Welcome riends, Heading over to Latvia to do the piece or this month, was something I was really looking orward to. Outside o hooking up with 2 o our All Star athletes (Djuxa and Pasha) again, I was keen to meet up with Erik ‘The Viking’ Aleynikov, who’d just been brought on board as a new UF sponsored athlete. During our initial discussions about the trip, the act that getting rom Riga to Daugavpils or the blue bar experience would take 4 hours on a bus, was somehow overlooked. This resulted in more travelling than was anticipated and with the rainy weather ollowing me rom the UK, it was all looking like it was going to be another grim experience. Luckily though, we were gited with a ew dry periods where we got to grab what was necessary and to make the trip more enjoyable, I got to experience some ull blown Latvian humour which is seriously as caustic as it gets. ez@urbanreefow.com www.acebook.com/ezstyla www.urbanreefow.com www.acebook.com/urbanreefow www.twitter.com/urbanreefow www.youtube.com/glyphmedia
Following on rom that shoot, a trip to Berlin awaited a waited or the Parcouring European Cup and I’ll be honest in saying that I was really excited about heading over or another slice o competition action. Anyone who hasn’t yet experienced a live competition event probably won’t understand, but the athletes involved rarely view it as such and simply use the opportunity as a perect excuse to train together, share experiences and showcase their abilities in ront o many people. With this particular event, a air ew high prole athletes had been brought in and they denitely didn’t disappoint anyone and put on a ne display. What else is going on in this issue? i ssue? Well we have an interview with the up and coming young gun that is JJ Goda, a pressure test with a Go Pro camera and a bunch o other odds n ends.
A concrete way o lie....
Enjoy.... Ez - Editor
Front cover athlete: Erik ‘The ‘ The Viking’ Aleynikov - www.youtube.com/sony2 www.youtube.com/sony250295 50295 Photographer: Ez UF ad athlete: Gary ‘Surreal’ Lawrence - www. ww w.youtube.com/ youtube.com/surrealmaniac surrealmaniac Photographer : Ez
d t L w o l F e e r F n a b r U f o s k r a m e d a r t d e r e t s i g e r e r a o g o l ’ h p y l G ‘ e h t d n a ’ w o e e r F n a b r U ‘ . d e v r e s e r s t h g i r l l A . k r o w t e N w o e e r F n a b r U e h T © t h g i r y p o C
Athlete: Dzuy Southham (UK) www.youtube.com/urbanrevolutionmedia Photographer: Will Carman www.carmanography.tumblr.com
WELCOME TO
LATVIA LET’S HANG OUT WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY EZ
When I rst saw Oleg Vorslav moving about in one of his many video edits, I earmarked Latvia as a place that was denitely worth checking out. One thing that really stood out for me like so many other people, was the blue bar area which he completely obliterated and upon further digging around, I found out that it was located in a town called Daugavpils. All well and good but to be honest, up until this point I’d never found a good enough reason to make the trip over, so I’d simply put it to the back of my mind. That was until the whole Jump Magazine idea came about. I had it noted as a place that I wanted to hit for a feature, but it was through talking to one of the UF All Star athletes, Andrey ‘Djuxa’ Turanov, that I was told the famous blue bars were due to be demolished. He continued that if I didn’t head over before the winter kicked in, that I might miss the opportunity altogether. So without further prompting, I booked a ight over and hoped that the weather would hold out long enough for us to grab something of note. In addition to Djuxa, we’d be joined by two other UF athletes. The rst would be Pasha Petkuns who like Djuxa, is part of the UF All Star team. Being a resident of Daugavpils, he would be our guide for the duration of the visit. The second athlete who’d join us would be Erik ‘The Viking’ Aleynikov, who is part of the UF sponsored team. As a recently added athlete to the team, it would be the rst r st time I’d get to meet him in person and from our discussions prior to the trip, his sense of humour shone through strongly, so I was really looking forward to the hook up. As for the trip itself, it would be a three day one where the rst would be spent in Riga with Djuxa and the rest in Daugavpils. What follows from here is a mish mash of stuff which is mostly image led and is accompanied by an interview that was conducted at my hotel....
Djuxa, as main spokesperson here, tell us a bit about the Latvian Parkour & Freerunning community. Djuxa: The Latvian scene is still very young. It’s maybe 3 or 4 years since people have been training in this active lifestyle. Practitioners were training alone back then and nobody really knew each other, so in 2006 we started to come together to become organised and create a community. From there Parkour started to become more popular in Latvia and began to really develop. When some friends and I started the old parkour.lv website, it was an attempt to bring together all the practitioners in Latvia and also getting more people to be aware of what Parkour was about. Our rst hook up was a long time ago in Estonia of all places. Give us some background info about that. Djuxa: It was my 1st or 2nd year of training and I found out that the Urban Freeow team would be visiting Estonia as part of a tour with Nokia, so we decided to travel there to meet up with you guys and hopefully train together. How far was that to travel? Djuxa: About 5 hours on the bus. Damn! Djuxa: Not so bad really, you kinda get used to it . Back then for us it was a once in the lifetime opportunity to meet up with really well known people within the Parkour scene, so I knew that it was a trip that we just had to make. Well I appreciate the fact that you made the effort. Djuxa: No problem. It was worth it.
Sitting on the couch next to you is Anton who I rst met at the very rst Redbull ‘Art of Motion’ event in Austria. How did you guys hook up? Djuxa: Anton and I rst met in 2005 and the thing with him is that I’d only known him for about 10 mins but had already invited him into the team. There was something about him and I knew that I had to get him on board. Oh yeah, back then the awesome thing about him was that he was the only person who could cat balance on really thin bars and nobody else could do that . Now after all these years I know that I wasn’t wrong about him because all the others no longer train but Anton
“As you can imagine, whenever Anton is around we have lots o cool music to listen to”
is still here. He was the one person who certainly stood out from the crowd at the AOM event with his crazy sniper run. Anton, what the fuck was all that about? Anton: For me I felt that I had to put on some kind of show and make it interesting for the people there in some way.
I actually thought it was really funny at the time and couldn’t stop myself from laughing, but in his second run he did exactly the same thing and that was overcooking it. Djuxa: Oh well, shit happens. Anton, you also beatbox, right? Anton: Yes I do. Djuxa mentioned that you’re one of the only people in Latvia doing it in a particular way. I don’t really understand, please explain? Anton: I combine musical instruments into my beatboxing. I’ll give you an example. *Anton then pulls out a harmonica and treats us to a quick set which was sick. That is fucking awesome! How did you even think about coming up with that? Anton: I saw some videos on Youtube of people using instruments like a ute and felt it wasn’t cool enough so I tried to do something a bit cooler. Djuxa: As you can imagine, whenever Anton is around we have lots of cool music to listen to .
Ok so bringing us back up to speed now, you mentioned to me earlier that you’d set up a new organisation called ‘Urban Set’ with 3 of you heading it all up, right? Djuxa: Yeah we are just 3 guys who had an idea to make an It was denitely interesting organisation for people who . do street arts like beatboxing, Djuxa: His skill wasn’t the parkour, freerunning, trial bikes, greatest back then so he felt that bmx or whatever, because these he had to do something crazy to people aren’t getting enough stand a chance of really attention. Obviously the people standing out from everyone else. who do these activities are The skills of the other athletes passionate about what they are there was of a pretty high level. doing but in Latvia, we have
Wet conditions and only 3 days to hopefully grab some action shots. Great start....Not! To make matters worse, none of the guys were driving so it was either sponsored walks everywhere or using the tram system.
The rst day was spent in Riga and due to the bad weather, there was little to do other than wait until Djuxa’s evening class in the gym. For me, gym sessions are about as boring as hell photo wise, so when we headed off to Daugavpils, I was amped. However, it was a 4 hour train ride away and we could only hope that it’d be dry upon our arrival. When we pulled into the station, Pasha was waiting and after walking off to the rst spot, it started to rain heavily and due to having no real undercover places to train, we had to make do with this tunnel where we tried to make the best out of a crap situation. We failed but Pasha continues to smile.
