We have lots in store for you in this issue, from fantastic action photography to insightful interviews with some of the leading figures in the UK urban sports world.
It’s been a strange few months since the first issue was published, and lots has changed. But one thing that hasn’t changed is our passion for all things movement and our determination to bring you a fun, informative and lively read packed with news, tips and features from all corners of this wonderful community.
This issue, we’re proud to bring you a fantastic interview with the one and only John-Paul Lake from CHANCE2DANCE, the UK’s leading touring dance company. We were also lucky enough to be able to chat with Tiki Wu, Robbie Bates, founder of the Isle of Wight’s first and only tricking academy, WightTricks Academy and YouTube sensation, Jimmy the Giant.
We also have a great feature on leading tricking clothing brand Plan Zero, some amazing photography from Charles Jones and a little piece on how you can get back in shape for the new year.
We really hope you enjoy this edition of Project Gravity. Don’t forget to get in touch on social media and show us some love!
Thanks!
The Director of the Isle of Wight’s only urban sports academy talks
to
EVER urban sports facility on the beautiful Isle of Wight - bringing urban sports to a whole new audience and teaching a range of activities to students, including freerunning, acrobatics and tricking. As a tricker with over ten years’ experience, Director, Manager and Head Coach, Robbie Bates’ passion and background lies in this field and his dedication to sharing it with a new generation is obvious. Here, Project Gravity’s Claire Middleton speaks to Robbie to find out a little more about the Academy, its students and what the future holds.
Q: THE ACADEMY IS THE ISLE OF WIGHT’S FIRST EVER - AND SO FAR THE ONLYURBAN SPORTS FACILITY. CAN YOU TELL ME A LITTLE ABOUT IT AND WHAT LED TO IT BEING ESTABLISHED?
When I originally started tricking, I tricked on school mats (if I was ever allowed), wet grass, hard grass and even sand. If I didn’t trick through the snow and rain during the winter months, I didn’t get to trick, and well.. I had to trick! I used to think, ‘If only there was a facility with a spring floor I could train on!’
Fast forward 10 years - I’d finished university and started a full time job at a school working as a LSA and sports coach. I loved my job, but I knew I didn’t want to do it forever. After two years of careful planning and tedious hours spent creating a solid business plan, I was ready to commit to my dream. I purchased an airtrick mat and travelled around schools using the mat to coach tricking to anyone and everyone. We grew in popularity extremely fast, and before long it was time to revisit the business plan, make some adjustments and upscale! To cut a long story short, we had moved into our brand new and amazing facility - the one I had always dreamed of - and could finally give our students a route of long term progression in tricking.
The Academy’s students are passionate and hard-working. We put our heart and soul into every one of them, working to their strengths and working on their weaknesses. Integrating our students into our community is essential in order to diversify their tricking nature and mindset.
We expose them to multiple tricking styles and personalities, letting them feed off each other. We have a lot of different personalities at WightTricks, and it’s extremely interesting and rewarding to watch them all grow and see how their mindsets and personalities affect their tricking repertoire as they grow.
We teach students from the age of 6 all the way up to adults. We have children as young as 6 doing back tucks and gumbi gainer flashes and 45-year olds landing J-step gainer flashes! Most of our students have little to no background in tricking. We don’t really find there is a certain background which makes someone a talented acrobat/tricker. From my personal experience, the single biggest factor in determining a student’s success is their lifestyle - what they eat and how active they are. A lot of our most talented children are very active individuals with a healthy lifestyle. Conditioning and lifestyle are key for a strong base. That said, we have had students excel from zero background in any sport, as long as they are engaging in class and practicing tricking consistently, that’s all you need.
Although we are an urban sports academy, tricking is very much our priority. We practice elements of parkour and freerunning just for fun here and there, but again the biggest
activity is just tricking. In terms of demand, according to my research using online surveys the demand was very high. My research asked a big population lots of questions, one of them being, “Do you want to learn to tumble and backflip?” It turned out that a lot of people did!
Facilities and equipment on the Isle of Wight have always been extremely lacking in quality and quantity, with almost no clubs providing standards anywhere close to those on the mainland. Clubs are starting to emerge for the acrobatic world slowly but surely, but there are still no facilities that use a spring floor for training, other than ours.
