my bboy story

For the longest time, Ive had soo many people come up to me and ask me…”How did you get into bboying??”” How long have you been bboying!?”” Whats your favorite color?”” how do mooses get rid of dingle berries? ” etc.

Well heres how it goes.

I went to school at hammond highschool, Mind you a was never really the popular kid…no i was more like the kid that loved to sit by himself and draw, the kid who would rather spend his lunch in the art room, the kid who saved his lunch money every day to give it to the girl he had a crush on, or to spend that money on candy and cookies rather than a real meal. No real social life, as a matter of fact i CONSTANTLY tried to fit in. I tried the whole “bad” thing to get attention, fights, stealing, u know that stupid stuff. I would get teased and picked on because I was obviously trying too hard (i was a skinny kid with bucked teeth and glasses w/bad asthma).

On the quest to be “cool” my friend Dallas aka Decptikon aka Jet Jaguar (hes got a lot of names) he tried to teach me how to rollerblade by the local lake front. I wiped out pretty much every single attempt. I damn well gave up and sat there. “wait, whats that sound?” I hear music! I run over and BLAM!!!! its a buncha bboys getting down on some linoleum! I knew some moves! like the worm and moonwalk so i wanted to show it off, but too scared. The guys are like “come on! get in!” so i do it! next thing you know i was accepted! Dallas found me and he fell in love too! from then on we started a little breakdance team and practiced as much as we could, teaching ourselves moves. There was no youtube or bboyworld, we had to communicate through emails and home phones.  We met bboy neko through his very popular website, he was local and he taught us a lot! ABC (apocalyptic breakin’ crew) was born.

I had no establilshed style, just a buncha goofin around. Thats how my style came about! Im a big kid at heart and it shows in my dancing. Kids are fearless with incredible imaginations! a lot of “make believing”. Thats when i met Evil ben aka Red beard, aka nicodemus (sp?) He taught me power and taught me how to use my creativity!

I started doing moves no one in the area could do! Jackhammers, babies, hand hops etc. 3 years in the game and i started making a name for myself! Atomic goofball was growing and growing! until the unfortunate happens, chest surgery!

Growing up ive had a deformity in my chest, i think they called it pectus excavatum. Mine was a pretty serious form, sternum growing very close to my lungs and heart. The corrective surgery woulda happened when i was younger but parents feared i wouldnt be able to handle it. SO i went on with life being made fun of cuz of my “bird chest”. Rents decided to have me undergo the surgery when i was older (3-4 years into my breakin career) It sucked!!! painful..i had to be in and out of the hospital for weeks, chest kept filling up with blood so i had this blood drainer sticking outta my chest to collect the overflowing juices (tasty huh?) I was out of the game. Doc and rents said no more bboying. I can understand, i couldnt even to a push up or a handstand, this really jacked me up.

It was corrective surgery done on my chest.

The surgery caused me to be in and out of the hospital for weeks due to complications. Months go by and the healing process is long. The doctors said that getting back into breakdancing is not a good idea and that it should be forgotten. The scene grew strong and l grew weak. Almost a year goes by, and all moves are lost.

Suicidal and depressed, I was about to give up, until I realized…”bboying is what im meant to do”. I trained secretly in my basement, and had to re learn Hand stands and headstands. Still couldn’t even do a simple push up!!!!!

After all the hard training, it paid off. ATOMIC GOOFBALL came back out into the scene with a vengeance! and with all that I have been through, I act as a messenger for all those out there who want to achieve their dreams! anything is possible and the Im here to prove it!

bboy atomic goofball 2008 compilation from atomicgoofball on Vimeo.