Previous to this reverse wallspin, Pasha had attempted a jump from height outside the tunnel. It looked shit and he landed as heavily as a s an elephant. Then to make matters worse, Djuxa attempted a series of tic tacs off of this grafti wall. That too, looked terrible so we decided to pack up and do some urban exploration in hope that the rain would ease up long enough to allow us to capture ca pture something of interest.
A few minutes walk away from the tunnel and we found this abandoned building that looked promising. Both Djuxa and Pasha spotted some interesting opportunities that might work well for some shots, so we had a good look around.
Pasha tries to convince everyone that his latest book about Freerunning and cowboys is a sure re hit and will sell well. No comment....
It was quite frustrating having to wait about for the rain to stop but here, Djuxa decides to tough it out and precision from the still wet beam. Underneath Erik spots him in case he slips and heads South of Heaven.
Being the creative one of the group, Pasha opted to stay inside in the dry and swing about on some electric cables (as you do).
Swinging around like a monkey is thirsty business.
drum & bass bullshit . most businesses now make So now we are left alone to proposals but expect you to practise seriously and to get work for free, which is bullshit. better. As a direct result, all the They even expect us to supply kids who did it as a fashion thing the obstacles too. It’s impossible have moved along to something to work like this. else while those who really wanted to practise Parkour, Bullshit indeed but keep hope continued and got better. So alive. Talking of obstacles, when now we have a smaller scene but anyone in the scene thinks about Parkour in Latvia, the one place Interesting stuff, I hope it works the people who practise really are dedicated, so the overall that will get mentioned straight out ok for you. Going back to away is the blue bars as featured the subject of Parkour in Latvia, level is much higher. in Oleg Vorslav’s video edits. you reached a peak in terms of You mentioned yesterday that interest but as with most places Was it frustrating for you as a professional athlete, who during they can be found all over the in the world right now, the place. Is this for real? commercial side has been rinsed the surge or popularity, must have found it tough being Djuxa: That’s in Daugavpils by the media and that spotlight has faded. How has this affected tarnished with the same brush? where yes, they are all over the Djuxa: Yes of course but what place. We were there last things for you here? could I do? Was I supposed to summer and we tried to count Djuxa: About 2 years ago the all the bars but we couldn’t. interest in Parkour was really Here in Riga those bars that high and we had many people were left from the Soviet Union training but the level wasn’t so “Our organisation days are gone. Because of all the good. At that time it was like a European playground standards fashion thing and all the school helps to showcase that are in force now, they were kids wanted to do it. It was a their talents and considered to be dangerous and good sign of popularity but as a result, you could see many help get them work” were taken down. videos on the Latvian Youtube Why wasn’t Daugavpils affected, that were bad and showed is the place considered a bit people who were also bad, so the backwards then? wrong idea was being given to Djuxa: There are a lot of Russian the society. Everyone thought shoot all those stupid kids? speaking people there and and that Parkour was just stupid because it is so close to the kids jumping around on You could have got Anton on the Russian border, it isn’t a place rooftops and hurting case with his sniper rie. that falls in line with European themselves. So I guess that the Djuxa: At the time Union stuff and it isn’t such a popularity it generated, came at there was nothing we could do progressive place. a high cost. about it but now things are getting better and the attitude The original purpose of the bars And how have things changed from potential clients is much were as recreation stations for now? kids. Is that right? Djuxa: It’s a double edged sword better too. However, when the economic crisis came, there Djuxa: Yeah, basically a because another fashion thing playground for kids and at the came along called ‘shufe’ which weren’t so many invitations or proposals from businesses. It same time as exercise stations is some stupid drum & bass was a tough time for everyone. for schools. Almost all of the dance . Now all the bars are situated right next to kids are doing that shit. Everyone felt it hard, so you schools. So it helped to take the heat off weren’t alone. Djuxa: Yeah, at the time we only Do kids actually use them? of you guys then? had teaching jobs to rely on but Djuxa: Yes they use them a lot Djuxa: Yeah, at least the it’s starting to pick up again but maybe we can ask Pasha attention and hatred from about that. *Djuxa and Pasha society was directed towards this now. The only problem is that many people who are very good at what they do but because they don’t get the recognition they deserve, they are forced to go and do some shitty job in order to live. After work they then go and train. Our organisation helps to showcase their talents and help get them work.
The rain showed no sign of easing up so we decided that we’d head over to the blue bar area regardless, in order to have a look about and maybe get some lifestyle shots. To get there we had to jump on a tram where the conductors c onductors were women dressed in dodgy looking camo uniform.
A ten minute ride away from the town centre and suddenly we started to see the bars all over the place. pla ce.
Random advertising inside the tram and upon closer inspection it was clear that Pedo bear was being used to sell furniture. Disappointing!
This is the rst bar set we came across but because it was still raining, we couldn’t do much more than look at it as we walked by. If only we had sets like this in the UK. I’ve already approached the Daugavpils authorities to get a copy of the blueprints. As they say, if you want something done, do it yourself. Blue bar set up at the next World’s? hmmmmmm
This spot was situated right next to a school and when we arrived, a class of kids had just nished a session. Luckily for us, it was dry enough to move around on so Djuxa and Pasha wasted no time and got stuck in. Here Djuxa decides to y the ag of Latvia while the kids out of shot cheer him on.
Here Pasha tells me that he plans to get some airtime and indicates which direction he’ll be ying in.
discuss it at length in Russian before Pasha responds with a simple “Yes.” . Is it true that when you stayed in Daugavpils in the summer, all the little kids were destroying you guys on the bars? Djuxa: Oh man! On the bars there is a big lache opportunity and we have a guy called Andre, who’s about 6ft 2” tall and he tried 3 times to do that lache and failed. Then as he was preparing himself for one last time this little 9 year old kid steps up and does it with one swing . Andre just said “Oh fuck it!” . Seriously though, in Freerunning we try to train all round with acrobatics, bars, precisions, climbing etc but in Daugavpils for them it’s just bars and not considered Parkour or Freerunning. To them it’s simply “swinging on bars.” Pasha, you’re best know for being a native of Daugavpils who produces videos with a unique style. On the competition circuit you also placed really well in the 2010 Redbull AOM event (3rd place and winner of best trick). Give us a bit of background on you and what makes you tick… Pasha: It all started with watching District 13 and from there I started to train in sandpits trying to land some ips. I also have a set of bars like the blue ones right near my house, so it’d be impossible to avoid using them. You only got into Freerunning as recently as D13? Damn, I really thought it was much longer than that. How often do you use the bars to train on? Pasha: I use the bars ss often as possible. It’s now second nature to me.
How important is Parkour training within your own regime? Pasha: Not so much. It’s more about bar work for me.
that fuck up and sometimes it can lead to nice looking techniques being born.
Djuxa, how about you, you’re currently carrying a knee injury Hmmm that’s both interesting aren’t you? and disappointing to hear. As Djuxa: Yeah, tendonitis so no mentioned before, you placed more big jumps like back in the well at the AOM event. In fact, day. But if I warm up properly after the rst round of that event I’m ok. Anyway, it’s well known you were placed at that if you jump off of a 5 storey number one having scored building you’ll be ok if you do 5 highest with your run. This was rolls after landing . against some very accomplished Freerunners, so there must be Obviously! Pasha/Djuxa, do you more to your game than just bar guys enjoy competing? work? Pasha: I don’t like so much Pasha: I watch lots of videos and the idea of competing and the movies and if I see somebody do frustration that goes with being something on at ground, I ask against somebody. But I love myself if it can also be done on the experience of meeting other Freerunners, sharing ideas and training with them. “I have a set o bars Djuxa: Back in the beginning everybody was saying that like the blue ones right there’s no competition in Parkour or Freerunning and near my house, so you don’t have to do it blah blah it’d be impossible to blah. But nobody had ever tried it out. So even though I may avoid using them” have been cautious in the beginning, I still wanted to see for myself and it was more a showcase of skills instead of a an obstacle or on a bar. So I take big competition. The those moves and try to adapt atmosphere was just great and them to suit my own style. the fact that you can hang and train with so many good Who inspires you most? Freerunners makes it so special. Pasha: Andrey ‘Djuxa’ Turanov . I really like bboy Djuxa, you’re probably the most Lilou. I like my friend Stas celebrated Latvian in terms of because his style is just competition, seeing as you’ve busting tricks and his competed in 3 Art of Motion fearlessless inspires me. I also events and 2 World Freerun like Danny Ilabaca and Shade Championships. The biggest of Zlat. all was the World’s at Trafalgar Square in 2009. What was it With all the experimentation like performing in front of 8000 stuff do you suffer many people? injuries? Djuxa: For me, I didn’t really Pasha: Mostly sprains but think too much about the crowd. nothing major. Even when I bail Regular people don’t really know I attempt to make a trick out of what they are looking at in terms
A quality dismout where he ies like a bullet.
