A couple of months ago we posted about blind skateboarder Jennifer Tissot, and now we have another. The Chicago Sun Times has an article with a title straight from Cliché Headlines 101 about another blind skateboarder. What else, but “Skater’s blind ambition.” Duh! The article is pretty straight forward and short. 14 year old Tommy Carroll who lives in the suburbs of Chicago, went blind in both eyes at the age of two. He enjoys other sports like cross country running, and is on a local skate team, Agent Skateboards. Check out the team. If that is the Jerret Barry (Jarret Berry?) then Agent has the lock on Extreme™! minority team members. One of the more interesting notes (besides Tommy, the blind skateboarder) is that his parents are the ones who “helped steer him into skateboarding, figuring it was something he could master.” That’s a pretty progressive attitude, considering a lot of parents of seeing children don’t want their kids skating. The best part of the article is the video link that actually shows Tommy carving around, doing a nose pivot on the coping and even catching air.
Thanks to Mike Timble for the tip. [Photos and video capture: Chicago Sun Times]
20 comments
Joe the cool kid
me and tommy are tight we like the coolest kids ever i dont skate but i run with tommy in crosscountry yeah im that good
Tommy Carroll
Why did you have to mention Oregon? Bit of a frustrating story there actually, LOL, I may have been out their recently on concrete tour because they had a not-so-well publicized competition at northbrook that I could have easily taken my age group at at and come to Oregon. At least from what I here, it would have been a for sure invite. Why couldn’t I make it? Rock and roll bandcamp; it was an amazing camp, but I did miss out on a big oppertunity. Oh, and I’ll keep you posted on an air date; I haven’t gotten a call as of yet.
nweyesk8
hey Tommy, when are you coming to skate Oregon?
Kilwag
Tommy, keep us posted if they give you an air date so we can record it.
Tommy Carroll
Oh, sorry for the double post, but I had to add that that comment on extreme minorities is quite funny. I’ve gotta call rob and tell him about that, he’ll get a kick out of it.
Tommy Carroll
Yeh, this site is actually very easy to navigate; I love any site without flash on it. And by the way, the today show got a hold of this article, and we did 6 hours of video on sunday, so I’m super excited. It’s crazy; I’m not sure when it’s going to air. I was supposed to be told today, but I didn’t get a call. I’m just hoping too much big world news comes up, that’ll make my segment come sooner. I’m actually kind of nervous what they’re gonna put together. Non-skateboard news don’t really look for hard tricks or lines, they just look for good shots. At one point, they had me skating the big northbrook bowl for all those who know what it’s like(pretty steep) with a recorder pack on my waist and a camera taped to my kneepad. Then they had me skate it holding a camera, it was pretty sick.
Kilwag
Tommy, that’s funny, when I posted this I actually wondered how this site would read as far as usability – because I know there are web browsers out there that read text. Most of us find skateboarding hard enough as it is, so it stokes us to see someone doing it that has to try even harder. So, cheers to you, and keep having fun!
Tommy Carroll
Hey, this is gonna be a bit hard to believe, but I’m reading my own article. This is the first blog that pops up with something about me, so congrats, I’ll always remember this site. Just to clear up a… Well, a bit of a misunderstanding, my parents didn’t point me towards skateboarding; I really don’t know what they used to put that bit of info together. I’m glad you thought this was inspiring, it’s me just having fun I guess.
Kilwag
Dang HoN, why no exclusive for SnA?
houseofneil
Fuck man, I’ve skated with Tommy a few times. He’s a Northbrook local. He rips in every way. Unreal kid.
Dan Hughes
Truly inspiring! I love this quote, “For me, skating is a lot of precise angles. I kind of make a mental map and know what angles I have to drop in at to get where I have to turn.”
Danimal
Downhill with a vision impairment would be scary too. I know a kid who lost his sight at 14, he’s now 19, he was a skater before and still goes out with his friends and skates street, he was actually using his white cane to help him skate around the sidewalks where he lives, its amazing when he ollies up onto ledge or pulls kickflips.
Paige
I get MySpace blog comments that are like that. “Hey! Great blog! Check out my site to get a free $500 gift certificate and an ounce of weed!” Oy.
Kilwag
I can’t tell if that is comment spam or not. I feel like I’ve been beaten at Yhatzee! by a robot.
Rainey
Wow, this is pretty awesome. I applaud the DIVERSITY in blog posts that you guys take time to put up. Really feels like great skate news thats not fast-food or bullshit like network news etc.
Kilwag
Races DH for a living? Downhill? For a living?
Estes
Have you guys ever heard of a gent named Blind Bobby McMullen? He’s a man with severe diabetes, had 2 kidney transplants and spent some time on Dialysis. He’s one the most amazing guys I’ve ever met….he races DH for a living…….anyone with limited sight, deserves huge accolades for sure.
Danimal
nice find Kilwag. that kid must have great parents. he’s got some great awareness of where his body is in space, thats a hard skill to master for the blind.
DaveV
that was inspiring
nweyesk8
having tried to skate with my eyes closed, This kid gets all my respect