Lockdown, as you can imagine, was an extremely scary and daunting time for our team and our community. Nobody got to say ‘bye’ to each other, nobody got to have closure and there was a lot of uncertainty in the air. Thankfully, our community was extremely generous and the vast majority of our customers con tinued supporting us through this time. If you are reading this now, THANK YOU! We honestly would not be here without their generosity and support and to think that our amazing community could have had such a short lifespan is honestly terrifying. Things are slowly returning to normal, not just in our financial situation but our students’ long term enjoyment and progression in class.
We have children as young as 6 doing back tucks and gumbi gainer flashes and 45-year olds landing J-step gainer flashes!
The WightTricks team is hard at work in our competition groups; we are training the next generation for any potential events that may arise that we can attend. We have specific groups that practice for these events. We are always pondering ways by which we can improve our services and different ways we can move around the room to make classes more effective and exciting. Right now we are thinking about doing some decorating, which I am excited to start planning for. Other planning involves our yearly competition, “The Wighttricks Throwdown”.
I wouldn’t say there is a single most challenging thing about being a coach or director at WightTricks, as being selfemployed in any job is tough. WightTricks is no different. There are many different challenges I must overcome as a coach. Challenges include boosting a student’s confidence so they’re no longer scared of a particular trick, managing class logistics to keep everybody safe, manipulating the flow of class to dictate desired outcomes, and continuing to be a positive role model for our students.
All these things take constant thought, energy and attention. When our students enter the advanced level, it’s also important to talk with parents about eating the right kinds of foods and calories. It’s wrong to assume everybody is knowledgeable in this area, and tricking is a high intensity, high strength, high power sport. We condition and train hard, proper protein requirements as students progress and attend more are absolutely paramount. No it’s not a HUGE amount, but it must be adequate and follow the recommended amounts for a young athlete. You can’t really be expecting to eat pizza and chips every day all whilst swinging dubs.
This is honestly something I could talk about all day. For me, and I’d imagine for a lot of our team (fellow coaches Katharine, Dan Shaw and Bowie Brennan) it is an extremely rewarding job. I find it most rewarding when you have a particular student work exceed ingly hard for a long period of time on a cer tain skill, with constant struggles and setbacks, only to finally see everything come together and see them stomp said trick. It’s so re warding to see; they have earned that trick. They’ve put in the work and they deserve it. I’m always losing my mind, seeing students piece skills together and watching their own unique reaction.
more information about WightTricks, why not check out their website: www.wighttricks.co.uk!
They’ve put in the work and they deserve it. I’m always losing my mind,
‘
Christmas and New Year is a time when everyone takes their foot off the gas a little in terms of health and fitness. It’s a time when we all let ourselves go a bit and enjoy the food and drink that’s usually abundant at this time of year. It’s a time to relax and enjoy time with friends and family, not to be counting the calories and spending hours down the gym.
However, two or three weeks of this can take its toll on your body and have a real effect on your health and fitness.
According to www.globalnews.ca Abby Langer, a Toronto-based registered dietitian said: “Indulging in the holiday spirit over two to three weeks may have you gaining a pound or two.”
So how do we sort this out without missing out on all the good stuff? Well, with just a few simple changes, it might be easier than you think.
Rather than going over the top, just stick to a little of what you really fancy. Moderation is key. Don’t deprive yourself of anything, that will only make you want it more and then you’ll be more likely to go over the top when you do finally give in. Allow yourself whatev er you feel like, just be aware of how much you’re having.
Don’t forget to keep up with your fruit and veg intake. Although many experts now agree that seven portions of fruit and veg a day is the best way to get all your vital vitamins, aiming for five is still really managea ble and super healthy. So, try to keep this up by adding a piece of fruit as a snack during the day, or add it to your breakfast and keep veg levels topped up by having hearty soups
If you’re still putting off that first post-Chrim bo visit to the gym, get down there as soon as you can for your new year work out or get outside and work up a sweat in the fresh air. If you don’t fancy the gym, there are plen ty of other ways you can get active. Go for a brisk walk, go out dancing, join a sports team or simply put your favourite music on and have a dance round the house. There’s no excuse for not being active, and your body (and mind) will thank you for it!
So whatever you do this winter, make sure you allow space for a little healthy eating and a little exercise, but don’t miss out on all the good stuff. And more importantly, have fun with your loved ones!