I noticed this graff on the way to the blue rails and had to grab a shot. I’m a massive fan of street art and would never ever dream of hating on anyone for their throw ups but this is SHIIIIT!!
Finally we arrived at the holy grail of bar set ups. Made famous in Oleg Vorslav’s video edits, this place is denitely on the wish list of any seasoned practitioner to get a chance to session on. Funnily enough though, it seems much smaller in real life.
Again, the rain was a problem and even though it was only spitting, the bars were too wet to session on safely. However, the guys did try their best and here Djuxa attempts to dry off the bars for Erik to play on.
Even though he isn’t from Daugavpils, Erik was clearly at home on the bars and moved around effortlessly and with condence.
I’ve seen Pasha move around plenty of times before but really wanted to see him destroy these bars. Because of the wet conditions, today wasn’t going to be that day.
We didn’t hang about too long as our options were limited. I managed to grab a bunch of standard issue shots and before we were to head off, I asked the guys to get on top of the frame for a group pic. Out of nowhere this random guy that nobody knew appeared and decided to get in on the action. Gotta love the art of blagging.
He claims not to be so much into Parkour training in favour of bar work, but Pasha couldn’t resist cranking out a nice precision before we left.
of technique, so you could throw a simple backip and they’ll be like “wow!” but the frustrating thing that worries me, is how the other guys view my performances. If one of the other competitors comes up to me and says that they liked my run, I’m satised. Of course, if I do all the things in the run that I intended to do, I’m happy but if one of the guys likes it too, that’s even better. The funniest thing about performing is that we are allowed to choose what music we run to but to be honest, in all of my runs I’ve never heard any of it. I think it’s because I was concentrating so much on my moves. How about you Pasha, at the Trafalgar Square event you were the very rst person to run and there were high expectations from you, but you didn’t make the nals. Was it a disadvantage being rst to run? Pasha: A big shock. I really didn’t want to go rst. There were more people at that event than there are living in Daugavpils, so it was really scary .
Djuxa: No! I always thought of my way of moving as dancing with the obstacles, so I’ve tried to implement some of the dance type movements into my game. Are you still producing videos? We haven’t seen anything from you for a while. Djuxa: Not as much as I used to but I make an effort to keep my skills in place. I’m still very active in the local community and as time passes, I nd myself getting more involved in the organising side of things. You also run a teaching class, right? Well you know yourself that Parkour started as an
“I teach at a private gymnastics club that is owned by our Olympic champions”
because the government isn’t nancing gymnastics enough. How often do you teach at these classes? Djuxa: I teach 3 classes per day 2 times per week so it’s 3 hours of teaching twice a week. Is teaching something you enjoy doing? Djuxa: Yes but sometimes it gets really frustrating because the gym is in a closed environment and you don’t have all the opportunities you’d nd outside. Sometimes it’s hard to nd new things for the students to do. You see, when you train yourself and run out of ideas, you can simply go and drill all the techniques you already know with no problem. But when you teach others you need to make it interactive and make it fun to hold their interest. In order to do this, you need to keep changing things to keep it fresh and in a gym it can sometimes be difcult. Ok but if we ip things, teaching outdoors would bring a bunch of other issues. For instance, we’re here to shoot over the next few days and the weather is grim. Right now it’s pissing down with rain outside. Is this common? Djuxa: Yeah, the weather is a big setback for practitioners here. During the summer it was really good. In fact it was too good because it was so hot. For us, we probably get only 3 months where we can really train extensively. In the winter if it isn’t snowing, it will be raining and the conditions are too cold.
underground movement and it Well you made up for it in was hard to nd any proper Austria for AOM, where you resources. For beginners it performed really well. Djuxa, seemed like it was all big jumps your own style in recent times, seems to be more inuenced by accompanied by a lot of injuries. dance with all the spins and foot So with youngsters still wanting to get involved in the placement. Is that a fair view? Djuxa: Well, I’ve always thought sport and not having the correct info at hand, I decided that I’m not really built for big that I didn’t want them to follow jumps because I’m small. Even with ips, I started to learn them the same route I did. So I set up classes where I can pass down really late so I felt like I had to my knowledge. do other movements to stand out and I always looked at Is this run through the Don’t you have training spots Parkour as a way of under cover? expressing myself and dance has government? I teach at a private gymnastics Djuxa: Not so much. We have always been around. club that is owned by our one place which is undercover Olympic champions. They but even so, in the winter it is So are we talking Shufe started their own private club still too cold. So in effect, the Parkour then?
Unfortunately Djuxa had to head back to Riga after day one in Daugavpils and endure the 4 hour journey home. Just after seeing him off at the station, we decided to shoot some more as the rain had now cleared up.
During our time in front of the media, we’ve been asked thousands of times to do dual jumping shots and I hate them with a passion. But meh, whatever....
Day two of the Daugavpils trip and Pasha was going on about how the famous blue bar area is going to be demolished and replaced with a football pitch. He said that he had a backup training spot in a random location though, and that we should head there to get some pics. It was within a fort on an overgrown grassy area and was probably the best I’d seen so far. Not only did it have an awesome bar set up, it also had a great area for precision drills. Both Pasha and Erik were quick to session it hard and go some way in making up for the previous day.
Again, Erik showed a strong level on the bars and moved about like a monkey on roids.
Clean dismount from Pasha.
Superman has nothing on this guy.
For those who don’t salivate at the sight of the main bar set up, surely these precision bars go some way in helping to get the juices owing?
climate here forces us to view Parkour and Freerunning as more of a seasonal activity. Of course we have gyms but it’s not the same and we use them to keep our skills topped up. How about you Pasha? Today for instance, when we hit the blue rails they were all wet and that pretty much killed all chances of training on them. Pasha: It’s either training in the gym or sitting at home crying . Erik, you’ve been sitting quietly in the corner up until now. You’re part of the younger generation of Latvian practitioners. How did you get into it? Erik: 3 years ago I was into breakdancing and I saw some guys who were doing wallspins and I wanted to do what they were doing. That was what got me interested initially.
like Pasha. What are your goals with all of this? Erik: I would like to somehow combine my life and work through Parkour. Dude, we just can’t stop you from talking can we? Erik: Huh? Nevermind. So you’re the youngest member of the team, I’m guessing that you get a hard time from the others? Erik: Yeah, pretty much . Djuxa: Every year we make a trip to Daugavpils in the summer and any new guys get put through an initiation
“I’m still at school but I train as oten as I possibly can”
Who did you train with in the beginning? Erik: To start with I was practising with my class mate from school. Then when I moved into the Riga district, I found procedure with pranks these guys and started to train . So you could say that with them. Erik was a victim with of the big Djuxa: I remember Erik pranks this year. coming to train in the gym where I worked but he was training more in acrobatic tricks All of them? Djuxa: Erm…..yeah, instead of straight up Parkour. most of them. But now you’re a full time Like what? Parkour guy, right? Djuxa: Usual stuff like Erik: Parkour and Freerunning toothpaste on his face when for me is the same thing. he’s sleeping, his clothes getting Freedom of expression. I’m still dumped in water and getting at school but train as often as I shaved. possibly can. Erik: They fucking shaved my hair. Who in the scene do you draw inspiration from? It all sounds tame to me. Did it Erik: In Latvia I draw inspiration from my team mates piss you off?
