Rediscovering Free-Style #Two — Martin
Here we go again!
A huge welcome to everyone to the 2nd part of my series on freestyle football — Rediscovering Free-Style
First a brief introduction about this series. Rediscovering Free-Style basically means the search for true meaning of Freestyle in freestyle football which I believe is getting somewhat lost in today’s world. Somewhere between all the combos and transitions the word ‘Free’ of Freestyle football is fading away slowly. Hope this explains why the title is such.
So what I do is try to explain the concept of Freestyle football with the assistance of some pioneers of this art-form. Because why not? Who else to explain you the best meaning than the people who have mastered this art!
If you guys have not read the first part of the series, I would recommend you go read that first (Or just open it in a new window and go read it after this one). The first part included the ideas of Brazilian freestyle master ‘Thiago Saltori’ on how he was able to develop his own style and make a career out of it. Click here to read the first part.
This may be a bit deviating but here is the meaning of style —
Style is a manner of doing or presenting things.
This cannot be more true for free-style football. This art-form allows you the freedom to create your own style using a football. How you choose to present yourself is totally up to you. You represent yourself on the platform.
The strange thing is that we only seek out the best version of everything. What is accepted as ‘the best’ by everyone is what seems the best for ourselves. This applies a great deal to freestyle football also. When we see someone execute a trick in some manner, we often try to replicate his style with the idea that it is the only way we will be able to perfect that trick.
This is what the majority are doing. And of course they are not wrong in doing so. But the idea that a particular style of doing a trick is the only way to do it, is somewhat that is becoming a problem in this sport. Repetitive tricks and monotonous routine is not helping the growth of this sport.
“So how do I create my own style?” Well, I have someone that might help you with this problem. So here he is!
Martin Schopf is a widely known freestyle footballer from Vienna, Austria. Starting practicing the sport at the age of 14 he began his professional career in 2011. He was introduced to freestyle football in his school by a few YouTube videos. Shortly after he indulged in videos of freestylers like Jeon Kwon and John Farnworth, who remained his biggest inspiration in the first few years of his training.
His style is one of the most unique and stylish in the freestyle football community. His approach towards freestyle is inspired a lot by others but generally he follows his own approach. And of course, his style does reflect his personality as well.
In his own words,
For me personally, creating your own moves and style is the essence of every Freestyle sport. The fascination and the potential of our sport lies in the creativity of our scene. I believe that right now the big competitions encourage people to train similar moves and styles that are most valued among judges. There are only few people standing out, which is really unfortunate but i believe in the future this trend will change again towards originality.
Style, according to him, is on one hand the way one performs various moves and on the other hand the selection of which moves to perform and how to combine them.
His approach towards freestyle is inspired a lot by people mastering their art and making easy moves look fascinating ,‘I learn a lot from studying others’ — he says. The first step includes learning the trick as good as possible. After that he interprets it into his own way and then incorporate it in his flows. He adds that music also plays a big factor in his creations.
For the young hearts out there, who are looking for some answers Martin’s got a great piece of advice — ‘Freestyle can take a lot of patience but always keep in mind to enjoy the process. Don’t be afraid to reach out to other people in the scene in your country or abroad, they can be a big source of help and motivation.’
This is the second part of my new series for my publication Freestyle Works. It is the only independent freestyle football publication right now in the world and I run it to spread new and unique ideas about freestyle football.
Give a clap if you liked what you read. Follow this publication for the next part of this series. Talk to me down in the comments section if you have any suggestions or a demand for me.
