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Student Chima Akenzua performs a wall flip on Upper Street in Islington |
How Chima’s world turned upside down
Student jumped off his sofa to become one of world’s leading exponents of spectacular sport
TEN years ago the French urban system of leaps and landings, known as Parkour, was virtually unheard of.
The art of jumping between buildings and sliding down railings has since been featured in movies such as Casino Royale, and thrill-seekers can test their daredevil mettle in an international competition.
Chima Akenzua, a 17-year-old sports science student at Islington College, Goswell Road, came second in the first international Parkouring competition, which was held in Munich last year.
Hours of practice in a sandpit at school and more recently on walls around the South Bank has paid off.
Chima has already earned a buck from performing stunts in music videos, including an appearance for boy band The Alicat Dogs, and he is due to start filming for a martial arts movie, The Balance, next year.
The distinction between Freerunning and Parkour, which focuses more on efficiency rather than flourishes, and the new competitive style Parkouring, has created divisions.
David Belle, the French son of a firefighter who trained in the military discipline known as Methode Naturelle, has been the poster boy and mouthpiece of Parkour.
He describes it as a philosophy through movement.
Chima said: “A lot of people feel that it shouldn’t be competitive because it defiles everything that David Belle was saying. But unless people increase their self-development this sport will only ever be seen as fascinating and amazing and ridiculous – beautiful to watch but impossible to do.”
Chima’s urge to defy death started at 13 while channel-surfing on his sofa in Muswell Hill.
After seeing the physical control displayed by French free-runners Sebastien Foucan and Jerome Ben Aoues, and David Belle in a Channel 4 Jump London documentary, he began his training by somersaulting over the sofa and hurling his teenage frame at a bed of cushions on the floor.
Inspired by Jump London, Chima and around 50 friends commandeered the school sandpit for two years. Four of them continue to train three times a week at the South Bank, Festival Pier and in Liverpool Street.
“We see life like a child might,” said Chima. “I can be on the bus and I’ll imagine myself on the rooftops or see a route through a crowd of people.”
Sometimes they train for nine hours at a time in moves such as the Kong (a vault through the arms), Dash (a feet-first running jump with both legs horizontal), Flagpole (hanging horizontal from a pole) and Wall Flip.
“I could do this all day,” he said, taking another run-up to a wall in Upper Street, Islington.
In one elegant motion he pushes off the wall with his feet, arches backward to face the pavement and in a split second he lands on his feet.
“We always check surfaces, where you are landing and leaping from and take note of the conditions,” says Chima reassuringly. |
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