Like many of her teen-age contemporaries in sports such as golf and tennis, Lyn-Z Adams Hawkins has an air of confidence, a requisite when you travel the world to compete, often against people nearly twice your age.
But Adams Hawkins, 14, is from a mold quite different than that of the typical top amateur athlete.
Her training is on her own terms. Her competitors are often close friends who openly root for each other. Her sport involves no bats, balls, rackets or clubs.
Adams Hawkins is an "action sports" athlete, a skateboarder who will compete in ESPN's X Games Thursday through Sunday at Staples Center and other Southland venues.
The X Games, originally a made-for-TV event, are 10 years old, nearly as old as a few of its competitors. And it has survived, in fact thrived, despite significant skepticism.
Adams Hawkins, even in her short career, is used to the criticism offered by many sports purists: Skateboarding is not a real sport and, therefore, she is not a real athlete. Same goes for the other events, surfing, wakeboarding, BMX riding, inline skating and Moto X, or freestyle motorcycle riding -- circus acts of no legitimacy conjured up by networks such as ESPN.
Nowadays, though, organizers of action sports events don't get mad. Instead, they point out a few facts: Programming is up. Prize money is up. Participation is up.
Not only have action sports gained a strong foothold, but they've flourished at a time when interest in some traditional sports is sagging. They're becoming better organized and top athletes -- even girls or young women, though they're in the minority -- are enjoying lucrative careers.
They remain largely a young person's game, but that has only helped them become a powerful force in society.
"Action sports have increasingly made it onto the mainstream sports scene because they offer a vehicle for corporations to reach young men, teens and boys, and do so at a time when traditional stick-and-ball sports are seen as less compelling by these groups," said David M. Carter, a Los Angeles-based sports marketing consultant.
"Until about a decade ago, [the thinking was] that those kids riding their skateboards off curbs and over railings were simply crazy. They were, but now their athletic feats are not only recognized, but truly hailed as incredible athletic prowess by a generation of sports fans that appears to care more about snowboarding and motocross than snow-skiing and cycling."
