I’ve always been into physical stuff, a kinesthetic learner – getting up and doing rather than sitting around listening. Having dyslexia I found school a pretty frustrating place - people telling you there’s only one way to do things – their way. I was good at most conventional sports but again people were always trying to mold me and confine me.
Eventually, almost five years ago I saw Jump Britain, a TV documentary about freerunning. It was like someone turned the light on. I knew exactly what I wanted to do! I went straight out and split the crutch of some good jeans and wrecked the first of many pairs of trainers! I never looked back. Over the next months and years I gradually learned a lot of cool moves and bailed a few! I discovered good ways to stay safe after I found some simple ways to hurt myself. I met some sick guys and checked out as many videos of freerunners on the web as I could find. Some were awesome and some were getting there but most were guys like me trying to learn all the moves of Parkour. I went to as many jams as I could, learned from guys better than me and passed on what I learned as I gained in experience.
I made friends with Daniel Ilabaca at Soul Survivor in 2006 and have had a great respect for him ever since. Encouraged by him, I was determined to develop my own style, based on my personality, physique and strengths. I teamed up with some guys in Glastonbury and met Kie Willis who became a great friend and training partner.
Gradually I became stronger mentally as well and it all began hanging together better. Moves, even awesome moves, without the Parkour or freerunning philosophy, are just street gymnastics, but once you understand what it's all about you really start to gain something! The main difference hit me when I started stringing moves together, focusing on speed and efficiency and concentrating on avoiding injuries. I just found I started seeing things differently and then thinking differently. The real change came as I found I was doing moves automatically without having to stop and plan stuff – one flowing naturally into the next without hesitation. And then the basic idea of chase and escape made sense. Obstacles and barriers in all different parts of life seem less intimidating now – I just have to find a way over, through or round them.
I’ve always been keen to teach what I know safely to anyone who is interested, so I completed a Community Sports Leadership Award when I was just seventeen. I received funding from the Somerset Youth Bank Fund and am now a trained First Aider and am one of only a small number of qualified Parkour coaches in the world. The British Parkour Coaching Association Parkour Coach Level 1 qualifies me to teach Parkour and freerunning professionally and more importantly, safely, in gyms and schools.
The other side to it, of course, is performance. People love to watch - crowds gather - freerunning is creative, exciting and inspiring. There was local opposition at first so I joined Equity as a street performer which included public liability insurance which reassured the local town centre manager! The team I often train with in Taunton, Escape Parkour had to prove they weren’t delinquents after some misunderstandings in the press but it wasn’t long before we were being asked to perform at the Christmas lightshow! Local sponsorship followed and we’ve performed regularly at charity, youth and sports events. Success breeds success and Escape are now sponsored by a national clothing company and becoming busier and busier.
For myself I wanted to get better and better and needed travel money to get to national jams and events so I was well pleased when I got sponsored by Urban Freeflow in March 2007. It meant free clothing and new and challenging training and commercial opportunities. I was encouraged to build my own profile and continue everything I did before plus I made myself available for anything and everything going through UF. Professional work came in gradually and by the time I was asked to join the UF core team in July 2008 I was able to support myself financially. I’ve now done stuntwork for TV commercials for Walkers Crisps, Internet commercials involving freerunning for Swatch, HP and Adidas, advertising campaigns for Sony Ericcson, Vodafone, Nike and Plain Lazy Ltd and live promotional shows for Honda, Microsoft and Adidas.
Every job is a new challenge – creative problems to be solved – that’s how to keep improving. Being selected to represent Britain in the first ever Barclaycard World Freerunning Championships in 2008 was the same – I was placed 4th despite an injury in the second round and I got to meet like-minded guys from all over the world and learn some new stuff! I left UF in September 2008 to pursue personal projects and my solo career. I am sponsored by Plain Lazy Ltd, a witty leisure clothing company and by Fiveten the footwear company through Escape Parkour. I still work with Escape on local projects, when I am in Britain. I am also involved with several professional teams including The Lost Boys (Family) with Travis Wong and Anis Cheurfa based in LA and Urban Media with Daniel Ilabaca.
Recent opportunities have included being extended an invitation to take part in Red Bull Art of Movement in May 2009 and 2010 in Vienna. I have become one of the founding members of the new World Freerunning & Parkour Federation (WFPF) along with my friends Daniel Ilabaca, Ryan Doyle, Tim Shief, Ben Jenkins, Phil Doyle, King David, Daniel Aroyo, Michael Turner and Oleg Vorslav to name a few. WFPF selected eight of us to take part in a pilot show, filmed in LA in May, MTV’s Ultimate Parkour Challenge, and shown in America in October 2009. It was a great success with just under a million viewers tuning in on the night. I am now one of nine guys selected to take part in the 6-part follow-up series that contains a live segment each week so I am living in LA for the next 2-3 months. Parkour heaven! Hoping for some cool spin offs! Check out the latest episode if you're in the States