An athletic young gentleman has a strolling run up of only a couple of paces and without blinking, throws his body several feet into the air in a sort of double-flip-somersault-kick. My jaw hits the floor. Behind him, his friend manages to pull off a sort of triple-spin-forward-flip in what I’m later told is a ‘Snapuswipe’ to the polite applause and odd “woop!” of the crowd. It can only be ‘Tricking’.

¿Que es Tricking? Well, I suppose it can only be described as a new underground alternative sports movement. Basically it’s the mutation of gymnastics, breakdancing and various martial arts, adopting various flips, flashy kicks and complex twists and spins from each. Don’t over complicate it thought, Tricking is a combination of whatever you want it to be and whatever you want to do. “Anything can be a trick as long as it looks freaking cool!”

Tricking used to get a really bad rep. This free flowing adoption of moves from other sports made stuffy martial arts traditionalists stick their noses up and Tricking got little support. However since the millennium, there has been a huge swell in popularity, fuelled by the internet and sites like YouTube. ‘Trickers’ just started uploading videos of themselves doing flips and kicks and forums quickly developed with people asking questions and offering tips. All you need to do to get into the sport is watch the videos online and then practice them yourself! It’s astonishing how an entirely new sport has been created simply by some websites and the dedication of a few individuals. It’s difficult to really called Tricking a sport though because, interestingly, there is no element of competition at all. Trickers will often meet up at gatherings but with the sole aim of education and enjoyment. The only goal of Tricking is improvement for oneself.

Because the whole phenomenon is so new, the sport has no governing bodies or organisations and no formal rules or regulations and so to get good at Tricking requires staggering levels of self-motivation. The most impressive thing about the whole sport is that every tricker is self-trained. The internet allows the free and rapid exchange of information and ideas and people just learn by understanding the movements through video tutorials and then practicing them in the garden with friends! With time and dedication you can evolve your athletic prowess from a glorified roly-poly to multiple somersaults and combo kicks.

If you’re interested and want to get into Tricking, a good start would be to gain some experience by attending some martial arts or gymnastics classes. The most appropriate martial arts are ones which involve a good amount of kicks, flexibility training or explosive movements, things like Taekwondo, Karate, Capoeria, Wushu and Tang Soo Do. Do you do tang soo do? Just have fun and jump in! I’m reliably informed that some good tricks to start with are ariels (that’s a no hands cartwheel to you and me), back tucks (back flips) and tornado kicks. TORNADO kicks!! I feel like I’m in Street Fighter already. Ryu better watch out! Special Move! Special Move!

www.tricking.co.uk

www.trickstutorials.com

Matt Whittle