinced him compete for a medal at the mega-event of action sports.
“I wasn't planning on skating X Games,” Taylor conceded during an interview with ESPN on Tuesday. “But I've been skating a lot lately and progressing. I think by next week, I'll be skating again at a competitive level, and I'm very excited about X Games.”
Hailing from Cocoa Beach, Taylor is better known for his Big Air prowess than Vert. During last year’s X Games, he walked away with a silver medal in Big Air contest while finished fifth in Vert competition.
However, the demanding nature and risk involved while pushing the limit in Big Air is far greater than that present in Vert. Therefore, the doctors only cleared him to compete in Vert and avoid Big Air for the time being.
Taylor himself admitted that he was not feeling ready to take on the Big Air ramp yet.
“Riding the MegaRamp is just, you know, heavy duty skateboarding. I don't want to push it,” he said.
The American pro skater had been first suffered a brain trauma after hitting his head at the flat-bottom during vert practice at Dew Tour’s season finale in Las Vegas back in October 2010. The accident was described as a life changing one by Taylor, who
further went on to explain that it had affected the way he regulated his emotion and judgement along with his motor skills.
The snowboarding accident on New Year’s Day aggravated his previous head trauma, making him susceptible to even more serious injuries.
The latest edition of X Games is scheduled to go down in Los Angeles from June 28–July 1.
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