The story of Tricking clothing brand, Plan Zero
Tricking and style go hand in hand. You can’t be a respected tricker if you look a state, therefore fashion is everything. That’s why Kyle Skelly created Plan Zero back in 2014. It’s a specialist and super cool clothing brand created just for trickers. As a keen and well-known tricker himself, he knows exactly what styles, fabrics and fits to put together that will not only look amazing, but will keep you comfortable, free and easy whilst moving. We caught up with Kyle to find out more about Plan Zero, his passion for tricking and his exciting new ventureBattle Trickers.
It’s going very well overall, thanks! There have been many different phases for the brand since its inception in the summer of 2014. When I launched it, it was solely a clothing brand for trickers. It was more of a side project whilst I worked as a web designer. In 2015 I moved to Birmingham to live with some friends that were trickers as there was more of an active community there. In 2016 I decided to start up a YouTube channel for Plan Zero. This was going to document the lifestyle of the brand and what Plan Zero stood for. This then led me on a 4 yearlong journey of documenting myself and my housemates’ lives (The Garrison). The YouTube channel took Plan Zero to new heights and in front of the eyes of millions, which allowed the brand to thrive beyond the tricking scene to a vaster audience. Tricking is such a small niche community, so expanding the audience was key for not only showing tricking to the world, but also allowing myself to have a full-time income solely creating tricking content and clothing.
The Garrison disbanded towards the end of 2019 and I moved back to my hometown in Scotland. Since moving back to Scotland it has been difficult making videos for Plan
Zero. There just aren’t the opportunities / gyms / trickers near me to create videos how I used to. Then Covid happened. So for the past 2 years I have been focussing on other aspects of the brand. Not only has the clothing continued to constantly improve in quality and design, I’ve also launched other side projects, with the most recent being Battle Trickers - the tricking trading card game.
I was a designer before I was a tricker. Plan Zero started as a means for me to merge both my passions for tricking and design. Since day one, the goal has always been to create cool things which I wish already existed. I think people can relate to the clothing I make because we’re probably very alike.
We’ve positioned ourselves in the streetwear/fashion side of tricking. Our clothes are not only worn when training in the gym but also as some peoples’ go-to outfit for the weekend. Fashion and style play a bigger role in tricking than some might think. The fit of a t-shirt can heavily influence how a certain combo might look. In a sport that is so creative, trickers definitely look to accent their tricks with the right clothing choice that will complement their overall style. We also created tricking shorts, which in my opinion are the best shorts out there (I might be biased in saying that!) They are the perfect combination of aesthetic appeal and athletic performance. They are the go-to choice for many of the best trickers in the world, and that makes me feel so happy.
There were a few tricking brands out there that were doing quite well and they definitely inspired me in starting PZ.They were Invincible Tricking, Drednt, Epic to name a few. Whilst their clothing was good, the best around at the time in fact, it wasn’t quite what I was looking for in terms of fit, quality and aesthetic. So I decided to make it myself!
I feel like Plan Zero remains today as one of the most established brands in the tricking community. In my eyes our quality and attention to detail is unmatched. But there are more and more brands these days which I do love to see. Any other clothing brand is technically a competitor but I don’t feel the competition. Plan Zero has stayed in its own lane since it started and has gone from strength to strength. I almost wish that there was more competition as that would only help push Plan Zero to be even better.
We were one of the first tricking brands to show that quality tricking clothing is worth paying for. It doesn’t need to be gimmicky. I like to think that the clothing and videos we have made over the years have inspired others to follow in our footsteps. And in that way, we’ve always been a step or two ahead.
I started tricking in 2008 when I was 15 years old. Over the next few years I’d be known for my tricking samplers with upbeat music - kind of unexpected at
the time. I then luckily started getting invited to gatherings all over the world and made a lot of tricking friends. When I started Plan Zero it definitely helped that I wasn’t just some outsider trying to profit from tricking. I was/am a very active tricker and member of the community and that definitely helped people accept the brand from day one.
Tricking is the first thing I really fully applied myself to. I’ve been in love with the sport and community ever since I started. I’m very lucky to have made tricking my entire life for the past 12 years. The opportunities I’ve had from tricking are beyond anything I would have ever imagined.
