19-year-old freerunner and parkour coach from Taos and UNM Freshman Payton Hanna is a rarity in his community. Hanna has been freerunning for four years now and hopes to continue to push the boundaries of the sport.
Hanna said UNM’s unique and mobile campus made it a big draw for an avid freerunner such as himself.
“UNM is one of the best places I’ve found for parkour and freerunning, with walls everywhere and jumps and things — it’s a parkour paradise! It kind of drew me into UNM and I love it,” Hanna said. “I started a freerunning program at Ninja Park, a ‘Ninja Warrior’ gym just north of campus, that focuses on parkour and freerunning. I just started in January, but I’ve been an instructor for two years.”
Hanna is visually impaired and often relies upon his sense of touch and hearing to map out routes or experience jumps.
“For me a lot of my freerunning ‘checks’ (pre-course run-throughs) come from just experiencing the course because of my visual impairment,” Hanna said. “I usually walk the jumps and try to time how long the jump will take or have a friend take the jump and gauge the distance upon sound. It’s a lot of ‘proprioceptive’ reception rather than sight, like a lot of other freerunners do.”
Hanna said that all parkour athletes use “parkour vision” to see walls, ledges and fences as “movements,” rather than just objects.
“I see things and realize I can jump that. And when you’re running around hanging with people, you’re like ‘hey, I can jump that!’ and then someone else might go ‘hey, I can flip that’ and it kind of expands from there,” he said. “Parkour is all about freedom and turning the world into your playground.”
Hanna’s influences are drawn from various sources, from martial arts to anime, he said.
“I joined Tae-Kwon-Do when I was younger since I’m legally blind, reaching a black belt. After that I studied several other types of martial arts — Aikido, Sistema, Mui Thai — and then martial arts tricking, which is martial arts displayed in an acrobatic fashion. This really influences my specific style of freerunning, since I use a lot of kicks and martial arts techniques and aggressive movements.”
Hanna said that his biggest influence in freerunning is his visual impairment.
“Another major influence is popular freerunners that I watch. And l also draw a lot of inspiration from fictional characters such as Goku, Sonic the Hedgehog or Obi-Wan Kenobi,” Hanna said.
Hanna will be participating in a parkour competition this weekend, something he said not everyone in the community agrees with.
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“Competition is a controversial topic in the parkour community, since many runners think of parkour as a competition against the environment, trying to better themselves — compared to, say, martial arts, where there is a heavy competitive aspect,” he said.
Hanna said the community is an essential part of parkour culture. He said that parkour has helped him overcome many of life’s obstacles, especially in his everyday school life at UNM.
“Outside of parkour I start to notice obstacles I have in life and then think about how I would overcome obstacles just like in freerunning. I break down problems just like I would break down a jump, or a fence, or a ledge. Understanding how to handle problems by breaking them down into smaller parts is the true power of parkour,” Hanna noted.
Hanna has big goals moving forward with parkour, from coaching to competition. He doesn’t plan on slowing down anytime soon.
“First and foremost, coaching is my biggest thing. When I get older and my body starts to deteriorate I know I’ll always be able to coach. That’s why I really want to focus on my coaching so I can pass on the skills I’ve learned,” he said. “Until then, I’d really like to get into the competitive circuit and learn as much as I can while I’m young. Ultimately I just want to use parkour as a force for good.”
Those looking to get involved with parkour or freerunning can sign up for Hanna’s class at Ninja Park, or look for him around campus. Videos of Hanna and his freerunning journey can be found on his YouTube account, “Payton Hanna.”
Troy Amato is a freelance reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @DailyLobo.
