Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Vaulting onto life’s big stage
Gravity has nothing on Brad Short — at least that’s how it looks.
The 22-year-old Boca Raton resident climbs walls, Spideystyle. Concrete looks flexible theway he springs forward into a flip. And when you see him leap from building to building, it’s nothing short of death-defying.
His leaps around Boca Raton’s landmarks— and videos of it posted on YouTube — have gotten him thousands of hits on the Internet and now his exposure could head into the stratosphere. He was one of the 23 speakers at last month’s TEDx Talks in Boca Raton, which means his presentation on how movement can lead to self-discovery and understanding intuition could reach tens of thousands of views once it goes online.
Ideally, he says, the way he runs, swings, vaults and jumps in the name of a discipline called Parkour will take him around the world. Parkour, or freerunning, is inspired by military training on obstacle courses.
Short is hoping to help a world glued to their cell phones to reconnect with nature and the joy of running, jumping and playing.
“It’s about learning to conquer fear and breaking the limitations of what you think you are capable of within your own skin,” said Short, who cameto the area from Sarasota nearly five years ago as an exercise science major at Florida Atlantic University.
No broken bones yet, he says. But don’t ask his mother to watch the videos on his YouTube channel.
“I just pray and he continues to assure me, ‘I’m skilled at this, Mom, don’t worry,’ ” said Victoria Short, on the eldest of herthree sons. “I don’t even do fair rides.”
She said she thinks his passion for motion might have started with a Peter Pan costume that he routinely put on before climbing the trees in the family backyard.
It was as an 8-year-old BMX biker, though, Short remembers getting his first taste of extreme and letting go of fear.
And then he was hooked when he sawa video of someone practicing Parkour when hewas14, he said.
“It was like they were superheroes doing these awesome things with their body,” he said. “I have always been interested in what I should do to conquer my unsure self.”
That challenge had him up at 4:30 a.m. to condition his body. Before he begins a typical day, he’s already put his 155-pound, 5-foot, 9-inch body through 1,000 sit-ups and 1,000 pull-ups. Red Bull, Starbucks and sugar are out of the question. His diet is fruit, vegetables and beans.
Practicing Parkour in his favorite haunts such as Lake Wyman Park, downtown Boca and FAU attracted a client base.
He got certified in Parkour and now he’s got a gig at Intensity, a gym in Margate, managing the Parkour program there.
Becky Woodbridge, the organizer for the TEDx in Boca Raton, said that Short stood out among the 150 or so applications she looked at for the event’s speaking slots.
“His performance ability takes a lot of risk and guts,” she said. “He has an extraordinary understanding that Parkour creates a lot of mental strength and dedication.”
A video of the talk is expected to be up in about three weeks.
David Thompson, president and co-founder of the World Freerunning Parkour Federation, said that Short is a standout.
“When we have an event coming up and I survey athletes that I respect, several of them put him in the top 10 athletes in the United States,” Thompson said.
Short quit FAUj ust short of graduation because he found the demand for his training was already creating the life he wanted. Learning to be fully in the moment — and ready for what’s next — is part of Parkour’s discipline, he said.
“I am completely embraced in the moment and everything the moment has to offer,” he said.
“The reality of the present experience is all that there ever is.”