Aaron Fotheringham ramps up in preparation for a trip down the quarter pipe at Doc Romeo Pro Park. Fotheringham can be spotted at the skate park about 35 hours a week. Photos by Lea Rudner/R-Jeneration.
Aaron Fotheringham started his "skate" career when he was 8 years old.
Fotheringham's new wheelchair, created by Colours Inc., is one-of-a-kind and is "pretty much indestructible."
Aaron Fotheringham spends between 30 and 35 hours at the skate park every week. He practices hard, turning and flipping and flying and, often, falling repeatedly before finally getting it right.
He's not the only one who spends his afternoons and weekends perfecting stunts and preparing to compete -- he's joined every day by other teenagers on skateboards and bikes. But he is the only one who does it in a wheelchair.
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Aaron, who has used crutches and wheelchairs since he was learning to walk in order to accomodate his permanently disabling birth defect spina bifida, used to enjoy watching his older brother, Brian, ride BMX. In 2000, when Aaron was 8 years old, Brian suggested that Aaron try to drop in a quarter pipe in his wheelchair. "I did, and I was hooked," he says.
Aaron got a new wheelchair made by Colours Inc. that gave him a smoother ride and let him do more tricks. And after years of watching competitions from the sidelines, he was convinced he was ready to enter his first competition in June 2005.
Aaron, now 14 and a freshman at Arbor View High School, participates in Vegas AmJam competitions, competing alongside BMX riders from around the valley. He came in fourth in the intermediate BMX division in a competition held at Sunny Springs Skatepark on Aug. 26. Just this year, he has also finished in both first and second places in similar competitions.
Other teens who practice at Doc Romeo Pro Park watch Aaron practice all the time, so seeing a kid in a wheelchair doing a midair 180 degree turn might not come as much of a surprise.
"They're pretty much used to it," says Aaron. "But sometimes, if someone hasn't seen me before, they'll be watching and their jaws drop and their eyes get all wide. It's really fun to watch."
Aaron likes to call his sport "hard-core sitting," but others know it as "wheelchair skateboarding" as well.
He's not the only one who does it; he has even gotten to know a few of the others. They share tricks and tips, but Aaron gets most of his ideas from watching BMX riders.
"I kind of have to make up my own stuff, but I see something cool and try to figure out how I can do it," he says.
On July 13, at 8:57 p.m., Aaron became what he thinks is the first person in history to successfully land a wheelchair back flip.
He had done it 50 or 60 times into foam cushions before attempting it on a ramp, and after another 15 tries, some of which resulted in unconsciousness, he landed it.
"After I actually did it, it took me a minute to realize I'd really landed it," Aaron says. "It wasn't easy getting there. I kept going for it and landing on my back, or landing in the foam pit and almost suffocating because I was stuck upside down and couldn't unhook my buckle on my seat. I'd have to wait till someone got me out!"
He's recently worked with Colours Inc. to design a wheelchair that is one-of-a-kind and, in his own words, "pretty much indestructible!" He said, "They told me, 'You're the only one in the world with this chair.' It's pretty cool."
In a lot of ways, Aaron is a normal kid. He likes spaghetti and IBC root beer and hates going to the orthodontist. But honestly, how often do you see a wheelchair with shocks?
Aaron 