Working hard and really excelling at something has been a positive driving force in my life and I apply the same mindset to anything else I do. I just want to help tricking grow, as many of the best trickers right now are my friends and I know how hard they work. The stuff they do is so incredibly impressive and really cool to watch. I want to help more people see it and get inspired, because some of those people may have a similar journey to mine, a journey that has improved their life for the better.
The current plan is to keep on making better clothing with every release. We have some exciting side-project stuff in the works for later in the year and into 2022.
I’m really excited about the future of Battle Trickers, a collectible trading card game for Tricking which allows you to collect, trade and battle your favourite trickers. New trickers will be added in batches, eventually having hundreds of cards of all the iconic trickers who have helped shape tricking
over the years. There is also a playable game element to the cards, which can be seen on the website www.battletrickers.com on how
It’s something that has been talked about since before I even started tricking and it will help cement the legacy of key trickers who have made an impact on the sport and should be remembered for that.
Check out Kyle’s YouTube channel here, Plan Zero’s website here store.planzero.co and don’t forget to follow on social media:
@planzero
@planzeroclothing
Plan Zero
Jimmy The Giant is a YouTube star who keeps his 140,000 subscribers entertained with parkour videos, music and comedy. With pieces such as ‘How one man nearly DESTROYED parkour’ and ‘Why rollerblading died’, he’s helped to bring parkour to the attention of thousands. To find out a little more, PG’s Claire Middleton was lucky enough to catch up with Jimmy for a chat.
Who are these people?! Haha, that is very kind but I still have a lot of work to do. I've been very blessed.
To shine a light on exceptional people and stories that would otherwise be lost to time.
Q. DO YOU GET LOTS OF POSITIVE FEEDBACK FROM YOUR VIEWERS? WHAT DO THEY SAY?
A lot of people tell me nice things. It’s very cool having people tell me they get inspired by my content. I've made a few haters along the way, which comes with the territory but by and large it's very rewarding having people enjoy my creations.
Q. YOU WERE A PARKOUR ATHLETE BEFORE THIS, TELL ME ABOUT THE JOURNEY FROM THERE TO WHERE YOU ARE NOW.
Parkour has been the backbone of my existence for over 10 years. It completely shaped me as a person, I go through ebbs and flows where sometimes I train a lot, and other times not so much. Currently, I’m not training so much, but it is always a bedrock for me and I'm endlessly grateful for everything it’s taught me.
Seeing my mate Greg doing flips in our school playground.
Q. WHAT DO YOU LOVE THE MOST ABOUT IT?
The freedom.
Q. HAS THE SCENE CHANGED AT ALL SINCE YOU FIRST STARTED? IF SO, HOW?
Hmmm, I would say yes but that may be my perspective as I've gone from being a person who does parkour to someone people know who does parkour. With that comes a lot of opinions on what I do.
Originally I liked everyone and felt a strong sense of community, but in all honesty now I am a little more distanced from the community as there can often be a sense of cliquey-ness. With the rise of social media it feels like people have become far more opinionated and much more abrasive with their opinions. However this feeling goes away when I train with people I know and am close to.
I think all in all it's changed for me in a slightly negative way due to having created a name for myself and all that brings with it.
I would like to be producing feature length documentaries, be a business owner, have 1m subs on YouTube, own a house and maybe have some kids!
CHANCE2DANCE was created in 2011 with one main objective: to provide dance schools with the best performance opportunities possible. Fast forward 10 years and they have welcomed tens of thousands of dancers to the stages at some of the best performance venues this country has to offer.
Some of the venues they work are Birmingham Hippodrome, Sadlers Wells, The 02 London, Blackpool Opera House, Bridgewater hall Manchester, The Empire Liverpool, Alton Towers and Drayton Manor.
Project Gravity caught up with CHANCE2DANCE founder, John-Paul Lake to find out a little more.
I am a dance studio owner and was always looking for performance opportunities for my students. It was easy to find events to be involved in if you were prepared to travel to London but this obviously creates some logistical challenges when you have lots of dancers and hundreds of family and friends in the entourage so I decided there may be a gap in the market for a touring event that would host shows in towns and cities around the UK.
We ran a pilot event at the Alexandra thea tre in Birmingham in Feb 2011 and it was a huge success. The uptake was incredible and off the back of this event CHANCE2DANCE was born. Today we host anywhere between 20 and 60 events a year all varying in size from 1,000 to 8,000 attendees.