Erik: Yes I wanted to kill them . Djuxa: . Djuxa, you can’t laugh really, as you were victim of the pooper scooper incident in Dubai with us. Djuxa: Oh man, the poop story again . Well it’s kinda the same thing here with pretty heavy treatment, so I know how Erik feels. But joking aside, none of it is done with bad intentions. If you can get through the initiation process and not get too upset about it , you earn the respect from the rest of the team. Sounds like gloried bullying to me . What else is looming on the horizon for you guys? You mentioned something about stunt work earlier to me. Djuxa: The jobs that really pay the bills are in shooting, so I’m moving more towards stunt work where my skills and preparation really help me. I’m aiming at working in the movies and getting in with the stunt association. Best of luck with all of that. How about the Parkour scene in Latvia, are you guys still nurturing and developing it all? Djuxa: Back in the day we used to work very hard to make people more aware of Parkour and give a good image. Now days I’m not too concerned as I want to train myself and train with my guys so we can make some movies and develop other projects. I’m not bothered too much about what people think, I just want to make it happen. Those who like it, we welcome you. Those who don’t, fuck off . So with this in mind, I don’t really concern myself too much about the community as it kinda takes care of itself. As long
I’m not defending his actions but if there’s a random wall with graff situated anywhere in the world, it would be rude not to climb it.
Apparently this historic site has a really interesting story to do with World War II but upon pressing the guys for further info, they looked at me blankly and simply simply said “It’s great for training.” Ignorance is bliss....
A great location for a bit of climbing.
The Viking shows his best poker face.
Try seeing life from my perspective.
This running precision was suggested to Erik and he said “No way!” but after sizing it up and doing a few prep runs, he decided to go for it and nail ed it cleanly after the second full attempt, where he had to really power into it. Once it was in the bag, he cranked it out time and time again with no worries at all. all .
as I can take care of myself and my guys, it’ll last and everything will be just ne.
chance to travel with Parkour. I can only talk from my own experiences in meeting practitioners from around Before we wind things up, any the world, but when you meet parting messages? people from different countries Pasha: I love Freerunning who do the same thing as you . and share the same passion for Erik: Pasha is stupid . movement, it makes you realise Anton: I would encourage that we are all part of one big people to get into the philosophy family. This is a beautiful of Parkour. For me, it has really feeling. Respect and best wishes helped my life outside of just from Latvia to everyone out overcoming obstacles in there who’s reading this. Parkour. I no longer train as hard as I did a couple of years Nice closing words. Thanks for ago but I still use the same your time guys. The next time philosophy in my normal life. It I decide to come over, I’ll wait has really helped me grow as s until the summer. person. No problem. You’re welcome Djuxa: I just hope my guys get a over here anytime. Some useful links: Djuxa’s channel: www.youtube.com/user/DjuXa Pasha’s channel: www.youtube.com/Pasha3run Erik’s channel: www.youtube.com/user/sony250295 Video of Anton (ToXa) beatboxing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=RL1nU3uUHt4
Come and take a walk in my world.
UF Al t hots o
Shade Zlat (Russia) Right now Russia is one country that is producing som surprise as the architecture there is as close to perect Freerunning. One o the people who’s making a name who hails rom Moscow. As can be seen in this edit, he i possessing tight skills and bags o creativity. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUHUQ2r8DDc
Wake Up (France) l Star athlete, Edwin Condette, is someone who’s been impressing everyone or a long ime now. Based n Paris, France, he is lucky enough to be close enough to all the major ots and has trained with all the big names. In this video he demonstrates a ull range kills that includes speed, power, precision and a light sense o touch. Awesome stu. stu. www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkGsdXl32n8
top quality athletes. It’s no s you’d want or Parkour and r himsel over there is Shade Zlat, sn’t alone when it comes to
Athlete: Matt “Blurr” Childress (USA) Photographer: Dakota Phelps
UNDERPRESSURE Review by Brad Wendes Photo’s by Brad Wendes and Suzi Appleby www.teamkinetix.co.uk
Those o you that are into lm-making may have heard about the latest HD oering rom the US-based GoPro Cameras; The GoPro Hero. Now I’ve been trying to get my hands on one o these cameras to test or quite some time, so when one arrived at my door I was over the moon. For those o you that are unamiliar with the GoPro Hero I ’ll get tech stu out o the way rst: GoPro’s HD HERO Naked is the world’s highest perormance wearable 1080p HD video and stills photo camera. Proessional quality 1080p / 960p / 720p HD resolutions record at 30 and 60 rames per second (60 ps ps in 720p) and record up to 2.5 hours on a single charge. The camera can also shoot automatic 5 megapixel photos at 2/5/10/30 and 60 second intervals during your activity activity,, hands ree. Simply press the shutter button once at the start o your activity. All the data is saved on an SD card (not included) to make retrieving your pictures and videos nice and easy. Included are an elastic head strap and one sticky mount or attaching the camera to a helmet or other curved surace as well as the waterproo quick-release quick-release HD housing which protects the camera. With the housing on it’s waterproo to 180’ / 60m and pretty sturdy thanks to its removable polycarbonate housing. Replacement housings and lens kits are also available. The GoPro Hero has a xed sheye lens with 170 degree eld o view, or 127 degrees in ull 1080 HD mode. For more detailed tech specs you can visit the GoPro website: www.goprocamera.com
So, on paper it sounds like an awesome a wesome piece o kit and it’s small enough to t in the palm o your hand as well as being light enough to strap to your head and train in. Sounds too good to be true but there’s only one way to nd out or sure, so I put strapped the camera onto my head and went out to well and truly put it through its paces....
Taken with the Go Pro Camera.
Looks:
It looks like a toy camera and not at all like a wide-angled ull HD 60ps beast. To be honest, this thing looks more likely to shoot water out o it than get clear crisp action shots. The GoPro Hero is very basic to look at, it’s it ’s just a grey box about as big as 2 matchboxes with 2 unmarked buttons a lens and small LCD display on the ront. When it’s in the polycarbonate housing it looks more like an expensive piece o kit, but regardless, you will look a bit stupid running around with a camera strapped to your head. Score: 2/5 It’s just a grey plastic box. Usability:
For something that appears very simple, it was quite dicult to get to grips with initially, as the only screen on the GoPro Hero is a small LCD on the ront and the menu system isn’t as intuitive as I’d expected. With only two buttons, one o which being the shutter release, you pretty much navigate the menu with one button and use the shutter button to select/modiy an option. For the rst time in memory, I was stumped at how to set the thing up without rst reading the manual. The act that there are only 2 buttons on the GoPro Hero means that I
was regularly setting o the shutter without meaning to. Ater each session I got home to nd a selection o unfattering pictures o mysel looking at the lens with a conused look on my ace. Fortunately the GoPro Hero remembers your settings so you only have to go through the options once to change video mode. Each video mode is represented by a number in the menu, but these numbers are printed on a sticker on the battery cover to make changing the settings simpler when out shooting. Ater some experimenting, the only setting I used to record any video was ‘r3’ mode, which is 720p, 60ps, 170 degree eld o view. Once set up, the camera was simple to use, one button turns it on/o and toggles between stills, multi-shot and video recording (these modes are clearly displayed on the screen as easily identied i dentied icons) the other button either takes a picture or starts/stops starts/st ops recording. The battery is charged by a simple USB cable and lasted longer than I needed or one training session. With the head strap on it was easy to press the correct button and hear the beep that indicates the start or end o a recording.
It takes ages to look this good.
Wear a camera on your head and you too, will get strange looks.
Taken with the Go Pro Camera.
