They say that necessity is the mother of excogitation . This is honest in the case of skateboarding and the extreme sport that followed . When waves were nonexistent in Southern California in the seventies , surferstook to the street on skateboards . Skating in Los Angeles parking lots worked for a while , but it became cleared that uprightness was key to the evolving sport . Emptyswimming poolsmet this need , and they before long gave way to half organ pipe and the invention of the skate park . The parking area at Carlsbad , Calif. , credit as being the creation ’s first , open for business sector in 1976 , and the world of extreme sports has n’t been the same since . Skate pipe let taller , ramps became steeper and skater soon found themselves depart the " lip " of the pipe and catching air . thing only kick the bucket up from there .
Extreme athletes are known for creating new thaumaturgy that push the limits of gravity . That tone of introduction has lead in a continuous evolution of these comparatively young sports . Such is the case with utmost athlete Aaron " Wheelz " Fotheringham . Seventeen - year - quondam Aaron has invented an entirely new sport that blends the worlds of BMX and skateboarding with a unequalled twist . He calls it " hard-core sitting , " an admittedly odd name for an utmost summercater . But when you think that Aaron has spina bifida and has been in a wheelchair since he was 8 years old , it all arrive at sense .
Hardcore Sitting
Aaron Fotheringham , the creator of hardcore sitting , was contain with spina bifida in 1991 in Las Vegas , Nev. Spina bifida is a consideration in which the spine never amply closes during the first months ofpregnancy . The results vary from case to event , and for Aaron , it meant he needed a wheelchair full time by the age of 8 , after several surgical attempt to objurgate his experimental condition .
About this time , Aaron watched his older pal Brian execute conjuring trick on hisbicycleat a BMX park . Brian suggested that Aaron try " dropping in " with the wheelchair . The idea made him nervous , but Aaron gave it a stroke . Because nobody had ever hear doing BMX andskateboardtricks from a wheelchair , Aaron was self - teach from the beginning . He claim advice and thought from other skater and bikers to produce his own version of popular caper , like grind and 180 degree ethereal bit .
He got a exceptional wheelchair from the usage troupe Colours in Motion , which allowed for a smoother and sturdy ride . Over the days , that hot seat has been qualify to suit Aaron ’s unusual need – adding a shock system as well as exceptional metal taproom to squawk up the suspension and protect the shocks .
Aaron ’s extreme sitting guard precautions are similar to what you ’d see in BMX or skateboarding . He wears articulatio cubiti launchpad , gloves and a full - face helmet , and so far has only break his articulatio cubiti once and gotten the stock protrusion and bruises . He ’s been competing alongside BMX bikers since 2005 and has more than 10 corporate presenter . He won the prize at the BMX Intermediate Vegas AmJam 2005 Finals and spends about 30 to 40 hours per workweek practicing the sport he cook up .
Aaron receive a fair amount of attention for his achievements , but everything change on July 13 , 2006 , when he became the first person to complete a back flip in a wheelchair .
The Wheelchair Back Flip
After mastering the basic tricks of the sport he cook up , Aaron set his sights on a feat that had never been attempted – a wheelchair back flip . He ’d been jab by friends and fellow skaters to assay the flip , so he started practicing . If you ’re wondering how someone practice doing a wheelchair back flip , you ’re not alone . When do any unmanageable BMX trick , foam cushion are where you commence . This seemed like a coherent position for Aaron to set off as well .
After about 50 to 60 tries using cushion , Aaron actuate on to the " rezi , " a harder plastic surface on top of the cushions . After that , the only step left was to try it out on the hard concrete wild leek of the skate park . It take Aaron roughly 15 stillborn attempts before he land a full back flip . Earlier attempts ranged from coming up short and smacking his helmet on the ground to overrotating and land on his back . Finally , at about 9 p.m. on July 13 , 2006 , in front of a diminished crowd of fellow skater , Aaron landed the reality ’s first wheelchair back somersaulting .
Aaron say that the key to the trick is build and maintaining the right speed necessary to complete the move without overrotation . He ’s now mastered the antic and do it in competitions and exhibitions all over the earth . In October 2008 , " Guinness Book of World Records " certified Aaron as the sole discoverer and performer of the wheelchair back flip [ source : Ammerman ] .
In the future tense , Aaron plans to prepare his sport as he continues to inspire citizenry the world over . He desire to serve legitimise hard-core sitting , much like the early pioneer ofskateboardingand BMX did before him . His ultimate destination , of course of action , is theX Games , where he hope to compete one sidereal day . He also has his visual modality set on some more extreme wheelchair tricks – the first ethereal 1080 - grade turn and mayhap even a double back flip . He ’d also like to develop a hard-core sit down TV game and to stay on to knead with nipper with spina bifida and other condition that require a wheelchair .
But for a unseasoned military man who says that spina bifida has been a " great chance , " he ’s shown that lifetime in a wheelchair can be anything but confining .
