As an athlete that grew up within a developing illegitimate sport, what would cause me to see the value in legitimizing and working towards saying " Thank you " to my heroes, inspirations & my own home city of Toronto?
Hi my name is David Milner and I use my honesty, a pure heart & integrity with my words to defeat the bad guys in Tricking !
For people who have been following along the journey, Tricking started off in the USA, evolved from a Japanese discipline called Karate but became a global sport when it hit the internet, where now various countries from around the world are contributors. I even started a youtube channel and have been giving highlight and securing history to see the glory that other countries have to offer ( albeit the ones that aren't corrupted ).
Growing up I got to see Pure Tricking.
When I first went to Denmark in 2008 ( black hair emo days version of David ) I went to a community that was run by the Danish & I got to see what they had to offer. There were guests from other countries from scandinavia, but they weren't involved in the organization. It was truly Danish, and took place in a very old city .. what was it called again.. ? Naskov !
Anyways, I got to meet my hero at the time, a man named Rasmus Ott, who is a hugely influencial cultural & historical figure during my generation ( one I've classified as Generation II .. a nod to how Pokemon classifies it's games, I do the same for Tricking as a whole ! ).
It was important for me as a learner to meet and learn from my heroes, and even to this day, I make sure that history remembers the ancestors and I pay my respects.
A contest is not truly real, if it's all marketing, but the substance of the event tells a different story than that marketing.
When I went to Denmark, it was so authentically truly Danish.
This is not true in the world of Tricking now.
A good example I like to use is Poland - where if you go to that event there called AMG ( Air Moves Gathering ) .. you wont even get Polish champions in attendance.
The organizers might be Polish, but the judges, battlers, media .. it's all going to be members of an underground competition racket called the Kojos Trick Lab Tour.
The way that competitions were corrupted here in Tricking was by removing the Nationality of an event and replacing nationals with ports from underground organizations, and then false marketing the situation to make it appear as if it were a national event still.
The physical location may technically be in a particular country, but the actual substance of the event was replaced by foreign national interests - but worst of all is that the public & government, parents, and young generation of athletes are lied to - it's the false marketing.
This is why I, as someone with nearly 20 years of experience, who absolutely loves Tricking, will take 1 look at an event, see how it's marketed, see the advertising & lose interest - because I don't believe in it anymore.
I am attracted to Glory - not to Marketing.
I don't sense high glory at these events, the way I sense high glory out in other parts of the world.
& thats because a lot of my heroes have moved on, and I've witnessed the sport degenerate as time goes on. The population is comprised of people who have lower moral and ethical conduct.
I will say that the skill level is higher though, but that really all these events are inter-changable.
If I want Hooked, I could just go to Vertigo. If I want Hooked, I could just go to Bulgaria.
or Poland.
Because it's going to be the same cast & crew anyways.
But that's all done the illegal way, because currently, Tricking Competitions are a fixed-racket perpetrated by Kojos Trick Lab & it's affiliates - essentially the Team Rocket of Tricking ( for people who get the Pokemon references ).
The Olympics requires nations to represent themselves, and to unify amongst a group that host a sports competition where the geographical location changes every 4 years of the event - thereby making it incredibly neutral.
As I got older, I became more self aware and respectful.
I am who I am, because of my inspirations.
The local heroes of Canada like Chris Mark, Shido Xen & Joe Eigo were hugely impactful on the sport - regardless of the politics, they inspired in a positive and healthy manner. They encouraged positive development, towards Tricking & Canada.
If you get involved with gangs, you will be encouraged and rewarded to be dishonest, to do hateful & low-life activities. It might score you a "victory" but if you have to hide from the public what you did & delete your history after .. is it a true victory?
Victory is for people who live in the Light, where they can proudly state their allegiances, love & affiliations.
When organized crime groups have to lie to the public, governments, loved ones & to themselves, this is not a true victory, but self defeat.
A True Champion is someone who can just be their true selves & their story is a truth that regardless of the attempts by their competitors to destroy it .. will remain.
This is why someone like myself, who doesn't command a great wealth or army, is able to have such a positive impact on the entire sport - even if people absolutely refuse to admit it.
My words hit deep, because with truth, it resonates & finds it's way into the soul.
I am proud to say that I am the most successful Canadian Tricker of all time, and I can show off my 19 samplers, my battle resume, my gathering edits, scrap clips, my tributes, rough copies, my process, state my inspirations & give credit because it's my adventure and journey.
When we're dealing with frauds, they will only ever present to you a final product & hide the process, hoping to win you over with a well polished and shined marketing tactic.
Unless I can see behind the curtain so to speak, I've learned not to look at things at face value, but to take a deeper look and derive the true value of a product or event.
See past the marketing for what something really is.
Tricking has been on the decline politically - the skill level is high, but all the good & honest business people are naturally repelled from what your average Tricker is becoming.
Two casts of society are forming - High & Low.
Where drugs, organized crime, prostitution, and lies are masked with as much support & marketing as possible to cover it up, truly it's up to you as an individual not to sacrifice truth & honour for the money & fame.
The same people who say they are for the culture, in the same breath fail to cite their sources & fail to give credit where it's due to the originals.
To truly reach the top of the sport, skill level is only the beginning.
Serving the true history & original culture becomes the highest value.
If people want to be a part of an organized crime group, you might be able to force the kind of outcomes you want, but eventually society will catch on.
As time goes on, people end up with people they are similar to. Attraction and repulsion.
Criminals end up together, and Solo Champions go off into the world and just focus on invention and breaking limits.
And every few years, Heroes unite and form leagues to validate and authenticate the truth of an event.
This is why you need real judges who have cemented legendary and historical contributions - the true pioneers and contributors ( the ones Team Rocket try to clone ! )
Some people even try to destroy that history.
Remember folks,
If they try to silence your voice, ask yourselves why?
Why would people delete or destroy history?
No one is perfect, we all make mistakes.
We have to accept reality & change our behaviour.
Evolve in an honest, positive direction.
Lets be real & healthy. Your average Tricker graduates from the industry around age 30.
There is more to life than Tricking, so it doesn't hurt to keep your head fixed right on your shoulders.
It's the people who are the most desperate to make Tricking their everything that the most likely to embrace the darkest aspects of the sport.
At the end of the day, all that darkness & you just end up having to hide your name, or conceal your true activities anyways.
Champions get to live out in the light.
If everyone knows you because you're a liar, who will end up trusting you?
The only thing people can trust is that you'll betray.
So what kind of friends do you have if they accept that behaviour?
You may as well play Tricking right, with a sense of honour & dignity.
& I can't think of anything more noble than serving your own home town, saying thank you to your heroes & discouraging cheating.
If I'm growing this way .. how come there are less people I can relate to?
How come all my heroes left Tricking?
Do I even want to go back?
Not unless it's historically accurate & consistent.
If I see a competition, & if I'll upload it onto my channel.
It's because that's what I want to see ..
( or I collect events as evidence ).
Add comment
Comments