WRIGHT Owen

Preferred stance
Goofy (worldsurfleague.com, 29 Aug 2019)

General
RECOVERING FROM SERIOUS BRAIN INJURY
In December 2015, while competing at Pipeline in Oahu, HI, United States of America, he suffered a life-threatening concussion and bleed on the brain in a wipeout. He was rushed to hospital and eventually made a full recovery, before going on to win several events during his comeback season in 2017. "In 2015 I was in the title race, in great form, and then by surprise I had a severe concussion and a bleed on the brain. With head injuries a lot of your coordination and things struggles. I had to learn to surf again and regain all those functions. I had a great doctor who was confirming with me the whole time, 'You will make it back, you will have that back, it will be 12 months', and he assured me the whole time. I was really lucky." (worldsurfleague.com, 29 Aug 2019; olympicchannel.com, 29 Aug 2019; vice.com, 21 Mar 2017)

ADVOCATE FOR HELMETS
He wore a helmet for the first time in competition in 2019 while competing at the Tahiti Pro event, which he won, and hopes that his brain injury and recovery will inspire young surfers to think about taking similar precautions in big swells. "My health is doing so well I was like, 'I want to protect it'. I don't want to end up back where I was. Those waves over there [in Tahiti] are pretty full-on and very consequential. You don't have any control, you can't put your arms over your head when you wipe out and it's so shallow. [Wearing the helmet] just quietened those nerves down and it enabled [me] to let me just go for the waves that I wanted to and then go hard and feel a bit more safe and basically protect my future. Hopefully there are some kids out there who look at that and go 'Yeah, I can wear a helmet and I can still surf the way I want to surf'. I really hope that does create some change. I think in the sport it's time." (abc.net.au, 02 Sep 2019)

SON'S INFLUENCE
In 2016 while recovering from his brain injury, his partner Kita gave birth to their son, Vali. He says the birth of his son helped him through his recovery and gave him a new outlook on life. "I feel like I'm a better person because of him. He makes everything make sense. It's lovely to have him to share this moment with. I now realise that before, I had so much idle time on my hands but now every second is filled with love and joy and I'm loving it. It has given me a new lease on life.'' (dailytelegraph.com.au, 27 Mar 2017)

EARLY DAYS
He worked at his father's plumbing business prior to landing his first surfing sponsor. "I had the option to leave school. The option [from my dad] was, 'You go to school for six to eight hours a day, and if you leave school, I expect you to work for six to eight hours a day too'. I knew I didn't want to be at school but I didn't have a job. So, I started to combine surfing and plumbing, which was what my dad did. And then [surfing] contracts started coming in. I think I was around 17." (The Lineup with Dave Prodan podcast, 23 Jun 2020)