SACHA POWELL
BIRTHDAY: 16TH JUNE 1994
How did you get into parkour and meet the rest of the team?
I discovered parkour through watching Jump Britain on TV when I was 12 years old. Then my friends and I went to a local park to have a go and found we really enjoyed it. Within six months my friends had lost interest, but my brother Callum had started training too, so we carried on from there and haven’t stopped since.
Callum and I met Toby and Josh at a parkour gathering for a friend’s birthday. We first met the rest of the team in the summer of 2008 when they came to Brighton for a day, but we didn’t really become good friends until a year later when we started training much more frequently together.
What do you most appreciate about being part of STORROR and about your team mates?
I like everyone’s sense of humour and goals for life. I enjoy and appreciate the drive the team has, never satisfied but always proud, which pushes us to achieve greater things. I appreciate how we only do things that we enjoy and that are true to us as a group.
What do you think makes STORROR unique among parkour teams?
We’re always trying to do the next thing. Always asking, what hasn’t been done before and why can’t we do it? We question everything and bend it around what we want to achieve, and as a group with a diverse skill-set we tend to get it done.
What are your best parkour skills and what are your other talents or interests?
I’m into types of movements like 360-jumps and precise flips, and I’m pretty good at filming and editing.
I started film-making shortly after starting parkour. We needed a way to document our achievements through the sport, so picking up a camera made sense. Callum trained more than anyone I knew, pretty much 24/7, so me being behind the camera a lot just happened naturally.
It didn’t take long to realise I really enjoyed filming and seeing how everything would look at the end of the editing process. Having a little project to work on between training days was always fun. Now twelve years on, and I’m still holding a camera and sitting behind a screen moving pixels around. Love it.
When I’m not doing parkour, I love being creative in some way, through film-making or photography, or even going on an adventure and documenting it. Apart from travelling and exploring, I also enjoy climbing and cliff diving. And good coffee, and chill sessions with hot chocolate in hand!
What’s your diet like and what training or exercise do you do to improve fitness?
I just do parkour and try to eat well. I’m a vegetarian with a wavy diet – progress pending. My favourite food has to be spinach and ricotta tortellini with basil pesto and all the trimmings, and anything Italian.
What’s your taste in books, films, music?
One of my goals is to read more and I recently read The Giver, which I really enjoyed. My favourite movies are tricky mind-boggling films like Shutter Island and Interstellar, and all of Michael Bay’s movies of course!
My music tastes are all over the place but mostly it’s indie or trip hop. Since Spotify came about, I usually listen to individual songs from scattered genres. Recently I’ve been listening to The Family Crest, Sylvan Esso, Oh Wonder, Marian Hill, and Jordan Rakei.
At school, what subjects were you best at and worst at?
I was terrible at English, maths and science. I got along better with creative and artistic lessons such as music and media studies, which involved video production. I really enjoyed PE in school too but I was never a stand-out athletic type, apart from on the trampoline!
If you weren’t a professional parkour athlete, what would you be doing for a living?
I’d definitely go into the film industry or something else with a creative outlet. I don’t think I’d survive doing anything involving hard labour work!
What places would you like to visit that you haven’t yet and which are your favourites so far?
I’d love to visit Hawaii, maybe flip over some lava – that’d be cool. I also really want to visit the Faroe Islands and bring my camera – that would be a dream. Favourite countries I’ve already been are Kenya, due to the wildlife; Thailand, due to the experience when we were making Supertramps; the USA, due to my girlfriend; and Brazil, due to the colours and jungles.
Where do you see yourself ten years from now?
I’ll still be a part of STORROR, still constantly progressing our projects and upping the quality, whilst having a catalogue of amazing individuals and companies we’ve worked with. I can see us opening our own parkour facility in the UK and hiring our good mates.
What advice would you give someone starting out in parkour?
Find like-minded friends to train and progress with. There’s no better teacher than someone else tackling the same challenge as you. Or find a community with a varied skill range; you’ll have fun training with the people at the same level as you, you’ll learn from the higher level athletes, and you’ll reassess your techniques when teaching them to the beginners below you. Start small, don’t rush the progression, stay safe and have fun. If it’s not fun, why do it?
SACHA POWELL
BIRTHDAY: 16TH JUNE 1994
How did you get into parkour and meet the rest of the team?
