Mark your calendars and your maps! Sanhga training center, a new APK Academy is opening this Friday in Elizabeth City, NC. In honor of the opening Mark Toorock interviewed Brock Thomas the owner of Sangha.
When did you first become interested in teaching parkour?
When our skills and approach to training became desirable to others we began taking friends along with us on outdoor parkour adventures. Many people enjoyed the way we practice, so we were encouraged to officially teach classes and have been offering high quality training in Elizabeth City, NC since 2013.
What about parkour is unique that you feel teaching it to people will help them in some way?
Parkour, like yoga and martial arts, is a way to learn about yourself. When studying the way you react to obstacles and challenges in your training, you learn that when diligent you are capable of achieving almost anything. This philosophy transfers into everyday life, and makes us more acquainted with overcoming fear and perceived limitations.
You took the APK cert – what was the most unexpected thing to come out of that?
First off, the certification program in DC was an awesome experience for the Roots Parkour team! Before then, we had never met or trained with anyone from the current parkour and freerunning community. The experience brought great insight into how others view parkour, and unexpectedly we made lifelong friends from all over the world!
We’re really proud to have you as part of the APK Academy! What makes you feel that an affiliation with American Parkour will be good for your business?
We are very excited to be a part of American Parkour! In a town like Elizabeth City most people have never heard of parkour and freerunning, but our affiliation with APK makes us reputable and makes our clients feel more comfortable in our ability to provide a reliable program.
Tell me a little about the people making Sangha happen…
Sangha Training Center is a facility unlike any gym in the world! In addition to parkour, we offer a unique blend of martial and non-martial arts like Jiu Jitsu, Muy Thai, Yoga, and Bagua Zhang, just to name a few. Many people have helped to make our dreams become reality, and we are truly grateful for a chance to affect our community in a positive way.
At Sangha, the parkour program is called “Roots Parkour” and we approach training by addressing athletic deficiency and improving the body mechanics of our students. All of our parkour instructors our APK certified and fully equipped to help you establish a foundation in training. We discourage reckless behavior and condition our students to be strong and resilient.
Roots Parkour – “From the ground up”
The grand opening will be hosted by the chamber of commerce and will begin with an official ribbon cutting ceremony. Catering, beverages, and live music will be provided as well as free seminars. We have multiple special guests attending including Olympic wrestler and UFC coach Kenny Johnson, as well Muy Thai legend and owner of Fearless Fighting, Professor Rodrigo Galvonosi.
Mark Toorock and Travis Graves will also be attending to get beat up by professional fighters, teach parkour, and enjoy the event.
We’re very excited to have Brock, Nick, and the crew on board, as we love their training and teaching style and feel they make a great addition to the APK Academy.
For more information check out their main facebook page and the page of the grand opening.