Young parkour athlete chosen to represent South Africa in Tokyo
The Paragon Parkour Club is hosting a bingo night to raise funds to help send the young athlete to Tokyo.
An 18-year-old parkour extraordinaire from Paulshof has been chosen to represent South Africa at the Parkour World Championships in Tokyo in October.
Thomas Raggett said, “I am so excited about going to Tokyo. Funnily enough, Tokyo has always been a place that I have wanted to visit, and to be chosen to be one of the first athletes to represent South Africa in parkour on a world stage is awesome.”
The young athlete had previously trained as a competitive gymnast for 13 years. He continued with gymnastics and did parkour on the side. He transitioned from traditional gymnastics to parkour in 2021. His mother, Jane Raggett, said, “I am so thrilled that Thomas has been given this opportunity. He loves what he does and has always worked and trained hard.”
Thomas has been doing parkour for approximately six years. He trains at the Paragon Parkour Club, which is based in Rivonia, and is coached by Brett Fuller. “I found that I really enjoyed the sport and the people and was thrilled when Paragon started the Paragon Parkour Club, as I had trained there as a high-level competitive gymnast,” said Thomas.
Fuller describes Thomas as a capable athlete who has worked hard over the years and believes he deserves the opportunity that he has been presented with. Since parkour is not as popular as other sports in South Africa, the limited Parkour facilities and experts have made this journey difficult for Thomas. “We hope that with South Africa being represented for the first time at the World Championships, we can create an awareness about the sport and encourage more athletes to join the parkour movement through Gymnastics South Africa and other groups,” Thomas added.
According to Jane Raggett, Gymnastics South Africa has not been able to pay for the whole trip. To raise money for the duo to go to Tokyo, they are holding a bingo evening at the Rivonia Sports Club on August 26 to raise funds. For information on the bingo evening, contact Jenny Crawford at paragongymnasticsclub@gmail.com
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