A documentary on the rise of Nigerian-born bicycle motocross BMX talent, Courage Adams has been unveiled before a budding crew of local BMX athletes in Lagos.
In its quest to spark youth’s interest in the bicycle racing sport, RedBull made a documentary of how Adams, from Edo state, grew from sheer childhood love for bicycles to developing passion in professional BMX sports in Spain. 23-year-old Adams left Nigeria for northern Spain at six.
BMX, a recreative cycling sport performed on bikes either in competitive racing or freestyle is still in an infant stage in Nigeria. Using specially designed bicycles on skating parks or roads, cyclists attempt ingenious stunts and styles, maintaining proper balance.
It began during the early 1970s in the United States when children began racing their bicycles on dirt tracks in southern California, inspired by the motocross stars of the time.
In the United Kingdom, BMX was a popular trend which took off in the early 1980s, expanded by children and teenagers’ interest in bicycles.
Freestyle BMX is now one of the staple events at the annual Summer X Games Extreme Sports competition held primarily on the East and West coasts of the United States.
With the popularity of the sport increasing, it was officially recognised in 1993 the International Cycling Union (UCI) fully integrated it. The sport made its Olympic debut at the 2008 Beijing Games.
Mat Hoffman, Ryan Nyquist, Tinker Juarez, Dakota Roche and Dennis McCoy among others are globally reckoned in the BMX athletes.
Few Nigerian youths have already begun pouring passion into sports in Lagos, with most of them using the streets as their stage, in the absence of purpose-built tracks.
They leverage video streaming application, YouTube to learn intriguing and daring moves from international professionals such as Adams.
For them, Adams is considered an inspiration that emboldened them to continue developing their skills on a professional level.
Before RedBull decided to partner with Adams, he was in the streets of Spain practising possible moves with a team of friends.
“I would really like to see one of these guys doing what I am doing right now. I see the guys trying to do some tricks and they are afraid of nothing. That’s not normal in Spain or in Europe. People have a place to practise and practically everything but they don’t have the energy or that courage to try new tricks.” Adams said at the unveiling.
“But here, they are actually creative at new tricks. I would really like to see one of them traveling around, doing what they really like. I wish everyone can do it.”
Acknowledging that challenges are present in the sports just as many athletic ventures, he advised they pursue happiness in their passion most importantly in their journey to success.
Many of the local BMX enthusiasts including Temitope Matthew, the initiator of the Lagos BMX crew and Oluwasegun Adosu draw inspiration from Adams.
“Right from day one, Courage Adams has always been my inspiration. The name I give him is ‘king of balance’ because when it has to do with riding BMX, he has balance to the fullest. And for me to know that he is Nigerian, it makes me so happy.”
Temitayo Ayetoto
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