Aaron Fotheringham: Extreme Athlete Part One

Aaron Fotheringham is a young athlete involved in what he has termed “hardcore sitting.” Aaron performs feats of great skill and stamina in the skate park, doing flips, twists and turns at what look like amazing g-forces. And he does it all with his wheelchair instead of skates, a bike or a skateboard.

 

Aaron competes in extreme games and has managed to find several sponsors that allow him to compete and practice his skills in the park.

 

I had the chance to speak with this inspiring athlete recently to get to know him a little better. Aaron is a very humble, determined young man who lets nothing stop him from doing what he intends to do. He has many lessons for us all. Read on and find out for yourself.

 

Gordon Simmons
I think it's such an incredible story about how you first got into this. If you could tell me a little bit more about that. Was it your brothers who brought you to the park first? 

 

Aaron Fotheringham
Well my older brother, yeah.

 

Gordon Simmons
Okay.

 

Aaron Fotheringham
I'd just go and watch him, and then one time he's like: “Yeah, you should try it on your wheelchair,” and it started from that.

 

Gordon Simmons
Okay. And how old were you then?

 

Aaron Fotheringham
I was eight.

 

Gordon Simmons
Wow.  And so the first time that you dived into the bowl, what was that like?

 

Aaron Fotheringham
That was an adrenaline rush. I'm up at the top and I just like finally got the guts to drop in, and I pretty much just landed on my wrists. 

 

Gordon Simmons
Ouch.

 

Aaron Fotheringham
Yeah, that wasn't so fun, but then I kept it trying it and then finally I landed it, and I'd say that's when I got hooked on it.

 

Gordon Simmons
Sure. Yeah, the first time you met with some success and then you're off and running from there.

 

Aaron Fotheringham
Yeah.

 

Gordon Simmons
That's something I'm interested: how you kept the momentum to keep at it, because I manage it took you quite awhile to get good at doing this.

 

Aaron Fotheringham
Well I'd say part of it is my anger. If I crash or something, it just makes me angrier, and then in my mind, I'm like: “You know what; now I got to land it just so I can prove that trick wrong” type of thing. 

 

Gordon Simmons
Okay.

 

 

Aaron Fotheringham

I'm just determined to do stuff; when I set my mind to do something, I've got to do it. I came up with a quote: “Concussions are temporary, backing down is permanent.”  It's kind of like a… If I'm at a park and there's a trick I want to do and if I back down from doing it, it'll totally bother me for the whole day until I do it.

 

Gordon Simmons
You said you had a lot of support from your parents, is that right?

 

Aaron Fotheringham
Yes.  My mom actually handles all my business and stuff, like planning my schedule.  For awhile, they gave me rides to the skate park, but they just continue to support me and help me out. 

 

Gordon Simmons
Were they really worried in the beginning?

 

Aaron Fotheringham
Not really. My mom worried a little bit, but then my dad was like: “Stop it. Let him do it.”

 

Gordon Simmons
How long did it take you to perfect your flips that you do out of the park?

 

Aaron Fotheringham
The flip is still a work in progress type of thing. Like it's easy, but it's hard. It's a simple trick to do because all you have to do is pull back, but landing on your wheels is tricky because you don't want to go too fast and over rotate and land on your head. 

 

Gordon Simmons
Right.

 

Aaron Fotheringham
But I can land them more than I don't, so that's good.

 

Gordon Simmons
Yes, it is good.  Have you given yourself concussions doing this stuff?

 

Aaron Fotheringham
A couple. 

 

Gordon Simmons
Is that right?

Aaron Fotheringham
I don't remember how many. But, yeah, I've hit my head enough to know I don't want to do it anymore.

 

Gordon Simmons
Right.  One of the things I love about the videos that you post actually is that you don't edit everything out. You know what I mean?  It's not that you show all the perfect landings and the perfect sticks and all that kind of stuff, but you show some of the pain points as well.

 

Aaron Fotheringham
Yeah, because I don't want people just thinking: Oh, it's so simple, you know.  It's like, I take a beating.

 

Gordon Simmons
Sure. I would think though that for people watching it too, I mean it's inspiring to me just to watch you keep doing this stuff.  And, yeah, you fall over; but, like you said, you just - - you kind of get angry and you get up and do it again until you can work it out.

 

Aaron Fotheringham
Yeah.  Lately I've had a thing where I've only had to try everything twice to land it.  Like if I wreck the first time, normally I'll land it the second time I try it, so I've been working on that.

 

Gordon Simmons
Sure.  I suppose that's just your expertise is growing as you continue to practice.

 

Aaron Fotheringham
Yeah, just working on it. 

 

Gordon Simmons
Right.  Are you out there every day?  Do you practice this stuff daily?

 

Aaron Fotheringham
Yep.  Well as long as the weather's good and my chair's good to go. 

Gordon Simmons
Right.

 

Aaron Fotheringham
I can't ride in the wind.

 

Gordon Simmons
Oh okay.

 

Aaron Fotheringham
It slows me down.

 

Gordon Simmons
Gotcha.  So I think I know the answer to this, but it doesn't sound like anyone really tried to persuade you not to do this when you first started. 

 

Aaron Fotheringham
No, I don't think I've ever had anyone say I shouldn't be doing it.  Well doctors say that I probably shouldn't be because my spina bifida or whatever, but since when I have listened to doctors?

 

Gordon Simmons
Yeah, good for you. That's great.  Tell me some of the lessons you've learned in kind of pursuing this. You've got a dream and a vision and I see on your site that you’ve got some people backing you, and so tell me what you've learned from all this.

 

Aaron Fotheringham
Wow.  Out of all of this, I would say probably one of them is to be humble, like be mellow. No one likes a big bragger kind of person.

 

Gordon Simmons
Sure.

 

Aaron Fotheringham
And I've seen a couple people that have shown me good examples of what not to be. That's a big part, but also… Wow, this is a good question. I never… I don't think I've ever been asked this.  Good… Another good thing.  I've learned a lot of lessons; it's just hard to come up with one off the bat. 

 

Gordon Simmons
Sure.  Well you can always email me too if you happen to think of something while you're driving home and you go: Oh man, I should've said that. You know what I mean?

 

Aaron Fotheringham
For sure. For sure.  Ask me another question and I'll ponder that one.

 

Gordon Simmons
Sure.  Well I do have a question.  Actually your site looks great and I just wonder how important has the Internet been to your success?

 

Aaron Fotheringham
Oh wow, the Internet, especially YouTube.  YouTube is like my hero.  That sounds really weird, but I think without YouTube I wouldn't have been as big, like no one would've seen me and stuff. It's crazy. 

 

Gordon Simmons
Did you just start out kind of having friends video you at the park and then post it up on YouTube on your own?

 

Aaron Fotheringham
Yeah, my dad would… Well my dad would come to the park and video tape me.  And we made the first video as the back flip. We sent it to the wheelchair company I ride for, Colours, and they put it on their website.  And then like a week later, I found it on YouTube and then it just spread all over YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWfw_uUrWC8