Death Defying Parkour Athlete: NYC traceur with a heart condition pushes himself in high-intensity sport by Kimberly Avalos from vswt on Vimeo.
He describes himself as a “five-foot-five, flat-footed Filipino.” He is also near-sighted. But he still engages with the high-intensity, obstacle-passing sport that is Parkour.
He says his form of Parkour resembles chunky peanut butter, which is contrary to the smooth movements of more skilled Parkour athletes. His, he says, is more “stop-and-go motion Parkour.”
His reason, however, is more serious than his animated personality makes apparent. Dizon was born with cardio myothropy and an enlarged right ventricle along with a murmur. Basically, his heart resembled an old person’s heart and had a little hole. So at 12 years old, he underwent open-heart surgery and he now needs to take beta-blockers every day for the rest of his life to regulate his heart.
“Any kind of strenuous activity on my heart probably isn’t good for his heart since we all have x amount of heartbeats left,” Dizon says. “Mine are just probably a bit shorter than everybody else’s.”
Parkour, however, allows him to challenge his body to perform in ways he didn’t think were always possible.
“If I have another day to move, I am going to use it,” he says.
So while his techniques and movements are not as smooth or as refined as his fellow athletes’, he wants to be a vessel for showing people anybody can do Parkour if they want to.
So he coaches children in Parkour at a company called, “The Movement Creative.”
He likes to open kids up to see what they are capable of and uphold the idea that everyone starts somewhere.
Tags: Parkour, traceur, heart condition, athlete, high-intensity sport, NYC
Transcript:
My Parkour, to me, is like chunky peanut butter.
Some people might like smooth peanut butter where you see people moving through trees and pipes smoothly and, like, without resistance.
Mine is stop-and-go motion kind of Parkour because I can’t necessarily link up the movements I want to do.
So what I do best is try to make those transitions go a bit smoother.
Oddly enough I am allergic to peanuts so it’s funny I use that analogy.
I was born with a cardio myothropy and an enlarged right ventricle so essentially my heart was like an old person’s heart …along with a murmur, which is like a little tiny hole.
I had open-heart surgery when I was 12. I’ve been on beta-blockers since then, which basically regulate my heart every day for the rest of my life.
We all have x-amount of heartbeats left. Mine are probably just a bit shorter than everybody else’s. And they probably shouldn’t be used on such strenuous activities.
But I have too much fun with it. I can’t put it down.
Some people might want to be a professional ninja warrior, some people might want to be a professional stuntman but I am in it to show that it is for everybody. And I can be a messenger or vessel in that way.
It’s helped balance me out as to who I am and what I can achieve is an athletic person in the Parkour community
So that pretty much drove me toward coaching than performance and stunt work.
We cater to after school programs and private classes and everybody who is willing to learn Parkour.
It’s not so much me showing my capabilities. It’s opening up the kids to see what they’re capable of and to let them know that everyone started somewhere.
Showing them that there is a human side to all these athletes who might seem amazing but not everybody came in that way or had an easy start.
We all worked hard for what we are able to do.
And anybody can do it if they put in enough time.
Despite being 5’5”, extremely flat-footed, extremely near-sighted and with a heart condition, Parkour to me is something that I can like overcome these physical and emotional barriers by trying to better myself through movement and, while doing it carefully, I can grow much more than what I thought I originally thought I was capable of.
Links: John Dizon, Instagram: @thoughtfultraceur
Movementcreative.com
nytimes.com/2013/08/09/sports/parkour-a-pastime-born-on-the-streets-moves-indoors-and-uptown.html
Social Media: Twitter: @kimberlyjavalos, FB: Kim Avalos
Potential Outlets: Narratively, Great Big Story
