Flipping out
“He’s doing another trick!” one boy shouts to his two friends as they press their faces against the wooden bars at Kid’s Kastle. They are trying to catch a glimpse of senior Matt Johnson as he sprints towards a picnic table and vaults across the sidewalk. Johnson’s three fans follow him around the park as he back flips off the turret of the wooden castle, jumps off the roof and flies off a slide.
Though it may look like Johnson is performing tricks for the kids, he is actually practicing parkour, which is, according to Johnson, converting one’s own style of movement into a series of obstacles. Parkour involves anything from backflips to jumping between the roofs of buildings.
“Basically, if you like adrenaline, just go jump on stuff,” Johnson said. “That’s all it is. It’s a complete freedom sport. It’s whatever you want to do. Whatever you can do to your best potential, you do it.”
Johnson has been doing parkour off and on for about three years, but he said he has just recently become very good at it. He practices at least four times a week at places like Kid’s Kastle, the University of Texas in Arlington and the Shops at Legacy in Plano. He said he wants to start practicing in Fort Worth as well.
“It’s honestly like an everyday thing,” Johnson said. “Whenever I’m walking around, I see something, and I just go do it.”
Johnson first became interested in parkour after his brother introduced him to Youtube videos of the sport. Having taken a trampoline and tumbling class when he was younger, Johnson had already been doing flips since he was six-years-old. He said when he first started attempting parkour, he was a little scared.
“You just got to get your mind over matter,” Johnson said. “If you hesitate, you’re going to mess up, and I’ve hesitated plenty of times and have gotten hurt. Anytime you’ve got something big in front of you, it’s always going to be scary. It’s a matter of being able to say, ‘Okay I can do this. My body can do this.’”
Right now, Johnson is trying to get sponsored by the parkour company Take Flight. His ultimate goal is to become sponsored by Urban Freeflow, a professional parkour company. Take Flight is a clothing company endorsed by David Belle, who helped revolutionize parkour across the world.
“Getting sponsored by Take Flight gets your name out there,” Johnson said.
Johnson said he doesn’t really compete but does participate in parkour jams, which is a group of people showing off their parkour skills without competition. He frequently practices with freshman Ryan Reeves, who Johnson said is going to be good. Reeves said Johnson first got him started in parkour.
“It’s kind of fun to learn,” Reeves said. “But just having a second person is better because they see other stuff that you don’t see like different jumps.”
Johnson has suffered from multiple injuries as a result of parkour. One of these injuries, he will suffer from for the rest of his life. He tore a ligament in his ankle while trying to flip over a wet park bench, and according to his chiropractor, it will never heal.
“I just kept on going at it every day, and it’s kind of just always messed up now,” Johnson said. “It’s healed up enough to where it doesn’t hurt that bad, but I can still feel it.”
Johnson said he wants to continue parkour until his body no longer allows him. He said he hopes to use his parkour skills to become a stunt man in movies. He said despite being scared before diving into flips or making a big jump, he finds parkour extremely satisfying.
“I’m in it, and I always will be,” Johnson said. “I love it.”
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