SAN DIEGO -- The X Games have returned to their roots. Dude, it's all back to your backyards.The X Games will take place in three locations in Southern California, July 14-18 after a year of hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic. Fans will not be permitted in.The Moto X Best Trick and Best Whip will be held at the Slayground in Ramona. It is a private compound that seven-time X Games gold medalist Axell Hedges owns.The Dreamyard will be home to BMX Park, Dave Mirra’s Park Best Trick, and BMX Dirt contests. It is located in Pat Casey’s Riverside backyard.The CA Training Facility is located in Vista, northern San Diego County. It hosts BMX Street, Skateboard Street, Park Vert, Vert Best Trick, and Street Best Trick competitions. The CATF is the only high-performance skateboarding training facility that has concrete street and park courses.Sky Brown, Leticia Bufoni and Dennis Enarson are among the invited athletes.Casey is a two-time X Games gold medalist and has been working on his course for a while with support from Monster Energy. He just filmed his fourth Monster video there.Casey phoned to say that X Games did not have a place to go during the quarantine and coronavirus stuff. "They reached out to me and asked if they were interested in keeping X Games running, and I said yes.""That's crazy. It's incredible, even though it was not something Casey had ever considered.He stated that organizers would revamp his course and make it more competitive to ensure Casey doesn't have an advantage at home.Casey, 27 years old, said that he purchased his house on an acre when he was 18 with sponsorship and competition earnings.He stated, "I wanted to own my house and not just spend money on cars or other things. I also wanted to build the backyard."He could not have imagined that the X Games would be held in his backyard or Hodges’ compound.Casey stated, "I built it for myself and what I thought would be the best." It evolved over time. It's hard to believe that other riders don’t do it as often as me. But, having a backyard facility has helped to make this possible. The X Games have come to us and will continue. It's amazing."Hodges, 24 years old, said that it was "pretty wild", that the X Games were brought to him.He reminisces about being a kid and seeing Travis Pastrana do a double backflip. As a child, it was so much fun to see him do that double backflip.He'll now host the X Games.He said, "I didn't see this one coming."Hodges resides in Escondido, and his Slayground occupies 15 acres of his 40-acre property. It is located in the hills outside Ramona. Monster sponsors him.He said, "I have been saving up so that I can ride my dirtbike every day where ever I want,"Hodges purchased the property one year ago and began building jumps. The full compound includes steep turns, quarter-pipes and kicker ramps as well as wallrides, manual pads, large dirt jumps, and wallrides.He'll build a warehouse with a shop and apartment after the X Games. He'd love to build a home there one day, and then the Slayground would truly be his backyard.Hodges' Slayground, the third installment of its video series, was entirely filmed at the compound."Everyone will be excited. Hodges stated that the event has been a while since it was last held.Tim Reed, vice-president of programming acquisitions, stated that ESPN knew it would be difficult to produce a full-scale X Games. He said that X Games Aspen was a success because it had no fans and realized there were viable, impactful, and fun alternatives in the permanent facilities built by athletes.Reed stated, "These facilities have been world-class, and the athletes have had greater training than usual for an X Games competition, so I fully anticipate to see incredible performances and tricks that never have been done," Reed added.