Score: 3/5 Tough menu system, simple to use camera. Features:
Sadly the GoPro Hero has no screen or viewnder viewnder,, so not only can you not accurately line up a shot, you also can’t review any ootage or images without taking out the SD card or plugging the camera into your computer. computer. The wide angle lens helps a lot as you can get away with pointing it at the action and snapping away. away. I always set the camera to take three shots in quick succession to maximize my chances o getting something worth keeping. Unortunately you have no idea when the GoPro Hero will actually capture the image ater you press the button. I got home to nd too many pictures that had been taken too early or too late. *Rumour has it that GoPro are releasing a plug-in screen or the rear o the camera. There is a clear slot or it to plug into already built onto the unit. The addition o this screen would make the GoPro Hero much more ecient as a camera. The headstrap that came with my camera is elastic with rubber grip on the inside o the strap. While it’s not very comortable, it does stay on your head while running, vaulting, climbing or even in handstand. In my opinion the head strap would
benet rom the addition o a chin strap as it had a tendency to fy o when any o the guys were trying to fip with it on. The head strap also took away the need or a viewnder while recording whatever you look at, the GoPro Hero is also looking at. The size o the GoPro Hero is also a major bonus. It’s so tiny I ound mysel taking it everywhere just because I could. The act it’s waterproo and pretty durable also helps. Score: 3/5 Seriously needs a screen! Video Quality:
The selection o video modes the GoPro Hero can record in was impressive, especially the 1080p 30ps mode. Although I preerred the 720p, 60ps mode as it gave a wider-angle view and I tend to only output video at 720p.The quality o the videos was better than expected and looked signicantly better than ootage rom other small cameras such as the Flip Mino HD. There are no manual settings or exposure, white balance or ocus – which is sensible as there’s no screen or viewnder viewnder.. The automatic settings generally worked out quite well when we were shooting indoors and outdoors with only some o the pictures taken on a cloudy day appearing dull. All the ootage is saved as MP4 les which are easily
Taken with the Go Pro Camera. As can be seen here, it’s a bit of a lottery with regard to capturing images and framing them correctly, as there’s no way of checking your shots on the spot.
imported into Windows Movie Maker or Adobe Premiere. There was some conversion needed to import into Final Cut or iMovie, but the sotware or this was available as a ree download and there was no apparent loss o quality. As I lmed it all at 60 rames per second I was also able to slow down the ootage while keeping it looking smooth. This unit is made to capture ootage and it does that very well. Score: 4/5 Pretty impressive for a tiny camera. Photograph Quality:
The GoPro Hero shoots 5MegaPixel stills which was quite disappointing given that this is quickly becoming the basic standard quality or mobile phones. Once again the lack o a screen or viewnder makes taking action shots more a game o chance than anything else. As with the video mode, the exposure and white balance are automatic and worked quite well.The sheye lens has a xed aperture o /2.8 which should let a lot o light into the camera. The shutter speed is also too slow to capture action, so I ended up with a lot o very blurred action shots. Score: 1/5 Might as well use your mobile phone! Sound Quality:
According to the GoPro website they have “invested more in the HD HERO camera’s sound system than most companies spend on their entire camera development.” I think they wasted their money! With the polycarbonate housing on the camera (which is required to attach it to any o the mounts or straps) all you get is mufed sounds, wind noise and the occasional rumble as something touches the casing. Most Parkour/Freerun videos tend to take the sound out anyway so this isn’t such a drawback, but ater the company made such a uss about how good the sound quality was, I was disappointed. Score: 1/5 Great if you don’t want to use the casing. Durability:
This is another eature that the GoPro Hero is amous or, the website states that the polycarbonate housing is “Shockproo “Shockproo,, Waterproo and Bombproo”. I’m inclined to believe them. I tested how tough the camera was by immersing it in water, dropping it out o a second storey window onto tarmac, throwing it as high as possible and watching it crash to the ground and even standing on it. Not even a scratch and the camera continues to unction. The only issue I experienced was on one occasion the camera few o my head mid-gainer,
What you see, the camera sees.
So small it ts in the palm of your hand.
the impact knocked the SD card loose and I had to reset the camera. That’s more than could be said or my Sony or Canon cameras. I you do manage to scratch the lens, it simply unscrews and a replacement is available or $20. The polycarbonate housing can also be replaced or $40. Score: 5/5 I’ve never seen anything like it.
ollow the subject o your video, which makes or some great ootage. I you are a lmmaker looking or another camera to get some great ootage with, then go out and buy one o these right now! The quality is great and the First Person shots look like something straight out o Mirrors Edge.
Value:
The GoPro Hero is priced between £260 & £300 online with www.purelygadgets.co.uk coming out cheapest in a quick Google search. For the video quality it is worth that much money, but the lack o other eatures (like a viewnder!) do let the camera down somewhat.
I you’re a regular person looking to buy one camera, this is probably not the camera or you. There are much more versatile high-de cameras out there in the same price range. Although they’re not bombproo,, they will have a viewnder bombproo vi ewnder and you’ll able to review your pictures and video straight away.
Score: 3/5 Great video quality but needs more features.
Overall Score: 3/5 Impressive video quality. Incredibly durable. Lacking in features for the price.
Overall:
Ater a couple o weeks using the GoPro Hero the novelty wore o and I stopped strapping to my head at every opportunity, but I still took it everywhere. The ootage always looks great and it’s almost impossible to break the thing. But you can’t make an entire video rom First Person Perspective as it gets boring very quickly. You can strap it to your head and
Athlete: Rocko Rovira (Mexico) www.urbanrunners.net Photographer: Humberto Bermúdez Cárdenas http://jpgmag.com/people/hbc31
RT GUADALAJARA 2010 Words - Francisco ‘Pyro’ Peñaloza Photography - Francisco ‘Pyro’ Peñaloza and Veronica Gomez When I heard that this event was getting close (about three months ago), I immediately sent an e-mail to Ez to ask him if he wanted me to cover the jam, so here I am.... The RT Guadalajara (organized by different groups, especially the Monos Urbanos from that same city), one of the biggest here in Mexico, takes place in the beautiful city of Guadalajara, in the BIG state of Jalisco. Near the western coast of Mexico, Guadalajara is an amazing city, full of hotels, museums and restaurants, and, of course, with a really friendly and outstanding Parkour community.
website to cancel my subscription, a friend of mine (Paul Maldonado) came to my rescue. I’ve known him for more than a year and he’s a member of Monos Urbanos like me. He offered to take me and my photographer, Vero Gomez, to the RTG, since he was already going and he had a car ready to roll. So, we three met in the outskirts of Mexico City ready for a long drive and a great Jam the next day. After some “tortas” were eaten (bread with mayonnaise, cheese, beans, sliced onions and chilli) we set off for Guadalajara. After six hours of driving an almost interminable highway through four different states (drinking coke, eating chips and listening to Manafest, System Of A Down and Linkin Park along the way) we nally made it. It was almost eleven o’clock when we made it Guadalajara City, so we were only thinking of getting to a hotel as soon as possible to leave our stuff, get something to eat and rest a little bit for the next day; and here is where the TRUE adventure started.
hotel. A few blocks from where we ate, we found an old-looking cab driver who asked us “Hey youngsters are you looking somewhere to spend the night? I know a couple of places where you might get a room for a good price”. After leading us to one with no electric power, he took us to this weird looking hotel not too far from the centre of the city, with an almost useless elevator and a long counter on the entrance. We were too tired and it was too late to keep searching, so we checked in and got a room with three individual beds.