I consider myself fortunate to come from an
up going to work with my dad at weekends and got to see first-hand what it was like to build a company from the ground up.
I had always been interested in dance and at tended dance classes with my sisters from a very young age. When I was 19 the guy who owned the dance studio that I was attending at the time decided it was time for him to retire so asked me if I would be interested in buying the business from him.
I was 19 years old and I obviously didn’t have the money to buy a dance school so my dad helped me prepare a business plan and we took it to the bank who thankfully decided to back the project.
I bought the dance studio in December 2005 and I am still the proud owner of Hi-Bri’s Dance Studio in Shirley to this day.
Owning the dance studio ignited my passion for business and over the years I have started and invested in lots of different businesses.
Everything from personal attack alarms, funeral service sheets, music management, lighting and stage hire, music festivals, digital marketing and on-demand delivery services.
I love business but I always come back to dance. It’s how this entire journey began and I am unbelievably passionate about this indus try and all the amazing people in it.
It feels good to have created a company that brings so much joy to peoples’ lives. It gives studio owners and choreographers a mission and a reason to create something special. It gives dancers a personal challenge of step ping outside of comfort zones and overcom ing fears and it gives family and friends the opportunity to support their young perform ers as they start the journey into the won derful world of performing arts.
When I’m standing in the wings at the side of the stage I see lots of happy faces and tears of joy so I feel very lucky to be doing the job that I do.
My team and I are on a mission to continue expanding the opportunities we provide. So alongside our showcase platform we have been developing the CHANCE2DANCE CHALLENGE - a competition platform that we launched at the 02 in London in No vember 2019. It was very well received and we are excited to host more competitions in 2022 and beyond. Aside from this I am always looking for ways to add value to our dance community so I have a number of pro jects on the go that will hopefully make being a studio owner a little less stressful.
We believe that performing is a key element of being a dancer and we strive to make every CHANCE2DANCE event an expe rience to remember. With a clear emphasis on production and a highly dedicated team we have been able to create some very special moments for performers, parents and principals.
I guess my parting words would be a piece of advice: “You can do anything but not everything.” So whatever you choose to do in life, make sure you have fun doing it.
For more info on CHANCE2DANCE, check out their website: https://chance2. dance/
We love innovative and exciting products here at Project Gravity, and it doesn’t get much more innovative than AcroPAD’s impressive portfolio of items. The UK’s leading producer of high quality air products such as inflatable Air Tracks, Air Floors, Tumble Tracks for gymnastics, cheerleading and dance, AcroPAD is a real success story. Here we speak to the founder, Dan Keating about the idea behind the company, the challenges they’ve faced along the way and what the future holds.
AcroPAD launched in Feb 2018 at MOVE IT London. The brand came from Dan’s love of teaching and the desire to be able to allow students to learn and be creative in any setting, safely. Both Dan’s wife Amanda and he were dancers, she having trained at The Urdang Academy and he being focused on breaking and tricking. They own two dance schools, one evening school and a 6th form musical theatre college and they needed a product that was high quality, functional and didn't take up a lot of space. They’d seen airtracks outside of the dance world, but felt there was an opportunity to become the leading brand within the Acro space initially as this was the world they understood. As the brand has grown they have discussed lots of different applications for their product but at its core it’s about quality, functionality and building a community. Dan and Amanda work hard to support the community they work in, supporting young athletes and investing in their community.
AcroPAD’s focus for 2022 is to develop key partnerships in the dance/acro world as well as growing into other areas. With a background in breaking Dan has an affinity for the culture and is very focused on exploring this along with other urban sport uses from training and competing.
Just as it is for any business owner, cash flow is always an area you are managing. My belief is that there is one key skillset that all business owners need to develop and so my main role every day is "Problem Solver or Solution finding". It’s what I do every day, it's a skill I didn't know I would need and it’s THE skill I use every day. That could be looking at opportunities or issues in all aspects of our business. I question myself every single day, and doubt if I am the man to do it but whenever there's an issue I ask myself: "Have I been in a situation like this before? Did I manage to come through it?" The answer is yes 99% of the time, so I just need to look for the solution.
I spend a lot of time in my head, thinking and pondering options and working them out. I look at what others have done, who are a bit further down the path and I ask a lot of questions.
