This story was first published by The Weekend Collective, which has since gone under and no longer hosts the article.
*Written by me, but originally published 09.19.2016
All photos taken and provided by Crystal Bromley
To know Matthew “FloHawke” Hawkins is to know a gregarious giant. Broad-chested, heavily tattooed, and standing at well over six-feet tall, there is a quintessential, easy-going West Coast/Southern California vibe to his entire demeanor, so it’s no surprise that he’s had a life-long interest in what some might call extreme sports, primarily skateboarding.
It’s a rare occasion that finds him without a smile on his face or playing pranks on friends and strangers; it’s simply a part of who he is to always try to bring joy to those around him. A story he once told involves him pretending to have fallen down some stairs, his leg very obviously jacked up and spun the wrong direction. Already drunk, another patron of the bar saw him, helped him up the stairs, and bought him a drink while offering to take him to the hospital. While at the bar, Matt reattached his prosthetic leg correctly in full view of the patron, who laughed and replied that he couldn’t even be mad about the situation, that it was a good joke.
Matt lost his right leg in a car accident in 2008. Not only did his seatbelt fail when he was run off the highway by a Trans Am, but a guard rail pierced the side of his own car, cutting his seat clean in half. He was ejected from the car while it flipped end over end off the side of the highway.
He doesn’t recall much of his stay in the hospital, nor does he remember much of what happened the year following the accident as he began self-medicating; prescription pills, alcohol, and other substances kept him in a fairly fuzzed out state as he dealt with depression stemming from both the accident and his injuries. He lived with his (now ex) girlfriend Gretchen and her parents, who he says are “still very close to my heart and I appreciate their friendship to this day for helping me through one of the hardest times in my life.”
Unless it’s ASK-related or in the service of being educational and informative about adaptive sports in general, he doesn’t try to draw much attention to the prosthetic or his past. It’s simply a part of who he is now, part of what he does on behalf of others struggling to overcome the stereotypes and social stigmas attached to limb loss. There’s no “woe is me” to his life unless it’s directly related to the success of the outreach program that he and many others are trying to promote across the country – the Adaptive Skate Kollective.
A.S.K is a 501c3 charity that gives people with disabilities the opportunity to become more active, specifically on skateboards, while also teaching them to learn how to give back to their own adaptive communities by relaying the information and skills they learn at A.S.K. events. There is also a high premium placed on battling against the stigmas associated with disabilities by teaching disabled (and non-disabled) people of all ages that inclusion and information are the key to bringing about change in the mindset of most people about what disable people can and can’t do.
“We WANT you to ask,” Hawkins says. “Why are we different? How are we the same? Once you take the stigma away, it becomes a difference of like…what shoes you’re wearing. How are we supposed to learn if no one will teach us?”
HOW IT ALL STARTED
Matt attended an event called The Extremity Games, which now boasts 7 events: powerlifting, moto-x racing, mountain biking, wakeboarding, kayaking, rock climbing, and, of course, skateboarding. While there, he came to the realization that there wasn’t much, if any, support for the adaptive community in his home of Kansas City.
Shortly after, he was invited by Oscar Loreto to compete in a skate competition in Venice Beach, California. Loreto is also an adaptive skateboarder, having been born with a congenital defect that left him with only a single finger on his right hand, while also missing his left hand and left foot. While attending other events, Hawkins soon felt himself cocooned in love and support from those adaptive communities outside of his home state and felt it was time for him to create something similar back home.
Hawkins became an adaptive snowboard instructor at Snow Creek in Weston, Missouri, becoming a part of the board of directors two seasons later. When summer came, the push for adaptive skateboarding was a tougher sell as many who had the means to provide the opportunities refused to do so based on liability issues. Amputees on skateboards? In a skate park? No one in the greater Kansas City area was biting on the concept. Someone had to pick up the idea and run with it.
Cue a trip to Houston, Texas, where he put on his first adaptive skate clinic with the help of surrounding organizations also geared towards the adaptive sports community. Pro skateboarders Sean Malto and Dan MacFarlane helped facilitate as coaches. Video of the clinic was shot, compiled, edited together, and used as an evidentiary stepping stone in gaining support for a local adaptive skate clinic happening in Kansas City.
Now? He’s the co-founder and President of Adaptive Skate Kollective, founded in 2015 by himself and his long-time friend Andrea Haring. He is also an Adaptive Athlete for Stolen Skateboards in Kansas City, skating under their sponsorship at events across the states. To say that he and his crew are busy working to teach, train, and educate the publicis an understatement.