To cut a long story short, it was one of the worst nights any of The RTG has had already three us had spent anywhere. The successful and great versions, bathroom was full of beetles since 2008. This year, the jam and cockroaches, the lights on was scheduled for August 14th, the hallway were almost off, in the training spot known as the door didn’t seem to be all “Rio de Janeiro”, right in the that much safe and the blankets middle of Guadalajara city, but were either burned or with spots the inscription opened on July of something that looked like from the same year. Even since bleach (we wanted to believe it the webpage from the Jam was bleach). We ended up started running, hundreds of sleeping at 1.30am with our people got in to get registered, r egistered, jackets over the pillows and share thoughts of what they leaving the blankets as they believed the RT would be, and to were. The next day, after getting check out the event in general. up at seven o’ clock and Well, it wasn’t all that much A lot of the cheap hotels (we packing everything to get the different for me. I got in, were staying only one night!) hell out from that place, we registered myself, checked out were full, others were above our stopped at a store to get a coffee the organisation, chatted about available budget and others were and some pancakes, we headed it with my partners, paid my simply too far from the event over the “Rio de Janeiro” spot, fee and got all excited for the location. After an hour driving and arrived an hour later. Just jam; and when the jam was a from here to there, we stopped getting out of the car and staring week away I realised: How the searching to eat some tacos at the place, we loved it. heck am I going to get there?!? I before starting again from hadn’t even bought a bus ticket scratch. Once we were or anything!! And it was 500 completely full (you don’t know kilometres away!!! Just when I how many tacos it took), we set was visiting the off again in search of a damned
The tee free tee shirt giveaway. Free shirts?....I won’t say no.
out the lists where our names The “Rio de Janeiro” park is were and our payments, and full of handrails, walls, stone drew a number number and either a obstacles, bridges, stairs, deep circle or a cross on our forearms, zones and abandoned concrete to divide all the participants in structures, all traceable and ten different groups. After this big enough to sustain the three was done, they made us gather hundred and sixty people that were going to session there. Add around some fountains with big this to the structures brought by red blocks on them. There they explained to us that according to the different organisations and the sponsors, like a complete tube numbers on our forearms, we jungle and some mats, and you would divide in groups, each one had the perfect place to session going to one of the ten all day long. different spots, and after a certain amount of time, we Some of the main sponsors would rotate to the next spot. would be Nike, Bullet and Redbull. Though the event was Once this was explained, we starting at ten in the split up into the different groups morning, the place already had of about 35 or 40 persons in loads of people there, either each one, and after a good warm vaulting through the set up structures or taking a look at the up, we started. Training in the different spots was insane. Each whole park. A few minutes after one of them had different arriving there, we met up with obstacles, and everyone had Erik “Sama” Silva, a friend of our that came from Mexico City. different ways of vaulting through them. Perhaps the most Together we visited the popular structures were the different spots and sessioned high-jumps zone and the cars some of them, saluted some zone. One of the spots consisted friends of Paul and Vero, and of two Volkswagens (known waited for the nal registration r egistration commonly as “Vochos” here in to start. Half an hour after we Mexico) and an old pick-up, arrived, a Redbull truck made it totally rusty and with grafti all there, to put up a big open tent over them, but that were and unload a lot of free perfect to practice kongs, product, ready to be absorbed dashes, speeds, and everything by the practitioners that were that you could imagine; I even there. Soon the tent was full of saw someone make a double people, since they were side ip over the pick-up! reproducing different Red Bull Art Of Motion videos, showing up what had happened Around four in the afternoon, the food was brought besides the out there. Amongst some of the T-shirts of the event, a little bit persons that came to the jam, too late, but that everyone was were Kat and Rokk from Monos Urbanos, and UF All Star athlete expecting. An hour was given for everyone to attack head-on the Daer Sanchez from Urban baguettes, the Redbulls and the Runners. horchata waters (a cold drink, made from ground tiger nuts or Finally, the time for the almonds, milk and sugar) given registration started. They made to everybody; and nevertheless, us form a line behind a counter some people ate them whole in 5 set in the Red Bull tent, where minutes, as to be able to some of the instructors checked
continue training and enjoy the favourite spots before they got too crowded. After everyone nished, they led us to the high-jump zone, where they thanked us for assisting and hoped that we enjoyed the event. Just after that, they started throwing T-shirts into the air, and it was a true battle between almost four hundred persons to get extra tees. Also, they made us run all around the place, searching for 4 small pieces of paper that said “Yeah!” on them, and the person that found them would get either a Parkour back-pack, or any of the three different pair of Nike trainers, with the only clue that “we had traced over them”; so imagine a bunch of frantic and excited monkeys turning upside down the mats, dismantling the “Vochos” and tearing apart anything that could fall in their hands. Really Loco!! After the four lucky traceurs were given their gifts, everyone set off to train wherever they wanted, either practicing ips, vaults, lashes, precisions, 360’s, cat leaps..... well, you get the point. At the end of the night, everyone still had energy to stay the whole weekend, but unfortunately, they had to clean up the place and clear up everything. So, at eleven everyone said their farewells, exchanged e-mails and grinned, for most of them would be returning to the RT Guadalajara 2011.
http://jihane.ktp-concept.fr
JJ GODA GETS CAUGHT IN THE SPOTLIGHT WORDS AND PHOTOS BY EZ
Shortly after bringing JJ on board as a UF sponsored athlete, he was telling us about how good his own area was for training and that we should go and check it out. So in a bid to kill two birds with one stone, we took the opportunity to pay a little visit and grab some material for a feature.... Sup JJ, give us a brief introduction... JJ: My name is Jevgenij JJ Goda. My Christian name is Russian and my surname is Lithuanian. I was born in Lithuania but raised in England from the age of 4. Right now I’m based in Bexleyheath which is just on the border of North West Kent and South East London. How old are you now? JJ: I’m currently 18 years old. Are you studying or taking the McD’s route? JJ: I’m studying sports development coaching at North West Kent college in Dartford. Only kidding. So how long have you been Freerunning for? JJ: In January I’ll have been doing it for 4 years. How did you rst hear of it? JJ: Through the internet I saw the 3Run ‘Revolution’ video and that caught my attention. When they were doing wallspins in a tunnel I was amazed and just had to try and get into it somehow. What steps did you take from there? JJ: Well I just went out and started jumping off of things like into bushes and onto grass. Then one of my mates was like “Yeah that’s Freerunning” so we started to watch more and more videos, continued jumping around and got higher and higher . Sounds like a familiar clueless situation that almost all of us have gone through. At what point did you start to take it more seriously? JJ: I started to meet more and more people along the way and started to go out a lot more. So it was after about 6 months that we started to train pretty pr etty much every day and it all progressed from there.
What’s the motivation for you? JJ: For me it isn’t so much the Parkour or the Freerunning elements that stand out for me. It’s more about pushing your body to a certain limit and breaking boundaries. That’s one thing that makes it amazing for me and keeps me going. What’s the ultimate goal for you? JJ: I’ve looked into becoming a stuntman where my strengths would be Freerunning and martial arts. Martial arts too? What style do you practise? JJ: Muay Thai boxing which I used to compete in but I haven’t for a while now.
ips and back ips etc. Do you still train with any of them? JJ: Yeah, Ash and Chima are 2 of my closest Freerunning pals. In any given week, how many days would you practise for? JJ: At least 5 days a week. Sounds heavy duty. You mentioned that you’re studying sports coaching so I’m guessing you’re on the ball as far as recuperation goes? JJ: Oh yeah, don’t get me wrong, my training is all structured. Some days we’ll go out and just do upper body conditioning using a couple of simple bars in
to tackle. But with experience I’ve grown and I now use those same obstacles to jump over, use as an elevation to a higher point or to create combinations. I said before that I love pushing limits and because I’ve trained so much at these spots, I can clearly see a marked improvement all round. That’s great, but doesn’t training at the same spot make things stale in the sense of you running out of things to do as your vision widens? JJ: Not for me. I manage to nd new things to do every day.
Do you have training partners around here or are you a solo yer? JJ: We have a group that we call Is Freerunning your chosen Resolution and it’s made up of ‘way’ now? about 20 of us. We all live within “These days JJ: Yeah 100% Freerunning a 20 minute bus ride of each Southbank has now. I never liked football or other. My closest Freerunning standard style sporting buddy is fellow UF athlete, Zak become a bit activities and when it came to Sinclair who only lives a couple o a trophy spot” physical education at school, I or streets away and we’ve been just couldn’t be bothered. But training together pretty much then we were lucky enough to every day since we started this have teachers who would allow journey. We really push each us to get the crash mats out and other and I guess I’m lucky in mess about doing ips, so that’s a park. Other days we’ll just drill that sense. the path I took and I haven’t precision jumps or we’ll session looked back since. ips. Other times we’ll organise I’ve seen you in loads of the big training sessions where we’ll London videos that have been Good to hear that your school drill the whole Freerunning set produced and uploaded on encouraged you. Anyway, 4 intensively. the net. From my perspective, years is quite a healthy amount Southbank and the of time to have under your belt. We’ve just come back from surrounding areas have been I’m guessing you’ve seen many shooting in your local area and absolutely rinsed and offer people come and go. Does you mentioned something about nothing of great interest. What anyone or any group stick out looking back at your old videos keeps you going back for more? in your mind as being the most and seeing what a noob you JJ: It’s not as inspiring as it used help to you in the early days? were. Seeing as you train so to be when I rst started out but JJ: Yeah, there was a group extensively there, you must see these days Southbank has from Dartford called Ultimate all kinds of opportunities become a bit of a trophy spot. Freedom and we hooked up with opening up as you become more them to learn some basic stuff. experienced? What do you mean? From there I met Chima who JJ: Yeah, denitely. There are JJ: Ok you might have seen showed me a bunch of stuff and a bunch of places that I used to someone in a video do a double also Ash who got me into the look at with fear or had kong or a diving kong at Imax 2, tricking side of things with palm obstacles that I had no idea how but you need to go down there to
In his noob days, JJ would kong from this car park and roll up the hill. We’ve all done stupid things at one time or another.