I discovered parkour through watching Jump Britain on TV when I was 12 years old. Then my friends and I went to a local park to have a go and found we really enjoyed it. Within six months my friends had lost interest, but my brother Callum had started training too, so we carried on from there and haven’t stopped since.
Callum and I met Toby and Josh at a parkour gathering for a friend’s birthday. We first met the rest of the team in the summer of 2008 when they came to Brighton for a day, but we didn’t really become good friends until a year later when we started training much more frequently together.
What do you most appreciate about being part of STORROR and about your team mates?
I like everyone’s sense of humour and goals for life. I enjoy and appreciate the drive the team has, never satisfied but always proud, which pushes us to achieve greater things. I appreciate how we only do things that we enjoy and that are true to us as a group.
What do you think makes STORROR unique among parkour teams?
We’re always trying to do the next thing. Always asking, what hasn’t been done before and why can’t we do it? We question everything and bend it around what we want to achieve, and as a group with a diverse skill-set we tend to get it done.
What are your best parkour skills and what are your other talents or interests?
I’m into types of movements like 360-jumps and precise flips, and I’m pretty good at filming and editing.
I started film-making shortly after starting parkour. We needed a way to document our achievements through the sport, so picking up a camera made sense. Callum trained more than anyone I knew, pretty much 24/7, so me being behind the camera a lot just happened naturally.
It didn’t take long to realise I really enjoyed filming and seeing how everything would look at the end of the editing process. Having a little project to work on between training days was always fun. Now twelve years on, and I’m still holding a camera and sitting behind a screen moving pixels around. Love it.
When I’m not doing parkour, I love being creative in some way, through film-making or photography, or even going on an adventure and documenting it. Apart from travelling and exploring, I also enjoy climbing and cliff diving. And good coffee, and chill sessions with hot chocolate in hand!
What’s your diet like and what training or exercise do you do to improve fitness?
I just do parkour and try to eat well. I’m a vegetarian with a wavy diet – progress pending. My favourite food has to be spinach and ricotta tortellini with basil pesto and all the trimmings, and anything Italian.
What’s your taste in books, films, music?
One of my goals is to read more and I recently read The Giver, which I really enjoyed. My favourite movies are tricky mind-boggling films like Shutter Island and Interstellar, and all of Michael Bay’s movies of course!
My music tastes are all over the place but mostly it’s indie or trip hop. Since Spotify came about, I usually listen to individual songs from scattered genres. Recently I’ve been listening to The Family Crest, Sylvan Esso, Oh Wonder, Marian Hill, and Jordan Rakei.
At school, what subjects were you best at and worst at?
I was terrible at English, maths and science. I got along better with creative and artistic lessons such as music and media studies, which involved video production. I really enjoyed PE in school too but I was never a stand-out athletic type, apart from on the trampoline!
If you weren’t a professional parkour athlete, what would you be doing for a living?
I’d definitely go into the film industry or something else with a creative outlet. I don’t think I’d survive doing anything involving hard labour work!
What places would you like to visit that you haven’t yet and which are your favourites so far?
I’d love to visit Hawaii, maybe flip over some lava – that’d be cool. I also really want to visit the Faroe Islands and bring my camera – that would be a dream. Favourite countries I’ve already been are Kenya, due to the wildlife; Thailand, due to the experience when we were making Supertramps; the USA, due to my girlfriend; and Brazil, due to the colours and jungles.
Where do you see yourself ten years from now?
I’ll still be a part of STORROR, still constantly progressing our projects and upping the quality, whilst having a catalogue of amazing individuals and companies we’ve worked with. I can see us opening our own parkour facility in the UK and hiring our good mates.
What advice would you give someone starting out in parkour?
Find like-minded friends to train and progress with. There’s no better teacher than someone else tackling the same challenge as you. Or find a community with a varied skill range; you’ll have fun training with the people at the same level as you, you’ll learn from the higher level athletes, and you’ll reassess your techniques when teaching them to the beginners below you. Start small, don’t rush the progression, stay safe and have fun. If it’s not fun, why do it?
For more insight into the seven characters that make STORROR the biggest name in parkour, take a look at their individual profiles.
STORROR BEST SELLERS
While the team has been honing their skills in both parkour and filmmaking for over a decade, they’ve also developed their own line of clothing and training shoes.
This has proved a powerful combination, establishing STORROR as the iconic parkour brand.