WHERE IT'S ALL GOING
Beyond the educational aspirations, the A.S.K. crew is hoping to have a Kansas City-area training facility open, offer up after school programs for kids that may not have the means otherwise, and create skateboarding programs to keep other adaptive folks in the community active.
The A.S.K. team tries to promote their goals by attending other adaptive events and clinics across the country and by supporting other adaptive organizations, all of them trying to prop each other up in the hopes that stigmas and stereotypes about the culture will disappear, or at the very least diminish. They have a very active media presence as well, writing up profiles on other adaptive athletes, sharing photos and videos taken at various adaptive events, and volunteering their time around the country. But, it isn’t always enough.
“I think the hardest thing that we have encountered since starting is funding. We all work really hard and give back to the organization. From volunteering hours, to donations. It’s really hard to look at a sport that I love and see parents of children not being able to afford to go to the competitions and clinics. To not be able to afford equipment. So we have given away so many skateboards to kids and adults that want to learn to skateboard. Travel costs are so ridiculous as well. But we really believe that it is important to be at these events, to talk to the kids and parents. Support them. The hardest thing is to say ‘no’ or ‘I can’t.’ So we always find a way. It’s exhausting. We all still have full time jobs, families, lives. But A.S.K. is too important to all of us. So we keep on doing what we have to for the kids.”
When you ask Hawkins where he wants to see the organization in 5 years, he’ll tell you that he wants to see chapters of the organization in other states. He wants to see more opportunities for the adaptive community open up and flourish, giving more people the chance to get involved. He’ll tell you that he wants to be able to say that he and others helped bring more opportunities to the Paralympic games being held in Tokyo in 2020.
He’ll also tell you, with no small amount of pride on his face, that every time someone gets on a skateboard after being terrified to do so, that it’s a milestone for him and for A.S.K. “It’s that moment when you see someone who has been told by everyone, ‘you can’t do this or that,’ but do it anyway and realize THEY CAN! It’s incredible.”
MYTHS & MISCONCEPTIONS DISSPELLED
If it all sounds unbelievable, if the idea of amputees or other adaptives on skateboards and in skate parks sounds too absurd to believe, one only needs to see the trailer of the documentary “Tin Soldiers” (which Hawkins helped produce) to see exactly how much truth there is to the idea that’s spreading far and wide.
But there are still massive hurdles to climb in the way of inclusion and equality. Financial rewards are offered to athletes that earn medals in the Olympics. For a non-adaptive athlete, winning a gold medal also gets you a cool $25,000 in your pocket. For an adaptive athlete, that same gold medal will earn just $5,000, which is still an impressive amount, but the contrast between “normal” athletes and adaptive athletes is a stark one. “We’re working with less and accomplishing the same thing. That’s gotta go! Equality and inclusion is a must!” says Hawkins.
And for now, he and the Adaptive Skate Kollective continue to push towards that goal of inclusion and equality while also teaching other adaptives, young and old, that there’s no shame in who they are and that there’s nothing they can’t do regardless of their disabilities.
UPCOMING A.S.K. EVENTS
The last event of the year for the A.S.K. crew will be held in Clearwater Beach, Florida from October 13th to October 16th. It will be an event partnered with the Never Say Never Foundation and the Giving to Fly Pirate Camp, that takes in some 30-35 families of children with differing kinds of amputations. The Adaptive Skate Collective will be doing a full skate clinic there in the Sunshine State. After that, “it’s all paperwork and planning for next year.”
The A.S.K. crew has participated in, helped coordinate, or simply attended events from the West Coast all the way to the East Coast and places in between, seeing events with attendance breaking just above a hundred people to events that have thousands show up. One such event is organized by the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF) that provides adaptive athletes with grants and special equipment for events all over the country. Thought Matt is less interested in the number of people attending the events and more interested in how those events end up influencing the attendees.
“If we throw an event and it changes one kid or person’s life? Then to me it was a success. Yes, it's great to have a huge attendance but it's not about sales, numbers, or anything but quality of life. We want to give everyone that comes to our events and other organization’s events to have that quality of life.”
If nothing, Matthew “FloHawke” Hawkins is walking the walk and proving that message every day purely in his constant push to inform the public, and other adaptives that may not know, about the adaptive community, culture, and support system that exists for them.
To keep up with the Adaptive Skate Kollective events and community, or to contact them directly, follow the links below.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adaptiveskatekollective/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AdaptiveSkate
Email: info@adaptiveskate.com
Website: http://www.adaptiveskate.org