Adam Taylor is among the new generation of skaters taking the vert ramp by storm. Long the domain of experienced pros with years of contest experience, the popularity of vert skating is seeing a resurgence. Joined by guys like Rob Lorifice and Alex Perelson, Adam is not only pushing the old guard, but also proving to be an inspiration to all the grommets craving big transition and big air. BNQT caught up with the 19-year-old after Saturday s vert finals to get his thoughts on the state of vert and his superstar skating life.


Adam, you had a pretty solid showing at X Games 15. How are you feeling about it all?

X Games was a great experience. I had a lot of fun and skated the best I have ever have.

How was it competing on mega ramp?

I enjoyed the mega ramp competition because it allows me to be innovative.

What are you thoughts on the state of competitive vert skating (older generation vs. new guys)?

There was gap in time when vert wasn't very popular for the last 8 or 9 years there was basically no one under the age of 25. But starting the last couple years there's been a bunch of guys under the age of 20 that are out there competing and challenging Bob and Bucky and the older guys...there's tons of new guys and they're going to start taking over.

What made you want to skate vert as a kid?

It was natural for me. I just liked the transition and getting airs. I wasn't having fun staying on the flat ground doing tricks. It bored me. I liked going as high as I could and learning tricks high in the air. That's what attracted me.

Who did you look up to coming up?

When I was younger I really looked up to Rune Glifberg and Bucky Lasek. I didn t really know much about the pro side of vert skating at all growing up in Florida because there weren t really any vert skaters at all, so I just kinda learned about it from skate videos and magazines. But there wasn't really much coverage so it was limited and I didn't know much about it until I started to get pretty good and then I learned a lot about it and got right in there with the pros. Now I'm a pro, so I'm really stoked about it.

Isn't Anthony Furlong from Florida?

Yeah he and I are the only pro vert skaters from Florida really competing right now. When I started skating vert he was one of the few guys I would skate with.

So being from Florida, the Tampa Am and Tamp Pro must have had a lot of impact on you, yes?

Yeah, it was the start of it for me. I started skating contests when I was super young. I really liked contests since the beginning so I got a lot of experience which really helps me now. I know a lot of kids who didn't start doing contests until they got to a higher level, so I noticed they struggle just not really knowing what to do in a contest situation. I don't really have that problem anymore. I'm not nervous and I just show up and already know what I'm going to do.

Speaking of that, what is your strategy when you drop in for a run in a contest? Do you have a sequence of tricks planned out in your head or do you just go with your gut?

I'm come in with a strategy I guess. I know what I m going to do...specifically what tricks and in what order. It depends though sometimes I show up with a base idea but once it starts and you see how people are skating you change how you skate to go with the contest. Sometimes people won't be doing very good runs and I won't have to do a very gnarly run to do alright, so I can take less risk and do good. But other times people are elevating it and I have to step it up.

Regarding the level that vert is at: the type of tricks, the level of difficulty, the number of hard tricks completed in a given run... who do you think is really pushing it?

Right now Bob Burnquist is still pushing it. PLG does some of the hardest tricks in his run, which is why he does so well. Then Alex Perelson is one of the younger guys who's doing new tricks...big tricks... it just gets harder, they do harder stuff every day.

Outside of the contest scene what's your normal routine?

Pretty much go to the Encinitas Y and skate every day.

What is the frequency of your progression? Are you learning new tricks every month or is it more season by season where you just add a few new moves to your repertoire?

It's just something that comes along with skating more and skating better. Just learning new tricks and then after learning it you have to learn how to do it every time. Learning it is hard, but then being able to land it ever time is even harder.

What are you working on right now?

This last winter I didn't really learn to many new tricks, I just focused on taking the harder tricks I knew and make it so I could do them every time. Which is a lot more flip tricks, a lot more rotation flip tricks, more 540s and more technical tricks back to back.

Speaking of big spin tricks and lofty maneuvers - a guy like Shaun White came in a few years ago with that snowboarder style. Do you take anything from that? How would you say his influence has impacted vert skating, if at all?

Yeah he has definitely impacted vert skating a lot. It shows you can win by doing a lot of 540s and doing them as high as possible. Cause he won those few years by mainly doing big 540s and 720s every try. So it really shows that you can do that stuff. I really like how he skates, some people don't, but I really like it. The way he does his 540s so high and 720s every time... like his frontside gain twists 540s fakie; there are not too many people who can even do that and he does it in his runs. I've tried to do that and I don't know how he does it. He does it so high. It's one trick I wish I could do.

Shaun's not competing this year, presumably training for the Winter Olympics. What do you think about skateboarding in the Olympics?

I personally think that being in the Olympics would be awesome. I'd love to be able to be in it or at least try out for it. There's only a few people they select. I think it'd be really cool to get an Olympic Medal.

Well Chicago may be hosting the summer games in 2016, which is five years away. Who are you hoping with be supporting your skateboarding in five years?

Well sponsors change all the time but hopefully I'll still be with Matador by Jack Links. They're helping me out a lot now and I hope to be with them for a few years.