Freestylers: The Switch Crew
Imagine if you assembled some of the best freestylers in the world into a team. Now imagine that team traveled the globe, winning championships, performing on the world's biggest stages like the Olympics and having fun while doing it.
It turns out you don't have to imagine it, because we're describing something that exists: The Switch Crew - a group of 5 friends who have become the most successful team in the world of freestyle football, with 9 world championships between them. The crew consists of:
Andrew Henderson (UK), 2014 Red Bull Street Style World Champion
Clement Reubreucht (FRA), World Champion in Double Routine with Gautier Fayole (below)
Gaetan (FRA), Top French Freestyler
Gautier Fayolle (FRA), World Champion in Solo Routine
Samy Chamouma (FRA), Basketball Freestyler
Together, as "The Switch Crew," they have performed on some of the biggest stages in the world, including as featured performers at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Not to mention their individual achievements, including Andrew Henderson's recent win as Red Bull Street Style World Champion (the video of the finals is a must-watch). But don't take our word for it. Check out this recent video from The Switch Crew, part of a recent project called "Footstyle" - a series of funny football videos, tutorials and more:
As is obvious from this video, the members of The Switch Crew aren't your everyday talent. Known for their synchronized dribbling, juggling and acrobatic acts - along with a good sense of humor - Andrew, Clem, Gaetan, Gautier and Samy are taking freestyle places it's never been before.
Recently, we had a chance to sit down with this all-star crew and ask 18 questions. Here's what the fellas had to say:
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How old are you guys? The members of Switch Crew are 21-24 years old.
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Where are you from? We live in Paris, France. The city of lights, love and pigeons. (Laugh)
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How did you all get started with freestyle soccer? We all started freestyle because we found it beautiful and we wanted to know our limits with a ball! We started freestyle as a team because all of us love to create new things, sometimes act like children, and we can spend a night making new projects and share our ideas. After that it is training all day long.
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What are your best tricks? Our tricks are like our babies, it's hard to choose! Maybe our best trick is from Gautier & Clem. They called it "the Eiffel Tower." It's a duo trick which looks like the famous symbol of Paris. This trick contributed to their world title in Double Routine.
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What's one skill any freestyler needs to cultivate? Patience and dedication. Some tricks require a lot of training to master and even the basics of freestyle football are not easy to learn. You have to take your time and progress step by step.
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What freestylers have influenced The Switch Crew - and how? When we created Switch Crew, we wanted to push the limits of football freestyle with team tricks, creativity and performance on stage. So a lot of freestylers inspire us individually, but as a the team, we got inspired from other artists, like dancers, acrobats etc... We've been looking forward to taking freestyle football to the next level.
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What’s the coolest thing you've ever done in the sport? Mmmm...It is between the Olympic Games in front of 20,000 people or our trip to India when we were freestyling for people in a small village!
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What advice would you give someone just starting out in the sport? Be patient, skills will come with training and passion. Try also to be yourself, to do what you like the most in freestyle, share who you are and enjoy!
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What is your greatest moment as a freestyle crew? I think when we won 3 world champion titles in the same competition (Battle, Solo and Double Routine). It was in 2012. You can guess the after party was crazy! It happened also the year after. Twice in a row.
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What was your worst moment as a group? Maybe when we lost in a huge TV program in France.
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How did you get past your worst moment? We just reminded ourselves how lucky we were to get called into this TV program. They invited all the best artists from all over the world, so it was a big honor for us to participate in it! We lost, but the experience was unique for sure.
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What is the hardest part about trying to make money from freestyle soccer? The challenge is the next one: you are independant, you make your own career and own business. In football, if you get called by a club, the club pays you. In freestyle, you have to sell yourself on your own.
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What’s the “ultimate soccer experience” you’d all like to have? We would like our project "Footstyle" to develop. We teach some football skills, freestyle tricks but also make funny videos about football. In the future, we'd like to coach youngsters on football technique. For example, this one where we are teaching how to make an easy panna:
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Where in the world has freestyle football taken you? What's your best story? Brazil, Japan, Russia, Qatar, Niger, Vietnam, India, China and more than 30 other countries. We think Oman (Middle East) is our best story. It was the first time that we left Europe with the crew and we realized how much we have fun all together on stage and outside also!
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What talent would you most like to have if you could choose any? Flying would be amazing! Hahaha.
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What other sports and activities do you all enjoy when you're not performing? For sure making funny videos!
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What are your day jobs? Creating new tricks and building new shows.
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Where will we see The Switch Crew in 5 years? Maybe in Paris, making freestyle in a random place or chilling in a park in Peru. We totally don't know.
Keep up with The Switch Crew and check out their latest videos and updates below.