AcroPAD workshops are an opportunity for us to work with exceptionally talented students and their tutors/schools/clubs. We visit a venue with full equipment and teach a structured class based around foundation movement and strength. Additionally, we work on more advanced movements in a
safe and supported environment. We do our best to share knowledge and how best to train. Our tutors must be people that "DO" to inspire the students.
What do you love about this industry? The community, the young people and how inspiring they are. The talent in the UK is amazing and I think there's a lot more to give!
Our goal is to be the air product company in the UK and to be establishing ourselves in key territories like the USA, Canada and Australia. We see ourselves being more integrated into each sports community we work with and to be supporting the young talent within each sector.
For more information about AcroPAD, please visit www.acropad.co
What’s cooler than taking part in a sport you love? Looking at photos of you doing it! Sports photography is super popular and good sports photographers are in real demand. We caught up with Charles Jones, Director of JPAD, specialist event photographers who specialise in dance and cheer to find out about his work, why he loves it so much and his big Olympic dreams!
We focus on onsite print for large sporting organisations. We go to large competitions, mainly in cheer and dance, and photograph the teams and the performances and then we make them available in print on the day for parents, athletes and coaches to take away with them. We give people the chance to walk away with an everlasting memory of that event.
We’ve been in the industry for six years, and have been in the dance and cheer space for four out of those six. Funnily enough it all started thanks to a twist of fate - a rugby accident. I used to play rugby all the time and was very invested in my club, then one day I had an accident and was told I couldn’t play anymore. So, to stay involved without playing, I was asked to take photos at the matches. From that I went on to do family photo shoots and weddings and then six months later I had a studio and was doing all kinds of photography. At the time I didn’t know what I wanted to do or where I was going, but I then found my niche, got into cheerleading and just fell in love with it.
We do other types of photography, such as schools and businesses, but cheer and dance is our speciality and something we really
want to grow. The community is amazing, they really stick together and although there’s competition, it’s always friendly. I really love being a part of that. Plus, the routines are amazing when you see them and if I’m really honest, I’m quite jealous - I’d love to do that!
Although I did have a go once, but as the athletes threw me in the air, they dropped me and as I went down I kicked one of the athletes in the face, by accident of course! So I’m probably best at sticking to photography.
I love the variety; no day is the same. I also love the smiles on people’s faces when they see their photos. There’s nothing better than taking a photo of an athlete hitting in their routine and we’ve caught that on camera. Their parents are over the moon and you see it go all over social media - watching the reaction is awesome. We feel like we’re really making people happy.
I think that now cheerleading has been made an Olympic sport, being asked to photograph at the Olympics would be amazing. Although we’ve only been involved with cheer for four years, we’ve seen so much fantastic talent in this country and next year we’re hoping to experience the World and European championships. If we could then go on to the Olympics, that would be amazing. And I don’t see why we can’t, I always think that if you have the determination to do something, the possibilities are endless. It’s just about being positive and working hard.
The smartphone! Whenever you go to a competition now, you find that people are watching it through their phones whilst
filming or photographing it. They’re not in the moment. They’ve paid for a ticket to watch someone perform, but they’re not enjoying it properly. We’re competing against that. The photos you can get on phones are amazing, don’t get me wrong, but as photographers, we’ve got the experience to get the perfect image, so we want people to enjoy the event and just let us capture the moment for them.
We’re focusing on expansion now and aiming for the Olympics! During the pandemic, we couldn’t do what we normally do so we focussed on helping gyms and sports clubs with their marketing and promotion through photography. We are continuing with that, we help them build their membership and boost the exposure of the sport.
You will see a lot of us in the coming years hopefully, I’m really excited about the future. It’s going to be a journey, but a brilliant one.
For more information about JPad Media, please visit www.jpaduk.com
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Shomari Anderson is the founder of Empire Sports and Performance Studios, one of the only cheerleading programmes in North London. After illness forced Shomari to quit cheer - her absolute passion in life - she was determined to carry on with it somehow. Remembering the powerful words her dying uncle once gave her, she decided to dream big and start her very own team! Here, Shomari shares her amazing story with us to spread the word that no matter how big your dreams are, if you want them enough, they can come true.