If I’m honest, Bexleyheath looked a bit on the bland side. However, wherever we went there were plenty of opportunities to drill techs.
really get an understanding of As you’re aware, there are no is so uid. He can get a simple the size of it all. So what you shortcuts to getting procient, car tyre and manage to session have is everyone pushing so if they want to get ‘good’ they kong gainers, lazy gainers and themselves to get to that kind of need to put in the time. Do any stuff like that. I like how he is standard. It’s the one place that of them show promise? so clean with his movement and everyone can go to in JJ: Some of them are getting also when he exits out of a order to collect their trophies. pretty good. The resources are technique, he’ll add some spins Look, if somebody comes over all there, Youtube has hundreds for good measure. I also like from France, they’re not going of videos to watch, there are Danny Ilabaca because his to come down to Bexleyheath. indoor gyms to train at, there movements are so awless. Even They’re going to head to the are parks being built and for if he does something wrong and famous hotspots to kong clear at those who want to travel, there’s bails, he manages to make it Imax 2. always London . look so beautiful . Have you picked up your trophy yet? JJ: Nah. I could probably double kong Imax 2. I already kong precision, kong speed speed step it and kong clear it but the diving kong is scary because of the dreadful drop. Do you have places here with similar dimensions without the drop, that you can practise at? JJ: There are a few spots but they are restrictive in the sense that they’ve got bars on top of the walls and the technique needed to deal with them are different to Imax 2.
You mentioned Youtube which is packed with PK/FR videos. Do you use Youtube as a source of inspiration? JJ: Yeah, I’m subscribed to over 500 different athletes and groups. Sometimes I can have
“Seriously, i we had that setup to play with in the UK, we’d be next level in terms o bar skills”
With Freerunning being so widespread these days, do you up to 40 new videos to watch in see many newcomers stepping a day. up to learn? JJ: Yeah, we’ve got about 30 Who’s inspiring you there right kids in my area who are into it now? and they all know who we are, JJ: Line Team Traceurs from which is strange. They know our Portugal, the Russian guys like names and where we live from Shade Zlat and some of the watching our videos. Scary stuff Australian guys. It’s great to see . so many styles and when they pull off something new, you Are the beginners you see, want to go out and learn it but sensible in their approach and because your own style might do they follow your lead? be different, you add your own JJ: A lot of them are doing it just avour to it. That’s something I to show off and want to do all really like. the difcult techniques without learning the Any one person who really fundamentals. There’s only so stands out in the scene for you much that we can do to help right now? them along. JJ: Shade Zlat because his style
How about travelling, have you done much yourself? JJ: Not a great deal but I’ve been to Latvia where I made a couple of videos of me training in abandoned buildings and in trees. Did you train at the famous blue bars area? JJ: Yeah in Daugavpils. Those bars are amazing and are all over the place. Seriously, if we had that setup to play with here in the UK, we’d be next level in terms of bar skills. We were discussing d iscussing this during our shoot earlier and you said something about the necessity to power into certain moves in order to step your game up. To get to the point where you are able to do this, surely it’s a condence thing? JJ: There’s always that fear and doubt which is good because it keeps you sharp and alert, but I’ve turned that into a game. I don’t go all out with the condence thing but like to challenge it from time to time. Let’s say that there’s a move that I want to do but I keep egging out of doing it. I might say that today isn’t my day and that I’ll come back another time. But what’s the difference between another day and now? I know I can do the move without any problems. So we play a game
JJ’s own Youtube channel can be ound at
- www. www.youtube.com/ youtube.com/risingtideproduction risingtideproduction
where we say that you either do this move now or you go home. With that I mind, I have to go back to my starting point and either do the move or pick up my bag and go home. It’s as simple as that. I’ll be standing there and will ask for one more chance to prep it to check it’s all ne. I’ll then go back and that’s it. I’ve committed myself to doing it. This approach has helped me countless times.
Ouch! Just the one injury? JJ: No I did the same thing again but with the other ankle. I went back to the same bush and backipped into it. My mentality at the time was like, ok I’ve done this jump plenty of times before and what are the chances of me landing on that stump again? You tard! JJ: I know but luckily it wasn’t a break. I just severely sprained it and was out for 6 weeks.
Hmmmm but surely it’s seen you get mangled up too? JJ: Well you’ve seen in my showreel where I was on the You were very lucky and seeing as you have age on your side, bars at the end. That took a lot I imagine both injuries healed of attempts and in the process I got winded, landed on without worry. Does the one that my ass and over-rotated. This was because I played the game . “I got winded, Sorry JJ but I think your game is seriously awed. What do you call this game? JJ: We call it the game . Ok, outside of bailing during the game, have you suffered any injuries during your time in PK/ FR? JJ: When I started out, one of the rst tricks I nailed was a backip. So being a complete noob I found a soft bush and backipped off a 1st storey car park into it. I did it a few times ok and was then going to lm it for a video. I backipped, landed awkwardly on the stump and snapped my ankle completely! It was a nice clean snap and I had to hop home with one of my mates holding me up. It had to be snapped back into place and I was in a cast for 6 weeks and then had to have a thinner cast put on for another 6 weeks. Then I had a couple of weeks doing physiotherapy and hydrotherapy.
landed on my ass and over-rotate over-rotated. d. This was because I played the game”
get better. Well that was well deserved but with the sponsorship, it’s there to support up and coming talent like you and shine some spotlight your way. If you want to be a pro in any game, you need to build your prole up and climb that ladder. Right now the dynamic has changed massively in the scene so to get noticed these days, you need to get your ass out there and rep. None of it is rocket science…. JJ: Well it denitely gave me a boost in morale, so thanks. No sweat. Outside of training, do you watch much TV? JJ: I don’t have time really. I spend most time outside training and don’t spend a lot of time in the house. So for you, Freerunning is taking up a major chunk of your life? JJ: Yeah pretty much but I absolutely love it. I wouldn’t trade it for anything else.
Throughout our conversations today you’ve only ever mentioned Freerunning as broke ever play up? opposed to Parkour. What’s your JJ: From time to time it gets take on the debate? swollen and I get a sharp pain JJ: I’m not bothered, it’s all but generally I’m ok. the same thing for me. Like I said before, it’s all just creating Let’s change things to a slightlier movement to overcome happier note, what music are obstacles using your body. you listening to at the moment? JJ: Manafest, Australian hip Good answer. Do you do any hop/R&B. I love the soulfulness other sports to supplement your of it and the scratching. It really Freerunning? calms me down. JJ: Not sports per se, the supplementation training is When you say it calms you through natural bodyweight down, what stresses are there in resistance training. Plenty of your life then? muscles ups, push ups, pull ups, JJ: Oh no, everything in my life dips etc. We’ve got a thousand is really cool right now. Getting step stair set that goes up a into the UF sponsored team massive hill. We use this for really picked me up too and has plyo’s and cat crawls up and inspired me to train harder and down. If it’s raining and we
On top of the World, baby!
Kong precision to front ip in view of CCTV camera’s. It took about 5 mins before we were asked to move on.
don’t have anywhere to drill, we’ll go there, put on our hoodies and use the stairs.
