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Sponsored Athletes APK Sponsored athletes are chosen based on their dedication to their training, to their community, and to the positive promotion of Parkour. To represent APK they must be driven to progress, to develop their own skills as well as help others discover their own capabilities, and stand out as role models on a local, national, and international level.
Drew Drechsel (22) from Gainesville, FL Drew started off his parkour journey when he was 17, although he was self taught, he is naturally confident and he was able to progress very fast. Drew's extensive background in sports such as baseball, football, wrestling, martial arts, and volleyball, gave him that extra edge along with his lack of fear of heights. He loves parkour because it challenges him to improve himself every day. He continues to push himself and currently teaches parkour and freerunning classes at the APK Academy in Florida. He was featured on Jump City and soon to be featured on American Ninja Warrior 3. Check out his American Ninja Warrior submission!
Natalie Strasser (26) from Los Angeles, CA Natalie started parkour in February 2010 and has since fell in love with the sport. She was a competitive gymnast for 13 years, competing Division I for Kent State University for 2.5 years. She found that parkour and freerunning were able to challenge her physically and mentally just like gymnastics did, but provided more freedom of expression and movement that was not found in the rigid environment of gymnastics. In May she tried out for American Ninja Warrior and had her first professional performance in June. She looks forward to spreading the movement! Check out her American Ninja Warrior Submission!
Tony Cephas (17) from Washington, DC Self taught from an early age, and already pushing each other to learn new arco and tumbling, Tony entered the world of Parkour with his friend Tron after spotting Natalie Strasser training at a local school. Soon after Tony began training at Primal Fitness and has been honing his natural explosive skills there since. Now working at the gym he is able to dedicate himself to progressing in and learning about Parkour. Check out Tony's latest video!
Layton 'Tron' Williams (17) from Washington, DC Tron began his training with his best friend Tony Cephas with backyard moves and fierce confidence. After beginning his training at Primal Fitness he was recognized for his creativity and drive and is continuing to perfect his movement through experimentation and dedicated training. Check out Tron and Tony's newest video!
Cody Robinson from Auburn, AL Cody Robinson started Parkour in 2006 when he first saw Oleg Vorslav’s video on the net. From there he trained with a few friends and founded Auburn University Parkour. He not to long after became a figure head in the southeast in the Overflux community. Recently he has been attempting to bridge the gap between the southeast and the rest of the country. Cody has been a Police Officer in Alabama for the last 3 years and although graduated from Auburn, is still the community leader in Auburn, AL. Check out the Auburn Community video!
Wenxin Yang (17) from Canton, MI Wenxin Yang started Parkour October 2009 after stumbling onto Parkour on Youtube trying to find a backflip tutorial. Through self-teaching and the help of the American Parkour tutorials he was able to progress slowly, but surely, building a strong base foundation. He has an extensive martial arts background of 9 years, and dabbles in rock climbing, long boarding, and mountain biking. After training alone for one and a half years, Wenxin began training with the University of Michigan Parkour club. Today, he continues to train passionately, splitting his time between the small scene at his home of Canton, Michigan and the UofM Parkour club. Check out Wenxin's latest video here!
David Ivey from Cheverly, MD David started training parkour in 2007. He is known for his giant afro and and his abundant amount of training videos on youtube. Whether its parkour, tricking, strength training or just being awesome he is constantly progressing. He has an awesome outlook on life, always has a smile on his face and is gaining more friendships day by day. He combines explosive power with clean acro to produce a beauitul floaty poetry of motion. He is definitely someone to keep on the look out! Check out David's 4 years of Parkour video!
Mike 'Pryo' Araujo from Queens, NY Pyro started training after seeing jump britian on TV. Soon after, he found NYPK and from there on, he became a prominenent member in the NYPK group and in the New York Community over the years. He has been involved on a few projects including a commercial for the laser tag company "Light Strike", workshops to promote the movie "X-Men: First Class" on the flight deck of the U.S.S. Intrepid, and performances for the Visionary Tattoo Arts Festival. He aspires to one day make a living off of enriching others lives through teaching parkour. Check out Pyro's latest video!
Elet Hall from Cavetown, MD Elet started parkour in early 2008. He began training by himself in the Appalchian Mountains of western Maryland and a year later founded Frederick MD PKFR with another nearby traceur. The community was small but tight and has regularly hosted jams and training sessions since. Elet's personal training has a focus on speed, continuity, and strength influenced by his background in soccer and fitness. When Elet isnt getting gnarly jumping off of things, hes usually snowboarding, hiking, rock climbing, or cliff jumping somewhere in the hills.His videos have had a solid run at the (B)East Coast Jam Film Festival, taking 2nd place two years running. Check out Elet's Be Something video!
Shae Perkins (19) from Kemah, TX Shae is currently 19 years old and he has been training for over 5 years. The only noteworthy activity he participated in before Parkour was soccer on and off for 5 years. He is a performance team member of both Urban Movement out of Houston, TX and PK.O.U.T. out of Dallas, Texas. Also, he currently coaches a Parkour class out of Houston Gymnastics Acedemy and will also be the Summer Parkour Coach for Camp Woodward West in California. Parkour is his life!
Marcus Lincoln (20) from Austin, TX Marcus has been training parkour for 5 years, but in the beginning it was all self-teaching from watching videos online. He first saw 'Jump London' on tv and immediately was hooked. He never really played sports aside from football for a year, but he competed on the Physical Fitness team in high school ROTC all 4 years. From 15 on he's been absolutely in love with movement, and he has trained with many wonderful people both well known and not. Marcus has been coaching gymnastics for 3 years and run a small parkour program at a local Boys and Girls club. He plans to train his body and mind for as long as they will allow, and continue spreading his knowledge and experiences with anyone who wants to listen. If you are interesting in becoming a sponsored athlete, please submit the following for review to
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