St. Thomas sophomore Xavier Walk believes anyone can be a superhero; all they need is inspiration. Walk, who is often referred to as Parkour Guy, tries to be St. Thomas’ own superhero, despite his lack of a cliche origin story of tragedy.
“Video games is where I started getting interested in parkour,” Walk said about his superhero inspiration Cole MacGrath, the protagonist of the video game Infamous. “So I started playing around with some ideas, started going out and doing some stuff.”
Whether Parkour Guy is ninja-sliding through dorm hallways or making his way through the railings on the veranda, he doesn’t slow down to make any conversation.
He began practicing parkour at the age of 12 when he realized his natural talent. Starting small, Walk would try to get over a chain-link fence as fast as possible on his way to the park, which led to other self-taught maneuvers that created a foundation for his newfound hobby.
In high school, Walk was scrutinized for his love of parkour and tried to avoid having an audience. St. Thomas, however, has changed his mind.
“Here at St. Thomas the people are really accepting, and they don’t judge you for what you do,” Walk said. “It’s nice to have people show appreciation instead of judgment.”
Different types of vaults, jumps and even falls keep Walk passionate about parkour, despite somes scrapes and bruises. A permanent bump on his head reminds him of one particularly hazardous backflip attempt in downtown St. Paul.
“I did a backflip, except I didn’t kick far enough off,” Walk said. “I hit the back of my head on the wall.”
Since then, he has been a bit more cautious about how he approaches certain areas.
Despite the instance when he donned a Spiderman costume, typical parkour gear for Walk is both protective and motivational; he can be seen around campus wearing athletic gloves, split-toed shoes while listening to music.
“If there is a period where I don’t have music, it’s kind of hard,” Walk said. “Mainly because I like to feel pumped up, and just hearing the sound of my footsteps doesn’t get me going.”
Walk’s favorite spot to practice parkour is right in the heart of campus: the veranda along the east side of the football field. He often uses the bottom for speed practice and performs vaults and jumps as people inside the Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex watch. Sometimes he even climbs up the stone to the top platform.
The winter, however, bodes a particular challenge for Walk. He often has to set up a parkour run in the gym due to snow and ice hazards. He assembles whatever props he can find to rush through as fast or as creatively as possible, doing his best to perfect specific moves. When that run becomes too easy, Walk furthers the challenge by putting on a blindfold before he makes his run.
Just a hobby for now, Walk hopes to use his powers for good by pursuing a career in criminal justice. But for now, Walk will stick to honing his craft around campus using, quite literally, whatever he can get his hands on.
Adam Kraft can be reached at adam.kraft@stthomas.edu.