THIS IS HOW IT STARTED
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THIS IS HOW IT FLOURISHED
(sorry, I don't have a picture for this place)
Some of the circus members were part of a gymnastics training club. Technically, it's a Martial Arts and Stuntmen (acrobatic) club, but it was close enough for me. As long as there was tumbling involved, I was happy, so I joined the club. The place is an old martial arts gymnasium and not quite sanitary as it looks like there's not enough money to support its existence... alright let's drop the politically "correctness", I'll just say it, the place is plain GHETTO. But to be honest, I didn't mind it... I actually liked it :) training there felt very authentic. There was a huge sense of camaraderie; the leaders were professional and extremely skillful stuntmen and martial artists, and they were very passionate about training others! The club fee was really next to nothing. Everyone in there went at their own pace yet, there is a huge sense of support from the more experienced; a room full of devotion as everyone shared the same yearning to keep improving.
The apparatus was quite lacking, which actually factors in what I call "tough love" type of training. You just have to learn things the hard and gutsy way, however, I believe it's the strongest and fastest way.
For example, in gymnastics, when you learn the back flip, you have to go through many different steps and exercise;
Swinging your arms upwards, jumping on your hands as you do a handstand, "sit on a chair"and fall back, "sit on a chair", fall back and jump landing on a mat, back flip on a trampoline, back flip on a "cheese", finally, back flip with a spotter.
Here:
Practice falling back, back flip with a spotter.
... tough love training.
THIS IS HOW IT ENDED
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| Yep. A random dude who came out of nowhere decided to help me stretch my back.... in the most unorthodox way! (Notice his foot jammed in my lower back!) |
