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Tricking (martial arts tricking) is the informal name of a relatively new underground alternative sport movement, combining martial arts, gymnastics, and other activities to create an "aesthetic blend of flips, kicks, and twists."^[1] Tricking incorporates a variety of moves from different arts such as flips from gymnastics, 540 kick from Taekwondo, butterfly twist from Wushu and double leg from Capoeira. Tricking is recognizable by its flashy kicks, complex flips and twists, and its highly stylized movements which separate it from other arts. An individual who practices tricking is typically referred to as a "trickster" or "tricker".

[edit] History

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Tricking has only recently come into its own as a recognized activity. Although the various skills practiced in Tricking have existed much longer, a variety of theories have been put forth as to where the term originated.

Tricking came about when people began to use Martial Arts as a via for entertainment and performance in America. Members of the original Ernie Reyes West Coast Demo Team pioneered this movement when they began to incorporate music into their creative forms, branching away from traditional martial arts. As more Martial Arts practitioners were gearing more towards entertainment, performance, and creativity, advanced body movements such as the 540 began to emerge. Although Steven Ho may have been the first person to perform the 540 in NASKA, it was being done by Ernie Reyes Jr. and others many years before.

As the techniques being executed at competitions became more advanced, a newer generation of martial artists emerged, one-upping each other with newer, flashier, and more complex movements. NASKA now holds Creative Open divisions and Xtreme Open. Creative Open is where a competitor throws no inverted techniques and no spinning kicks with a rotation higher than 360 degrees, while the Xtreme division is open to almost any technique a competitor wants to do.

With the internet revolution at the beginning of the 21st century, Tricking began reaching a wider audience. Jubei's MA Zone, the Yellwboy website (which are no longer online) as well as Bilang.com allowed this new trend of martial arts competitors and trickers to come together for a free exchange of ideas. Towards the end of 2003, the online tricking community was well-developed, bringing trickers from across the globe together. With the rise of YouTube, trickers were able to share their videos with others and the world of tricking experienced a massive rise in popularity and interest.^{[citation needed]} Also Youtube has shown young trickers new tricks and broken the tricks down for them. Since the beginning of 2008, tricking has been receiving much wider publicity and popularity among non-tricking circles due to efforts of popular tricking teams like Loopkicks.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Progression

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A tricker demonstrates a characteristic tricking move, a Cheat 720 Twist.

Unlike many established sports, tricking has no formal rules or regulations, and there are no governing bodies that regulate the sport. Strictly speaking, participants are free to perform any kind of dramatic maneuver and call it a 'trick' - though there are certain moves which are generally accepted as tricking moves. Some tricksters (especially those who discover tricking through the Internet) tend to learn the easier moves first (such as the 540 Kick, Aerial, Kip-Up, and Backflip) and try to progress through a list of recognized tricks in the perceived order of difficulty. However, how difficult a trick is will vary from person to person; certain tricks may be inexplicably easier or harder than normal for a particular trickster to learn.

Tricksters can be divided into different categories of style: some prefer performing mainly martial arts tricks (which almost always incorporate kicks into a trick), others mostly freestyle gymnastics and flips (mainly focus on doing multiple rotations and combining different types of rotations), but most tricksters mix a combination of all the disciplines. Tricksters must train their bodies hard to be able to consistently perform their tricks at any time.

[edit] Training

Since tricking is still a new activity, specialized coached training is practically non-existent. Tricksters pursue the ability to perform the majority of their tricks on grass, regular flooring or even concrete. Mats, plyometric flooring, trampoline or jumping jamporees can be used at first to become familiar with the movements in a safer environment, with less impact strain. Practitioners usually come from various martial arts and gymnastics backgrounds or are self-taught. In addition to this, they will usually learn from friends who have more experience and have been training longer. Particularly in later years, it has been popular to form "Teams" among friends, groups of "Tricksters" with a group name, as a form of self-encouragement and to build self-identity as a "Trickster". It is also done so as to practice in a set group which people are comfortable with. For those that don't have a Tricking environment in which to learn, many train by aiming to reproduce moves in videos submitted to websites such as Club540, and Aeriformmat.com. Similarly, trainees may seek aid from tricking camps, such as those held by Loopkicks of San Jose. A newly published book, Fundamentals of High Performance Wushu: Taolu Jumps and Spins while targeted to the wushu martial arts community, covers in detail step-by-step how to train for many of the most popular moves.^[2] People that trick often do a lot of body conditioning as strength is a necessity. Flexibility training is often a good idea for tricksters as many tricks and stunts become a lot easier and safer the more flexible you are. Another important point is landing lightly, the opposite of which results in numerous leg and ankle injuries during practice.

[edit] Gatherings

Since its inception, gatherings have been a regular part of the Tricking community. Organized by Tricksters, usually with the assistance of online forums, gatherings are an oppurtunity for individual tricksters to showcase their styles and seek advice from other tricksters. Club 540.com has an active "Gathering, Camps and Meets" Section, as well as Tricks Tutorials. Gatherings usually have one or more Gym Sessions, where a gymnastics center is rented out especially for the gathering.

[edit] List of notable tricking gatherings

Devon, Sydney, Toronto,Indiana, Rugby, Bergen, Bremen, Derby, Quebec, New York, Australia, California, New Zealand, UK, Loopkicks Camp (San Jose, California), Dresden, Southkicks, Philippines.

Martial arts tricksters have numerous gatherings before and after tournaments for the various leagues. They normally consist of competitors finding some free space at the tournament location, forming a circle around the performing area, and taking turns performing tricks. The Charlie Lee Nationals in Reston, Virginia had been a notable competition-based gathering that drew formally trained martial artists as well as enthusiasts until its final year in 2007.

[edit] See also

• Acrobatics
• Parkour

[edit] References