Loopkicks is a Martial Arts Tricking team born and raised in the Bay Area est. 1999. Our goal is to grow the art and sport of tricking through classes, events, performances, and media.
Team Loopkicks had its humble beginnings way back in 1999 when Isiah Flores of Ernie Reyes’ West Coast Martial Arts Milpitas created a local demonstration team for his school. One fateful night in his garage, Isiah was strumming his guitar in a LOOPING motion while he simultaneously KICKED the bass drum… and that’s how he came up with the name ‘Loopkicks’ for his new team! On another fateful night he invited members of another demonstration team from West Coast Martial Arts Berryessa (San Jose) to come over and train after regular classes had finished.
Isiah was intrigued by their Tricking skills, and they were impressed by all of Isiah’s toys, especially his video camera and his laptop. Isiah and his friends would film each other’s Tricks until the wee hours of the morning, and then Isiah would edit the videos and upload them to a website he had developed for them. Much to their surprise, fans emerged from all over the world showing great appreciation for their work. And this further inspired the team to train harder and put our even more videos. They were hired to perform at local high school rallies, festivals, and other events all around the Bay Area, which drew in more anxious Tricker hopefuls. Before they knew it, a new community was born, they rolled with it, and Team Loopkicks is still pushing for it now!
Through the years, Team Loopkicks first connected with other Martial Arts and Acrobats in the area, but has since opened up to practitioners of other Performing Arts, the Multimedia Arts, and Social Networking who have picked up Tricking. They were joined by Bboys, HipHop Dancers, Sport Karate competitors, photographers, computer/web specialists, entrepreneurs, and movers and pushers. There’s an amazing amount of diversity around them- a luxury they can attribute to living in the Silicon Valley of the Bay Area.
Since the first camp in 2004, the art and craft of Tricking has evolved and proved to the world to be infinite and magical. Trickers from around the globe gather to share, learn and grow this incredible phenomenon.
