Switch from gymnast to trickster
Discover how Aaron Van Eijck found his passion in the art of tricking
Aformer New Zealand agegrade gymnastics representative has turned his hand to a new hybrid acrobatic craze gaining popularity worldwide – tricking.
It was a trip to Amsterdam a few years ago that saw Aaron Van Eijck bitten by the tricking bug. He and his older brother Daniel were visiting family and came across a tricking “gathering”.
They’d just been to a gathering in Hamilton before they left and saw what an impact it had made there and realised it was no fly-by-night thing.
“We discovered tricking online and knew what it was but, after seeing how much fun these gatherings were ... we were hooked,” he said.
Tricking originated in the 1990s and was best described as a fusion of martial arts, gymnastics and breakdancing. Different elements of kicks, flips, twists and ground moves morph together creatively to make visually pleasing combinations.
The art has been described as the ultimate form of movement and expression. There is now an international community of like-minded “trickers” throwing their bodies around, making unique shapes in the air.
Aaron had been a keen gymnast from a young age and represented New Zealand as a 15-year-old, latterly gaining senior international ranking. But the enjoyment and attraction of tricking saw gymnastics take a back seat last year.
“I’ve gone all in on this tricking thing because I enjoy it so much,” he said.
He said tricking posed new challenges.
“It was good coming from a gymnastics background but in tricking there are a lot of martial arts techniques that I had never done before.”
Trickers come from all kinds of backgrounds – martial arts, dance, parkour, tumbling, trampolining – and learn the finer arts from other people at classes or internet tutorials.
Unlike gymnastics or martial arts, tricking is non-linear and not strict with how you progress.
Seeing a growing appetite for tricking among youngsters convinced Aaron to share what he had learned by holding tricking
classes for youngsters, which were proving popular.
He has recently moved to Levin and has started holding tricking classes at Gym Junkie in Cambridge St, teaching anyone keen to learn new moves with the safety of a flip mat.
“It’s still pretty new. I only started last year, but I’ll teach as many people as I can.”
He has coached an adult tricking class in Ka¯piti and, if there is an appetite for an adult class in Levin, he is keen to start one up.
He also continues to coach a junior boys gymnastics team in Levin.