We're just past the halfway mark of the 2017 professional surfing season, but let's flashback to December of 2015. It's the last event on the World Championship Tour and one of the best stops, if not the best: Pipeline, Oahu, Hawaii. Known for the amazing, large barrels, Pipe isn't for the newbie or the faint-hearted. Many have fallen and gotten back up, but sometimes it pushes you to the point of recovery.

December 2015, Owen Wright takes a wave that wipes him out and keeps him under for a little too long for comfort. After some time of trying to recuperate, he's taken to the hospital and is told that his wipeout has caused severe bleeding in the brain, later causing some memory loss. He would also have to work on gaining the strength to walk and surf again. A few weeks pass and he's recovered the ability to swim, but still can't seem to stand on a surfboard. He takes the entire 2016 season to recover completely.

Fast forward to March of 2017, it's the first event of the new Championship Tour in Australia. There wasn't a strong thought that Owen would even be able to surf this event, but somehow, he came out on top. From using the 2016 year to recover, Owen was able to secure first place at the start of the season with a win at the first event. From then he moved on to semifinals, quarterfinals, and round five finishes all season, securing himself a spot on the Championship Tour's top seed. Owen Wright is doing everything correctly, making it easy to forget that at some point, he couldn't even get up on his board to ride a wave.

Owen's ability to be here now can really honestly inspire us to keep going. Ranked number four after a life-altering injury, he did not let anything stop him. While he was slowed down for a moment, his goal was to get to where he could always potentially. Owen Wright and the Wright family is full of big-named surfers of this generation. On and off tours, they are always doing the best in snd out of the water.

Owen is currently showing the world that comebacks are real, and he will be remembered as a surfer who overcame an unexpected injury that affected his lifestyle and profession. Even when you are so down that you no longer know what up looks like, there is always a way out of the slump.

Sometimes we hear stories of athletes who rip. They get big waves and get barreled on the regular. Some are even known for chasing waves and testing their abilities. There are people who do things with a big heart, and it truly shows and can inspire us to do the same. We should continue to chase our waves and even when we are pulled down underneath, continue fighting to come back up.