The journey to Empire was a long one. It is a story filled with so much adversity and heartache; and yet, everyday I realise more and more that although there have been hardships, it is still a wonderful story.
I remember the day the seed was planted like it was yesterday. It was Sunday, February 23rd 2014 and I had stopped at the hospital on the way to cheer practice to visit my uncle, who was sick with pancreatic cancer. I was dressed head to toe in ‘cheer gear’ –Nike pros on, ponytail up and bow in. He took one look at me and said, ‘you could have your own team, you know...’ I laughed, he was always coming up with such wild ideas. ‘I’m serious, niecey’ he said, ‘build it and they will come’. It was one of the last things he ever said to me, he sadly passed away around 10 hours later.
I would love to be able to say that I began working on having my own team after he passed, but I didn’t. During the lead up to his passing, I had begun experiencing symptoms of my own and about a year later was diagnosed with Idiopathic Gastroparesis, which is a chronic condition affecting the nerves and muscles of the stomach. It was utterly debilitating – I could not eat, I experienced extreme weight loss, I suffered from dehydration and malnutrition, I was in
pain and the biggest heartbreak of it all was that I could no longer cheer.
Not cheering broke my heart. It was my life, my teammates were my cheer sisters and my team colours were the only colours in my wardrobe. I was what we call, a ‘centrepoint flyer’ and it was my biggest honour. My confidence and everything I loved about myself came from cheering and when I couldn’t do it anymore, I didn’t know what to do with myself.
I know you would expect me to now say, ‘so I started my own programme’... I didn’t. I moved to a different country instead. I was struggling – emotionally, mentally and I didn’t want anyone to see me deteriorating. I needed to be away, alone, to figure out who I was, because I did not have a clue who I was, without cheer.
So, I was living in Egypt and that’s when I decided to nurture the seed my uncle had planted. I must have talked my flatmate’s ear off for a year about it and after spending a numerous number of hours deciding on a name, I chose Empire Cheerleading Academy because it tied in nicely with the whole, ‘build it and they will come’ thing.
I came back to the UK, ready to build this Empire. I qualified as a cheer coach, set my social pages up, found a space in a school gym to hire, designed my logo, told my friends about it... and... walked headfirst into a brick wall. I was faced with a lot of disapproval from previous teammates. I experienced online cyber-bullying (which was really hard to digest as an adult, this stuff only happens to children right?), there was a lot of gossip, a lot of bitchiness, people actively discouraging people from joining my programme and I fell out with everyone. And that was hard. I had no one to support me, or guide me or to take suggestions from. I knew about cheer, but what did I know about running a programme?
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On top of it... this club was just not attracting members. I had 6 girls attending my class – 3 of whom were younger cousins who used to come along just to make it look like I had athletes. When we did our first competition, we came 7th out of 8 teams and we left with a ‘hey at least we didn’t come last’ attitude.
I worked with a best friend of mine after that, who coaches Team Jamaica Cheerleading, he would review my videos and we began to improve at comp winning some but still losing some. For the next couple of years, I battled to increase numbers. It was a bit of a catch 22, I was afraid to really put the club out there due to the animosity and bullying I had received from past teammates but yet, I was supposed to be building an Empire. By this point I was paying for it out of pocket, I moved venue three times to try and increase interest by being in different catchment areas, I changed the age ranges to allow for more children to sign up, but nothing was working and I was advised to let it go because it was literally costing me my working salary to run.... and then... the pandemic.
That should have been the end for Empire. And if I am really honest with you, I welcomed the lockdown in terms of the fact that I could take a break and not battle with these classes. How easy it would have been to just send out an email letting everyone know that due to the pandemic, I would unfortunately be closing the club, and just recommend the nearest club down the road for anyone wanting to continue with cheer.
And then I met a wonderful woman who ran a local online directory for local businesses called Sophia’s Diary and she suggested running a summer camp as soon as the lockdown ended. I’d never done a
camp before and the idea terrified me. I kept thinking, why would anyone send their children to a camp of a club that barely had any members! But, I was meant to be building an Empire right...so camp it was.
I spoke to my venue, they let me use the hall providing I stuck to their COVID risk assessments and for the first time in four years, my classes were full. In fact, they were full, every day for the entire month of August to the point where I had waiting lists of children wanting a space in my camp. And then, the best thing started to happen, parents were asking, “do you have classes that she can do weekly?”.