What are your views on of months and already busting competition within the scene? out with round off wall twists! JJ: I think it’s important but can How the hell is that possible? understand why some people Do you get hassle from anyone would be against it. Personally, I don’t know about you, but around here like security or it’s like the Imax 2 trophy that scares me in the sense that police? scenario. If I see a world there’s an abundance of kids out JJ: One of our favourite spots is champion it gives me something there learning all the fancy shit at the local Sainsbury’s and the to set my sights on in terms of before they’ve put in the time security have to be seen to move skills. I think it’s healthy to have to drill the fundamentals. I’ve us on. However, we’re always competition. seen many people who can do a polite and have gotten quite full list of ips n spins but can’t friendly and even though it’s Talking of Imax again, the execute a kong, precision or cat their job to move us on, if we are average level of practitioners leap to save their lives. Don’t lming something in particular, now seems to be pretty high. even get me started on rolling. they’ll say “ok lads you’ve got 5 If you go back to 2003 when I JJ: Yeah, they don’t train in mins before you’ve got to go”. started, you’d be considered a what we call the ‘healthy stuff’ God if you could do a gainer or and I think it’s shocking that That’s really good to hear. Being a sideip . Seeing as some people are jumping from polite can sometimes pay you’re a highly active height without rolling. dividends. practitioner stuck in the middle JJ: Yeah but when we shot How do you think we can we at Sainsbury’s today that guy address this properly? moved us straight away. JJ: It’s a tough one. Classes and “I think it’s tutorials but some people still shocking that Well if truth be told, he was won’t listen. When it comes to a just a cleaner and had no right video tutorial of a roll, so many some people are to move us on, but I couldn’t people will bypass it to watch jumping rom height be bothered to argue the point. something with the wow factor. If anything, it felt like we did It’s a shame. without rolling” a good deed because that little power trip probably made his Have you seen many injuries? day. JJ: Quite a few. Most recently JJ: No doubt. some noob attempted to do a of it all, are you consciously kong with no form and smashed When you’re training do you aware of what’s going on? his shin on the sharp edge of a prefer being in a group? JJ: Oh yeah. You’ll get wall. He ended up with 12 JJ: Denitely because you can beginners stepping up who can stitches. A nice trophy for him I push each other. If you’re alone do a standing frontip on at guess . it’s sometimes easy to give after 2 days and can do a yourself a limit but when with backip on at after 3 days. It’s Do you train inside? others, they can push you to step scary. When I started, I’d just JJ: I train sometimes at up and they’ll be like “come on, watch videos and imagine what Beckton. It’s £5 for a mammoth you know you can do it” and kind of gyms I could go to session but the thing that makes they’ll be winding you up. because there weren’t that me sad is seeing all the many. But now kids can go and beginners there who are missing Sounds like you’re having fun buy crash mats or go to a gym out on those outdoor noob days too. Does humour play a part in and be nailing twists and a of self discovery. it all for you? gainer full twist within a couple JJ: Oh yeah, you have to have of weeks. What you see is kids Do you look back fondly on your a laugh and not take things too going to gyms every day in the time as a beginner? seriously. I do take my training summer, nailing a load of techs JJ: Yeah, your knees do talk to very seriously but I also like to and then rocking up at you and ask “why did you just laugh with my mates. Especially Southbank telling you they’ve put me through that?” when they bail . only been training for a couple whereas when you become more
parents liked the fact that you experienced, you aim to be as quiet as possible and have a light are active and not taking the bad route, but do you ever encounter touch. But back in the day we’d temptations? jump from height and do some stupid stuff but as odd as it may JJ: I’ve tried smoking and didn’t like it. I might have a couple of sound, it really was the perfect beers every now and then but beginning because we had so I don’t like getting drunk. We much fun but also learned a have a skate park nearby and hard lesson early on about self for the skaters it’s considered as preservation. being cool to be into that whole drugs and alcohol thing. I don’t So you wouldn’t change those see the point. experiences? JJ: Not at all. It stood us in good Is there a clash between the stead and got all the bad stuff groups at all? out of the system. JJ: No not at all. We’re known as the Freerunners in the area Interesting theory. What do and it’s all cool. There are a few your parents think of you being gangs in the area too and they’ll a Freerunner? come up and say “can you do JJ: They love the fact that I’m that thing where you run up the so active. My whole family are active with my dad being a black belt in Tae Kwondo, who’s won different championships. My “You really need to brother plays football and my mum is an ex dancer. Their view v iew have the ull noob is that if I’m doing a positive treatment and activity and steering clear of the negatives like drugs and alcohol, learn all the basics” it can only be a good thing.
shortcuts. You really need to have the full noob treatment and learn all the basics like how to land properly, how to roll. If anything, stick to Parkour in the beginning because you don’t really need ips. That stuff will come later on. Oh yeah, don’t be in a rush to put out videos. While it might be good to lm your progress, nobody really wants to see a noob doing a 3ft precision. At least wait until you’ve reached a procient level before uploading videos for the world to see. How about training in a gym, good or bad? JJ: I’d say to leave the gym until later on. There’s really no need because in the beginning if you’re sensible, you’ll only be drilling basics so there’s no real chance of hurting yourself. The gym can come later on when you know what you’re doing and want to try out the more ambitious stuff in safety, before taking it to the streets. Do you think that gym training can give you a false sense of security? JJ: Yeah denitely. I’ve seen people doing stuff indoors knowing full well that they are in a safe padded environment but then thinking that they’ll be able to do the same techniques outside. Some people need to nd out the hard way I guess.
It’s brilliant that they support you. Does that support extend to knowing what you’re up to with wall” and it’s ok . We your Freerunning and watching know them all by name and one your videos etc? day they came out and JJ: Yeah, for instance when I attempted to train with us. They was putting my showreel together, I had my mum sit in to were jumping off of walls and obviously had no technique but give some feedback but they were ok with us. It’s all ne. sometimes she annoys me by saying “you could have pulled We talked before about how Do you follow a strict diet? your pants up there” and “you noobs in the scene aren’t JJ: Not consciously. I try to should have moved that bag earning their stripes by make sure I eat something high because it’s in shot” and I’m learning all the fundamentals bre in the mornings and I have like ok mum but can you just and are instead, opting for all a healthy dinner every night at watch what I’m doing instead the big stuff. What advice would home. But between that I pick . you personally pass down to a up whatever I can get . beginner wanting to get into Nothing but love for this? What does JJ Goda think of JJ our mothers. I think it’s great JJ: You’ve denitely got to start Goda then? that she’s taking a real interest, from the very beginning and JJ: With Freerunning I don’t you’re very lucky. You don’t be tempted to take want it to come across as big mentioned before that your
Another shot that had to be grabbed quickly, as security where on form and out with a vengeance.
Tic tac to cat leap in a favourite hotspot of JJ’s. This was one place where we had no hassle whatsoever.
headed, but I think that I’m really committed to this sport and if anyone were to see me, they’d think that I’m serious and could stand a chance of getting somewhere. I think my level right now is at an ok standard. As a person I like to joke about and not take life too seriously. Any up and coming plans to travel in order to train? JJ: I’m hopefully going to Lisses in the spring. I also plan to go back to Lithuania in the next couple of weeks but that’s more of a family trip. I’ll do a bit of training there though. My friends there are more into tricking, so it’ll be fun to pick up some new tricks from them. If you could jet off anywhere right now, where would it be? JJ: I denitely want to visit Australia. If I could, I’d love to hook up with Shaun Wood to train. He’s another one of those guys who has that clean movement. I’d love to hit New York too. Ok that’s about it. Before we wrap things up, do you want to throw a shout out to anyone? JJ: Yeah, to Resolution. They’ve been my boys since August 2006, so peace out to them. I love those guys. Thanks JJ. JJ: Thank you.
Athlete: Joakim Simonsen (Norway) Photographer: Eirin Myklebust
Athlete: Sylvain Laborde (France) Photographer: François ‘fOre1’ Constant www.ickr.com/photos/fore1 Constant
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN4AUFOE710
Athletes: Michel Podouchko and Clément Duveau (France) Photographer: Ludmila Stiebner
