- This one time a ball rolled up to me during recess
and I decided to just like give it a shot with my left leg.
I totally missed the ball.
My prosthetic leg just went flying off.
You know I put my leg back on and
just like ran to the bathroom and cried.
That was the real moment where I was like, oh damn.
I'm gonna have to deal with this now, you know.
People are gonna ask questions now and like,
I've got to answer them.
So my name's Oscar Loreto Jr.
I'm 30 from Downing California
and I've been a skateboarder for 15 years.
I was born with a congenital birth defect.
When I was in my mothers womb the
amniotic bands wrapped around my fingers
and left foot preventing development.
I didn't consciously recognize the birth defect
until I was in my teens or
like adolescence you could say.
Like obviously in grade school I got
the occasional ribbings and picked on.
My mom would instill in me at a young age,
like don't worry what other people thing of you.
Just go do you.
That really kind of was my motto growing up and then,
like I said, in adolescence is really,
really when I realized, oh, like I'm different.
I didn't know to pinpoint if it was
good different or bad different.
I just knew it was different.
It was an inner conflict like where I would just battle.
Like why was I born this way?
Why am I different?
Why am I put on this earth this way like this?
You know, like what's my purpose?
Like things like that where I got real deep
and critical about it.
But again at the end, it just all revolved back
to like just not caring
what other people thought about me.
And just go do me.
And then, you know, what helps bring me
out of my shell later on in life
was just seeing other people like me
that were doing rad things.
Cause in seventh grade I was just flipping through
a catalog and I just saw an add of John Comer.
And it was a sequence of his kick flip on flat ground.
He was doing the kick flip and then he was
kicking off his prosthetic leg at the same time,
and then landing on the stump back on the board.
And that blew my mind.
First of all, obviously because
he had a prosthetic leg like me.
But the second thing was that he was skateboarding.
Like I, in my wildest dreams, I never thought
you could skateboard with a prosthetic leg.
Before I saw his ad actually,
I honestly thought I was the first kid
in the world riding the skateboard with a prosthetic leg.
So the process of learning my first trick was the ollie.
Honestly man I think it took about six months
to really learn it.
I don't know, the process was a learning one I guess.
I was obviously very frustrated.
Upset I couldn't move my foot the way my friends
could or the pros did in the videos I studied.
Imagining putting on a pair of stilts
and then trying to stand on a board like that.
That's how I feel when I have my prosthetic leg on.
So I got really mad, a lot of frustration.
But at the same time, during that process,
I was humbled and taught perseverance really.
Cause I set that goal and until
I finally met it, that's when I was happy.
So the process was a catch 22,
you know love hate type of thing.
Where I hated it because I was frustrated
and couldn't do the tricks as fast as my peers could.
But at the same time I loved it because
like I said, it taught me in the long run life lessons.
Like perseverance, dedication, setting goals.
Proving to yourself that you can do it.
Proving other people wrong that maybe
thought you couldn't do it.
Falling, getting back up.
Skateboarding's just been that clutch in my life.
Really it's been that go to,
it's been my stress reliever.
It's been my entertainment.
It's been my fun factor.
It's taken me to different countries.
Like for example Canada, I've traveled up there.
Was in the Opening Ceremonies
of the Paralympic Games in 2010.
It's taken me a lot of places.
And I think it molded me into the man I am today.
Because I really dove deep more into it
because I fell in love with the culture and
lifestyle of skateboarding which comes with it.
Which, you know, the group of friends I have
and the people I associate with,
I don't think I would associate with them
if I didn't skateboard.
Because it was that one common bond we had
of a piece of wood and four wheels and
a trucks that, you know, didn't matter
race, religion, anything gender.
Like we all clicked.
We all were friends, like the community is very welcoming.
So it really has been like my life clutch really
or life crutch you could say too.
Like I lean on it for everything.
If skateboarding wasn't in my life I don't know
where I would be mentally.
Sadly maybe the reality would be, I would be,
you know like a lot of cases I see or people
I see where they're just depressed or living at home.
Or that fear consumes them of like,
you know maybe I shouldn't go outside
and try this cause I'll get hurt.
And I'm already, you know, in this condition.
I shouldn't do that.
Skateboarding you know, like I said,
it's not just skateboarding anybody,
you pick up your niche and hopefully it motivates you
enough to get up there and just live life.
(yelling)
♫ Soul pancake