12/05/2019
A message from Jeff:
Dear Haven Families,
I know a few of you are still waiting on updates and news regarding the new gym. I am sorry for the lack of communication since the gym closure but as life has it I got VERY BUSY. I want to start off and say that unfortunately there will not be another gym coming soon. Jerry and I were working diligently on securing a new location, getting funding, and designing the space that we were promising you. There was even a location we almost signed on that got pulled out from under us. We were really excited to continue providing a place for the dedicated youth to grow in parkour.
In the down time, I spent a lot of time working and training in Los Angeles with Tempest Freerunning. For those of you that don't know, Tempest is one of the biggest companies in parkour with athletes leading the competition scene, appearing in stunts in major films and commercials, clothing, shoes, and 4 huge gyms. I had been slowly building a connection with them since going on tour with the crew a few summers ago and there was talk about adding me to the pro team. In the past few months the offer finally became a reality. My choices were to stay in the Sacramento area and keep providing and building the community I love in my hometown, or move to LA and do what I love most for a living as a professional athlete.
If it isn't apparent from that breakdown, that is a VERY hard decision. My heart is with all the dedicated kids who love parkour as much as I do and let me relive my upbringing in the sport as a coach and mentor. And my soul is in freerunning which is the root of who I am as a person and what I love doing most in life. I really felt like I had a moral obligation to the people that were a part of The Haven and the people that could have joined the sport had they found the new gym. But while I am still young and able to move my body, I just had to explore the opportunities waiting for me in LA and with Tempest. This is definitely one of those things that if I didn't persue it, I would always be left wondering "what if" later on.
Just because there is not a parkour gym, does not mean you/your kids can't still do parkour. I started training when I was 15. I went to the park, found places to train, practiced my basics, found ways to progress, found people who did parkour as well, got my friends into it, set up jams, made a team, trained hard, made videos, travelled, did performances, competed, saved money, built a gym......
Became a pro athlete.....
If you love something enough and work hard you can go anywhere with it.
Much love to everyone who was a part of making The Haven such an amazing place. It will always be my home.
If you have any questions feel free to reach out, and if you ever come to LA come visit one of the Tempest gyms so we can train 👊
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