Hey guys! My name is Johnny Donohoe I have been doing parkour for 4-4 1/2 years and im 13 years old. I originally did preschool gymnastics then from there I went into recreational gymnastics and then competitions I later quit at the age of 8. I would work on movements I saw in videos and then transfer them to my trampoline then to my backyard… and then when my coach wasn’t looking I would sneak it in, in the gym.

I loved moving… but in creative ways not how everyone else moved in gymnastics, I saw people walking with no emotion focused on work and their phones. They would glance up now and then and see their world around them and unimpressed turn back to their phones and work. They saw no creativity and no beauty in their surroundings. Then I saw gymnasts they saw the ways that they moved but they were all the same the lacked the creativity. I tried many other activities: Skateboarding, Karate, and Capoeira. Capoeira was my favorite it had the creativity. Capoeria is a Brazilian Acrobatic Martial Art.

Then one day my sister showed me a video of a guy flipping off playgrounds and jumping roofs. The title was “Russian Climber.” I realised this was what I was doing all along and what I wanted to do I just never knew the name. I continued to progress and teach myself more and more movements… due to the fact that my old gym was strictly gymnastics I relied on my trampoline as my main place to try new moves. After my dad meet Ryan Doyle in a coffee shop and contacting Victor Bevine I was Invited to watch AOM Detroit and hang out with all the athletes. It was a great experience that included my first time ever training with other traceurs, Pip Anderson telling me he knew me from my videos, and making my first video with other people in it… as any traceur could imagine it was quite surreal.

I still sometimes think to myself how weird it is that parkour was something I had already partially created in my imagination comprised of acrobatics outside, adventures, traveling, amazing people and friends, sweatpants, a supportive worldwide community, and creativity. Honestly if you listed the same components to anybody im pretty sure they would tell you it sounds like somewhat of a childs fantasyland/Disney movie, but thats the part most people dont understand its completely real.