I retained the majority of children who had attended the summer camp and was able to go full steam ahead with my programme. The lockdown was over, my classes were full, I had taken on new coaches – everything was great! I was happy, look at me with my little Empire. But of course, lockdown part 2 happened and although we ran online classes, by the time we came back, many members did not return. I had begun dreaming again and realistically, it was too soon to dream, we were in the middle of a pandemic, everything was uncertain. But here I was at 1am browsing the internet for suitable spaces to have my own studio. I did that for weeks and eventually stumbled across something that might just work.
A few weeks later, I was announcing to parents at our first ever showcase that we were moving into our own premises! When I got those keys for the new premises, I was over the moon! There was absolutely nothing in the world that could take me off that high. My dearest uncle, you were right, I could build it and I could have my own. I named it Empire Sports and Performance Studios.
However unfortunately, just 48 hours later
a family tragedy occured and I had to take a break. Nothing moved. The world was still and Empire stayed shut. For two months I did nothing with the space. I delayed the opening and to this day, I’ve not even had an official opening or celebrated it. I look at the premises everyday and it is my greatest achievement and though it has come with so much pain, I want it to be a symbol of how something good can always come out of the bad.
Empire Sports and Performance Studios, albeit small, is the first facility in Enfield specifically designed for cheerleading, tumbling, dance and aerial fitness. Empire has not made use of any government grants or funding to date, it has purely been funded from class fees collected, my own funds and generous family members who have contributed and supported us.
Empire aims to continue growing to host a range of classes from cheerleading to tumbling to aerial hoop to tricking to dance for both children and adults.
For more information about Empire, please visit https://www. empirecheerleadingacademy.com/ or check them out on Facebook and Instagram @empirecheerleadingacademy
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Martial arts can have a big impact on how children develop socially and how they feel in themselves. They are classed as selfdefence practices and judo, karate, kickboxing and taekwondo are just a small number of examples of different types of martial arts.
These sports are portrayed in films and tv shows as being all about violence, however, in reality martial arts will help your child a lot more than it will hurt them. Whether you are just looking for a form of exercise for your child or you’re hoping that a sport will help them socially, martial arts can help your child develop in many more ways than you expect and provide them with skills and qualities that will last a lifetime.
When it comes to teaching self-discipline a lot of parents struggle in finding methods where children will understand the importance of it. No matter which martial art you choose for your child, one of the main focuses will be self-discipline as this is an essential skill to have in martial arts training. This trait is very necessary especially in modern times as children are growing more and more independent and need the right guidance and skills to make sure they succeed in their lives. Through martial arts kids will learn the significance of discipline and how to implement it in their lives.
Do you want to promote self confidence in your children? Martial arts classes can instil confidence that will benefit him or her in the future. Through these sports, your children will learn how to respect their peers as well as their instructors and everybody else around them. They will be taught that the size, shape, age or gender of a person does not matter, and it is what is on the inside that counts. They will be encouraged to ask questions and build their social skills by
interacting with their teammates.
Everybody knows that obesity is a growing problem for our younger generation. A lot of parents struggle with the same issues of encouraging their children to enjoy and participate in an activity that does not involve technology such as video games or mobile phones. Martial arts can provide the excitement and interest your children need and will look forward to. By learning this sport from an early age your children can develop fitness habits that they can carry on throughout their lifetime to keep them healthy.
One of the important fundamentals to martial arts is the importance of breathing. Learning how to control your breathing during physical exertion and under pressure, this can have a large impact on other aspects of your life such as relaxing and unwinding which is a struggle for a lot of people in today’s world.
Hand – Eye coordination allows the eyes to track the movement of the hands naturally, which is critical for balancing and playing sports with proficiency. All the kicking, punching and blocking won’t only burn up a lot of energy – it will also help to develop your child’s coordination. Being a martial arts student means that you must have the skills such as balance and focus, these skills will also benefit your child in all other areas of their life. British Military Martial Arts has classes all throughout the United Kingdom.
If you are looking for Martial Arts Classes in your local area get in touch with British Military Martial Arts today to see our availability and find a Martial Arts Class near you.
FIRST
SO LET'S TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT'S
ON AND HOW EVERYONE IS GETTING BACK INTO THE SWING OF THINGS!
