John Taylor is the Executive Director of Project Surf Camp. For the past three years, he has organized and led the program to introduce surfing as the modality for working with individuals with disabilities. John has spent many years working in both special needs education and recreational therapy/management. He has extensive experience working with adults and children with special needs. For the past four years, he has taught both mainstream and special needs students in Paso Robles. Before becoming a teacher, John spent six years working as a Rehabilitation Therapist in a mental health setting. In addition, John was the Area Coordinator for the San Luis Obispo Special Olympics for two years, and before moving to the Central Coast, John worked for four years as the Lakefront Director of a summer camp in Massachusetts.

A graduate with a Bachelors Degree in Recreation Administration from South Dakota State University, John went on to earn a Masters Degree in Therapeutic Recreation from Indiana University. After coming to the San Luis Obispo area, John earned a Clear Education Specialist Teaching Credential from Cal Poly, the focus of which was on teaching individuals with mild to moderate disabilities. John also holds a Nationally Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist certification.

Happily married to his wife Cara for the last fourteen years, John is also the proud father of two children ages three and six. Despite being born with a birth defect to his right leg, John has not let his disability slow him down. With the help of a prosthetic limb, he has been actively involved in school and club sports his entire life. Since he was five years old, John has competed in many sport arenas both for disabled athletes and for non-disabled athletes, including swimming, water polo, soccer, and basketball.
It seems that John has always had an affinity for water sports. In addition to competing on the swim team in high school, John was the Varsity Captain of his school’s water polo team. In college, John again competed on swim and water polo teams. There he was the captain of his school’s Division II swim team. Competing as a disabled athlete, he held the disabled athletes’ national record in the 100-meter butterfly for five years, and was the left wing on the United States National Amputee Soccer team for five years, ultimately playing in the World Cup in Russia in 1991.

Since leaving college, John has continued to participate actively in sports. On any weekend one can spot John with his family or friends surfing, swimming, mountain and road bicycling, running, hiking, playing basketball, or kayaking. But it is surfing that is Johns special passion. He has been avid surfer for the past nine years and is a team rider for the Morro Bay Surf Company.