JSerra Teacher to Host World Extreme Games

JSerra Catholic’s broadcast journalism teacher will show, not tell, when he soon heads off to Shanghai to host the KIA World Extreme Games for Fox Sports.

Paul Higgins is founder and president of Athletes In Motion and also part of the Artist in Residence program at the San Juan Capistrano-based high school.

This is Higgins’ seventh consecutive year hosting the games, having worked with ESPN in previous years, according to a JSerra press release.

The Fox Sports website indicates it’s the first time the four-day event will be staged in Shanghai, and it will feature more than 100 athletes in sports such as BMX freestyle, aggressive in-line skating, speed climbing, skateboarding and Moto X Step Up (kind of like pole vaulting with a dirt bike).

Higgens said the games have developed over the past few years with a growing acceptance of action sports in China.

“In the first few years, the people in China didn’t seem to know what to think about having athletes on skateboards, bikes, and motorcycles flying through the air,” said Higgins. “But now they have embraced it and now they host the largest skateboard park in the world.”

The opportunity brings more to Higgins than consecutively hosting the games, he said.

“What this really provides me is an opportunity to share my real-world working experience with my broadcast students at JSerra,” said Higgins. “This is exactly what the Artist in Residence Program is all about.”

 The annual KIA World Extreme Games will take place June 10-12 in Shanghai, China, and will be broadcast locally on Channel 11.