Last week had me making the discovery of a tricking community within Tokyo. Though I hadn't been actively searching, I wouldn't have known where to begin even if I were. Tricking nests are small and known only to a handful of people. Without openly rejecting newcomers, it's kind of a closed community if only because there's such a limited number of practitioners.
I take pride in what tricks I can do. I started tricking on and off at the age of 15 and have developed a small repertoire of handy basic tricks - enough to impress an uneducated crowd. Front flips, wall flips, and a few other gimmicks here and there. I never, however, refer to myself as an "experienced" or even a particularly talented "tricker". I've only ever known a handful of those.
However, the Tokyo community, which bases its activities in the Itabashi area (a little ways outside of the heart of Tokyo) harbors trickers so powerful I can only refer to them as out of this world or demonic.
To think that some of the most talented of these trickers are 17 or 18 years old is mind-blowing. These guys are dedicated, attending the gym 3 times a week for 2 hours per session and just cramming tricks in succession. It's both humbling and inspiring, and so Millo and I have decided we will be attending once a week in hopes of learning from these guys. I'm already on my way to learning some pretty cool new stuff! The words may mean nothing to you, but I've got Cheat Gainer and Sideswipe on my list to learn for now.
Here's something new I learned already! Pretty basic, but until now I've never really learned any kick-type tricks (asides from the Butterfly Kick, but that's kind of a different thing completely.)
No comments:
Post a Comment