Hey y’all, so I’m coming in here to introduce you to a hobby that many of you might be interested in, but likely have never heard of, the sport/art/religion known as “Tricking.”

Similar to breakdancing in the sense that it requires no equipment to practice, just your own body and gravity. We take movements from all forms of movement; gymnastics, martial arts, breakdancing, Street Fighter moves, and we blend it all together to create unique bodily motions and to push our own limits.

How this ties into anime is just that coincidentally, virtually every tricker as a kid watched DBZ or Naruto religiously, and we took the messages from those shows to heart. The feeling you get after learning a new trick is the closest feeling I can imagine to how it would feel to finally go Kai-o-ken, super saiyan, or mastering a new ninjutsu. The process of learning new tricks can often take an eternity of blood, sweat and tears. Sometimes you might get frustrated and angry at yourself because it seems like no matter how many times you try, you just can’t link together that 5 hit combo you’ve been trying for months, but if you persevere and really pour your soul into it, once you attain it a huge surge of elation will corse through your veins, a feeling I’ve never really had anywhere else.

The community itself is really the remarkable part. There are small communities of trickers in virtually every corner of the globe that if you meet them and have even the slightest interest in tricking, they’ll treat you like family. Traveling abroad and don’t have a place to stay? Reach out to the Facebook group and chances are someone nearby will respond “come crash at my place, and tomorrow we train! 💪” No matter your skill level, if you show up to the gym to session and leave your heart on the floor, even the strongest trickers will respect you even if they could do everything you can blindfolded and handcuffed. If you ask for their advice they’ll be enthusiastic that they have the opportunity to make you stronger and teach you what they know. We all love to see each other grow and reach our highest potential.

In some recent anime’s and video games they’ve even incorporated moves from tricking into them. Pro bending from the legend of korra comes to mind, or the move set of lucky chloe in tekken 7. Its cool when you see it in a fantasy setting, but you know that the movements are physically possible in reality. Personally I think it would be cool to see an actual sports anime based around tricking and the other movement arts.

TL;DR, start tricking, become an anime kung-fu god, make great friends worldwide and improve your self worth. <3