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Los Angeles, CA - Richard Watkins wasn't just a spectator
at the X Games Sunday at the Staples Center, where a capacity
crowd watched seemingly impossible acrobatics performed on
skateboards, BMX bicycles and Yamahas, he was taking notes,
preparing for the day when he would take his place on the
victory podium..
"I'm hoping to be competing in national skateboarding
and BMX competitions in 3 years, but don't hold me to that,"
says the slightly overweight 36-year-old former insurance
adjuster as he holds an ice pack to his swollen groin after
taking a nasty spill. "It was just a matter of convincing
my wife to drain the swimming pool and build a motocross course
in the backyard. Now that she's divorced me, I'm unstoppable."
Watkins says he spent more than 10 years raising a family
and hadn't ever thought about his old 1981 Schwinn Mag Scrambler
or his wooden skateboard sitting in the back of the garage
until he purchased a Sony Playstation last year and became
addicted. His "unbelievably high scores" on Tony
Hawk's Pro Skater and Motocross video games encouraged those
long dormant dreams of one day becoming a professional extreme
athlete.
"After I got laid off my job, I had a lot more time
to practice the videogames while my wife was at work,"
Watkins said. "The hard part was at night when I had
to sneak outside while everyone was sleeping to practice jumps
in my backyard."
Despite the price of losing his wife and any future child
visitation rights, Watkins feels he did the right thing and
is convinced once he begins securing sponsors and winning
competitions, they'll come back "begging for forgiveness."
Watkins promises he will not let them inside the door of his
palatial new mansion he plans to buy with his winnings.
"Look, Tony Hawk says that anything you can imagine,
you can accomplish. Every night I imagined myself in the arms
of a much younger, sexy woman after I win the X games competition.
Now my dream is much closer to becoming a reality."
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Above:
Watkins, 36, purchased new racing gear and a practice course
for his backyard with unemployment checks and a modest divorce
settlement.
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