Freshman Vince Reckamp can do things that most people can only dream of doing.

Reckamp was never a big team sports kind of guy, so he took up something he thought was fun: Parkour. He trained at two parkour gyms for some time to step things up. Reckamp is now aiming to get in the spotlight on the TV show American Ninja Warrior.

“I don’t go to gyms anymore, I train by myself nowadays,” Reckamp said. “I go to parks now and jump over things or flip over things to train.”

To get onto American Ninja Warrior, people have to go wait in a line for a shot on the amateur course. The line is so long some people don’t ever make it to the front to compete. If contestants do eventually make it to the front and are good enough, that contestant gets an invitation to be on the television show people see today.

“Being on American Ninja Warrior and possibly winning would be an incredible accomplishment for me,” Reckamp said. “If I won, it would allow me to open my own parkour gym for kids like me.”

Training for parkour can be very dangerous, and Reckamp had to learn that the hard way.

“Once I was trying to jump from one wall to another and missed and fell,” Reckamp said. “My brother told me that I was knocked out cold right as I hit my head.”

For Reckamp, the sport is a self-expression of who he is. Reckamp is not the biggest man on campus, but he has big aspirations.

“It makes me happy to be a parkourist,” Reckamp said. “I am doing something I love to do.”

Being a parkourist throws new challenges at people. There’s always a new stunt to attempt everywhere they look. It’s how they handle these stunts that determines how talented they really are.

“I always fear something new when I try it,” Reckamp said. “But if I have done the stunt before it’s just an adrenaline rush.”