CHASING AND EVADING IS IN OUR DNA

‘CHASING AND EVADING IS IN OUR DNA’

The story behind the crazy success of World Chase Tag™

EVER PLAY TAG AS A KID?

Then you’ll know how much fun it is. But did you ever think it could be taken to such a level that it could be a worldwide sporting phenomenon? Well that’s what World Chase Tag™ is! This fast-paced and exciting version of competitive tag has become so popular in the last few years that it’s appeared on some of the planet’s biggest TV networks, including NBC and Channel 4, and it’s attracting a huge fanbase. To find out what the buzz is about, we spoke to the Founder and CEO of World Chase Tag™, Christian Devaux, who was more than happy to give us an insight into this thrilling sporting sector.

SO, FOR PEOPLE WHO MIGHT NOT KNOW, COULD YOU GIVE US AN OUTLINE OF WHAT WORLD CHASE TAG™ IS?

Basically, World Chase Tag™ is our version of competitive tag. The main format we use is a team format with a maximum of six athletes per team played under a specific set of rules as follows:

• Each match is the best of 16 chases. • Each chase is twenty seconds long and has one chaser and one evader from opposing teams. • The winning athlete in each chase must stay on as the evader and the losing athlete is replaced by a teammate who comes on as the chaser for the next chase. • A team is awarded one point when their athlete successfully evades their opponent for the entire duration of the chase (i.e. 20 seconds). • Tags must be made with the hand (i.e. NOT your foot).

WHAT’S THE STORY BEHIND ITS CONCEPTION?

My son was always hassling me to play tag and by the time he was around 10 years old (2013) our games had evolved and had become really sophisticated! Around that time, he wanted to know if he was better than me, so we devised a timing system using two iPhones to time how long each of us was on “it” during a oneon-one game of tag. We had so much fun with that format that I researched whether I could patent the timing system and it turned out that I could. So I did! But a patent on a game as old as mankind is pretty useless unless it has an application.

So I started to play more tag with other people. I started a meet up group with my son in Hyde Park just using barrier tape as obstacles which was a lot of fun. But once the winter came, the numbers dropped so we moved into an indoor space using weird obstacles like plastic piping that I bought from B&Q, punch bags and exercise balls, amongst other things. Around that time, Parkour Generations - who had much sturdier obstacles to interact with - had just opened and so we started using their space.

Then, my brother Damien joined me in the business, and we utilised the meet ups to refine and adapt our format and in 2016 we decided to host our first event using our own obstacle designs that Damien had made in our back garden.

The first event had some amazing athletes including Daniel Ilabaca, Joseph Henderson and a whole team of Storror athletes. The event was won by Marrero Gang and their best athlete, Greg Ball was the standout performer of the event.

Footage from that event went viral and within 18 months, footage from World Chase Tag™events received more than 150 million views on social media via various third-party sites including ESPN, TMZ, Barstool Sports, USA Today, Bleacher Report, House of Highlights, Worldstar, Uniland, Lad Bible, 9Gag and Viral Thread.*

In the eight months following WCT3 in September 2018, World Chase Tag’s™ YouTube channel received more than 30 million views and it went from having 30k subscribers to over 200k. In June 2019 World Chase Tag™ hosted the European Championships and WCT4 which was broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, 2020 was an extremely difficult year for us and we had to cancel many events that were being planned in several countries. However, we had been in talks with a US-based production company called Tupelo-Honey Productions for over 12-months and we eventually formalised our relationship with them by taking an equity stake in WCT. And despite the difficulties involved, with Tupelo’s help we were able to host an event in Atlanta, Georgia that was initially broadcast on NBC Sports Network in the US and Channel 4 in the UK.

WORLD CHASE TAG™ HAS GAINED MASSIVE POPULARITY, WHY DO YOU THINK PEOPLE LIKE IT SO MUCH?

I think chasing and evading is in our DNA. Tag is the default sport that all kids around the world resort to when not being told what to do by adults. It drills into the basic human response to fear – the instinct of flight or flight. And if you consider why humans have grown to dominate the planet, I believe it comes down to two essential skills: our ability to chase (hunt / kill) and our ability to evade (not get killed by a predator or an enemy).

When we designed the rules and format, we kept it short and exciting. Our mission statement is: “We want to see the best people chase”, and we’ve been lucky enough to have some of the most amazing athletes take part. When you see these amazing athletes doing what they do on the quad, it’s truly remarkable and fortunately, it’s also highly entertaining to watch!

HOW ACCESSIBLE IS IT TO PEOPLE WHO WANT TO HAVE A GO? DO YOU NEED SPECIALIST EQUIPMENT?

If you don’t have a parkour gym or Chase Tag™ facility near you, you can make your own obstacles with whatever you have access to. Many of our older videos were just us playing in various locations using barrier tape or cable ties e.g. in Delhi, India - https://www.instagram.com/p/ BTHD9BZjPOS/

WHAT’S BEEN THE HIGHLIGHT OF YOUR WORLD CHASE TAG™ JOURNEY SO FAR?

Seeing Chase Tag™ being embraced by other countries around the world and those teams then coming to compete at a World Chase Tag™ event. This has happened several times and it unites the Chase Tag™ community in their love of chasing regardless of background and that is an amazing feeling to be a part of.

WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS FOR THE FUTURE OF WORLD CHASE TAG™? WHERE DO YOU GO FROM HERE?

I would like to see more Chase Tag™ being played around the world and I’d like to establish leagues and events so that teams can qualify for regional events, national events, then continental events (e.g. EMEA, Pan-America, Asia etc.) and then the World Championships. I’d like to attract sufficient sponsors and media partners so that athletes can transition from amateur careers to professional careers and create a sustainable community for everyone involved.

WHAT SPORTS DO YOU ENJOY PERSONALLY?

I enjoy most sports, but I particularly like to watch Parkour videos (not so much parkour comps, unless it’s skills or “Own the Spot”), MMA, Boxing, Football, American Football and Ultimate Frisbee. And sports that I’ve enjoyed taking part in include Chase Tag, Skiing, Slalom Water Skiing, Open Water Swimming and Bouldering.

IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU WOULD LIKE TO MENTION?

I’d just like to add that because Chase Tag™ is a relatively new concept, it takes time to give potential sponsors the reassurance they need to trust that World Chase Tag™ is here to stay. If people want to see more matches, I would ask them to encourage their local community and their friends to visit our social media, particularly YouTube and to like, comment, share and subscribe. If sponsors can see a high level of engagement and begin to feel that this is a valuable community to invest in, they will provide funding that will allow us to host more events. Public support is literally what will make the difference between success and failure. The more successful we are, the more we stay in control and the less likely it is that TV shows will be able to exploit what we do for short term gain which destroys our community and takes valuable revenue from ourselves and our partners.

If this has piqued your interest in World Chase Tag™ and you’d like to find out more, you can check it out here www. worldchasetag.com. *Some of these posts can be viewed on the following links; Newsweek - https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=qKpRkBaUGiU BBC’s Mike Bushell - https:// www.youtube.com/ watch?v=T4pPXQPWCoo Transworld Sport - https:// www.youtube.com/ watch?v=n0MbNW1IkNo 60 Second Docs – https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=9eQtbIMJ4TE AFP News – https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=ge-wv7nUd6o ** An interesting video to back this statement up is: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=Pex3qahzwm8&t

‘WE WANT TO SEE THE BEST PEOPLE CHASE.’

INFO BOX

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