Little Pick Me Ups
Ruel’s boy is a chip off the old block
Most kids love jumping and climbing trees.
But my daughter Jada, now six, and son Callan, four, will climb anything and everything!
Furniture, the door frames, banisters…you name it, they’ll climb it.
The pair run rings around their mum, my partner Nicola Parker, 26.
‘Just like Daddy!’ I like to tease her.
When I was 16, I got into Parkour, a fast-paced discipline that involves performing acrobatic feats in urban areas, often leaping
between tall buildings.
Nothing beats the adrenaline rush!
Now, as a qualified Parkour instructor, I teach the skills to kids and adults at Paramount Parkour in Kingston.
In February last year, I heard through a fellow trainer that ITV was launching Ninja Warrior UK.
Based on a Japanese TV show, it’s a competitive challenge where adults take on an extreme assault course.
I fell at the first obstacle and was knocked out of the competition.
But that didn’t stop my boy becoming my biggest fan. ‘Daddy on telly!’ Callan cried. To continue training for series two, I built a replica course in the Parkour centre.
I created a mini version of the course for the kids to practice on, too - always under my supervision, with crash mats. One day, Callan, then three, was climbing the wall and swinging across the overhead bar, so I filmed him and uploaded it to Facebook. It got 5000 views overnight! ‘A little legend!’ wrote one viewer. A few months later, I entered
My boy is a little legend
Ninja Warrior UK series two, and finished in the final four.
It’s so tough, no one completed the full course.
‘Go, Daddy!’ Callan congratulated me.
Jada and Callan still train with each other, as I teach Ninja Warrior-style classes to local kids.
Callan has got his ninja pose - a handstand - down to a fine art. I can’t wait to see what my
mini-ninja has in store!