MY FRIEND, THE ONE-EYED SKATER

Ever since I can remember, skateboarding has been filled with pussies. Whether it’s some pansy not wanting to skate a spot because they’re “not feeling it,” or because their “shoelaces are ripped,” skateboarders for the past few years have been milking it. This doesn’t go for all of skateboarding, but since shiny skate parks started popping up everywhere and everything’s been made so perfect, the attitude has changed. Who needs the streets, homeless people, and everything sketchy in between, right? Wrong. Sketchiness makes skating better. And what’s sketchier than skateboarding with one eye?

I’ve known Colton since ninth grade. We went to high school together and became instant friends. Colton has always been fun to watch skate, and over the years I’ve known him he’s progressed immensely—which is crazy since he only has one working eyeball. I’ve never heard him complain about it and it hasn’t stopped him from skating any spot. Which makes me realize that I’ve got nothing to complain about and neither do you. Hell, Og De Sousa somehow skates with no legs, so everyone else needs to stop being a whiny bitch. Anyway, I recently chatted with Colton and asked him what it’s like being a one-eyed skater.

Vice: Hey man, heard you were bedridden, what happened?
Colton: Yeah, I was skating last week at this park close to my house trying a front-side flip over a pyramid, fell and slid on my side and you know those mountain bikers who do tricks on street obstacles?

Trial biking?
Yeah, one of those dudes drove right into my back! I couldn’t move, ambulance had to come. I tore some tissue off my back and now I’ve been in bed watching TV for like a week.

Bummer! It wasn’t eye related then?
Nope. Not this time anyways [laughs].

So what happened to your eye? Because you weren’t always half-blind, right?

And that caused you to go blind?
Yeah, well I was pretty young so I don’t exactly remember but my parents told me that right after my eye healed from surgery it looked normal, but then I started running into walls and things around our house. So my parents took me back to the hospital and we found out I had 5% vision in my eye.

Wow, what happened with the surgeon?
Nothing, my parents didn’t try to sue them or anything.

Really?
Looking back now, I kind of wish they did. But at the same time I don’t really care anymore. At this point I’ve come to terms and am used to it.

Fair enough.
The eye ended up going lazy again though. Remember? I had to have the surgery done again in twelfth grade and now I’m told I don’t have to worry about it again.

Yeah I remember that. I also remember skating with you for the first time and commenting on it. Telling you it was barely noticeable.
[laughs] Man, I was so bummed. I used to be so sensitive about it. Once at a skateboard contest in Brantford called ‘Amp Jam,’ I showed up with my friend Ethan who only has one ear and this dude who I kind of knew at the time yelled, “When did this become War Amp Jam?” I laughed, but it was lame and I think Ethan was bummed. It wasn’t until later in high school–one of the first times I ever got stoned–I remember coming home so fucked up and looking in the mirror. Somehow I forgot it was me and stared laughing at my own eye. It looked so bloodshot and crazy

No way!
I swear. After then I was fine with it until I got that second surgery.

Crazy. So what’s it like skating with one eye? How do you compensate for the lost depth perception?
Trial and error I guess. Some tricks take so much longer to learn than others. Anything backside, really. Because I skate goofy and my right eye, which would look forward, is blind. So for back-tails, back-lips, etc, I just have to look at my feet and hope to lock in. Sometimes when I ollie up a curb, I ollie higher than I need to and people ask why. I guess to me it looks higher than it actually is.

I can’t imagine “hoping to lock in” while skating a handrail. Have you ever had anything happen to your good eye?
Trying a 360 flip when I was younger, my back foot wasn’t on and my front foot landed on the nose and catapulted my board into my head and good eye. I was knocked out and woke up so thankful I could still see out of it.

Shit. Are you worried about your good eye?
Not really, I do have to a wear a contact for it, though. Since I lost my right eye, the good eye has to work twice as hard to compensate. I work it too hard. Without my contact in, I can’t even see my feet without it being completely blurry. With contacts I’m fine.

Have you heard of anyone else who skates with the same problem?
Actually yeah, Sheldon Melishinski who’s on Zero. I saw a photo of him holding his own glass eye. That’s about it.

Cool, well I hope you don’t go completely blind.
Thanks. Me too.