Just about a year ago Snowboarder Kevin Pearce suffered a head injury while training in the halfpipe at Park City, Utah, for this past year’s Olympics qualifier at Mammoth Mountain Ski Area.

Pearce was completing a cab double cork — a twisting double back flip maneuver he’s landed before — when he caught his toe-side edge while landing. Though Pearce, 22, was wearing a helmet, he hit his head above one of his eyes and was knocked unconscious, and sustained a severe traumatic brain injury, and spent considerable time in intensive care.

How is Kevin doing now? Fortunately he’s experienced steady improvement beginning with learning to swallow to a slow progression of learning to walk all over again. Now Kevin is actually back on a board, not a snowboard, but a Vew-Do Balance board. Check out this amazing story and video by Kristin Carlson – of WCAX News in Norwich, VT http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=13294274

As I continue my journey to uncover and deliver as much information as I can on youth sports head injuries, on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio “The ABC’s of Sports”, every Thursday from 12 – 2 p.m. ET on channels 125 Sirius, 241 XM, appearances on Sirius NFL Radio “Movin the Chains”, and this blog, the football community will often make claims that Action Sports are as dangerous if not more so than tackle football. In my next blog post I’ll examine those claims and explain why football should be careful not to misdirect the subject of head injuries away from their sport.

Big Wave Surfing

At 17 years old, and only three years deep into her sport, Maya Gabeira had
already notched up an impressive list of some of the world’s most enviable
breaks. A happenstance booking brought her to Hawaii, a stopover suggested by
friend on her journey back to Australia. As she stood on the beaches of Oahu’s
famed North Shore, the swells of Waimea, Sunset and Pipeline began a new
chapter in the story of the Brazilian phenom who set out to slay the big waves.

THE JOURNEY BEGINS
“When I first came to Hawaii,” Maya explains, “and I saw Sunset, Pipeline and
Waimea, I just knew that I wanted to put my time into being able to surf those
waves.” As a rebellious teenager living in Brazil, Maya had been a little afraid of
the ocean. Her boyfriend at the time was a surfer, and she was intrigued by his
passion for the sport. So she signed up for a class. In those days, it was tough
for her just to be in the ocean. But the challenge, the sensations and the freedom
drew her in—and she never looked back.

At 15, she went to Australia on an exchange program ostensibly to learn English,
but also to surf. She returned home, graduated and began traveling by herself
with the better part of three years. With a big wave goal and not a whole lot else
to do, Maya’s surfing exploded.

“I was traveling to all the best spots in the world, at the right time and always
in the right season,” she says. “I was always catching good waves. I was so
fascinated that it’s all that I did.”

TO TOW OR NOT TO TOW
Her talent, exploits, and the fact that she was a woman holding her own in waters
many surfers feared to tread, drew attention. And that attention drew sponsors.

Maya paddled in to big waves for four seasons by herself, honing her approach
and technique with the grit, determination, and courage that would come to
define her career. She hooked up with accomplished big wave rider and fellow
Brazilian and Red Bull teammate Carlos Burle, who quickly became her mentor
and friend. He’s taught her tow-in surfing and opened a whole new theater of
waves to the 23-year old.

On November 1, 2007, Maya towed into the snarling beast of a wave at
Teahupoo for the first time during an epic swell that brought out the sport’s most
elite riders. The only girl in the line-up, Maya took some devastating wipeouts
before catching what she calls, “the wave of my life.”

Rides like these have earned her four consecutive Billabong XXL Big Wave
Awards from 2007-2010 (link). In addition, Maya has taken home the Best
Female Action Sport Athlete award at the 2009 ESPYs and the 2010 Teen
Choice Awards.

EXCHANGE RATES
What exactly is that draw, that intangible something that compels men and
women to challenge the raw fury of these liquid walls of energy? Perhaps it’s the
exchange.

To be a big wave surfer you have to be 100 percent in the moment. You have
to be smart and have respect for the water while engaging every sense, muscle
fiber and cell in balancing the power of these waves. In exchange, the riders get
the high of their lives, a rush of endorphins so overpowering that riding a 70-foot
wall of frothing velocity seems totally doable.

For that exchange to occur, the surfer needs to mitigate her fear. For Maya,
perspective is key. “I’m really scared,” she admits. “But to overcome it, I think
about all the things I did to get there. I train really hard. And I believe that if you
have been dedicated to your one goal, when that time comes and everything is
right, you’re going to go for it and give it everything you have. So that’s what I
do; I give it everything I have, everything I’ve ever trained for, and I hope for the
best.”

FROM THE OUTSIDE IN
Maya has overcome many obstacles to create this path she’s on, but the rewards
have been many. Today she’s happy and thankful to be paid for doing what she
loves. She is proud to look back at her years of work and accomplishment in her
quest to be a professional surfer. But she’s not done yet.

“There is still so much I want to do,” she says. “But more than anything, I just
want to be able to keep on with the life I have now, and I appreciate everything
about the life I have now.”

As for the future of women’s tow-in surfing, and big wave surfing in general,
expect Maya to stay out in front. Though she laments the fact that there aren’t
any women’s tow-in competitions just yet, she understands the challenges. “It
hard for the guys,” she explains. “It’s not a sport like the CT or the QS. Sponsors
are hard to find because it’s expensive and dangerous. So imagine what it’s like
for the girls! But it’s coming; I’m positive!”

Even Maya has a hard time believing how far she has come in the past few
years. She credits her success to hard work and being passionate about what
she does. If you have those things, she says, “You can do anything in life!”