KAMAL AND THE BIG COUNTDOWN
It’s just two short weeks until the Red Bull Street Style World Finals kick off in Cape Town on 28 April, 2010. We spoke to South Africa’s Street Style Champ 2010, Kamal Ranchod, who is surprisingly cool, calm and collected.
“Staying calm is my best shot at doing well,” says Kamal, as he tells us how he plans on tackling the big day. “If I get nervous, things can easily go wrong. My plan is to just enjoy myself and have a great time.”
And what will he be doing to pass the time until the finals? “I’m currently taking a break from the Joburg scene and hanging with some other South African freestylers in Cape Town, my favourite place in the world. For sure.” He’s not just in the Cape for the scenery, though, he’s there for a week of hard training.
“I find freestyle in Cape Town a whole different vibe,” Kamal says, explaining his decision to train in Cape Town instead of Joburg before the finals. “It’s so competitive in Joburg, but the Cape Town guys, they’re super chilled. We share tricks, learn from each other, teach each other. It’s like this awesome brotherhood.”
Kamal cherishes the friendships that have formed out of his passion for freestyle soccer and through Red Bull Street Style. Friendships with fellow South African freestylers, and friendships with international freestylers. “I’m so excited for the international competitors to arrive,” he says, “I feel like I already know a lot of them thanks to contact we’ve had on YouTube and Facebook. I consider quite a few of them my real friends.”
He’ll get to meet all 56 of the competitors at a massive training session organised for a few days before the finals. But he should bump into a few of them before that as all the contestants will be staying in the same hotel during the competition. It’s something Kamal thinks will be, “Quite chaotic. In a good way!”
And what does Kamal think his chances are in the finals? “For me, I’ve already won. I’ve been recognised as one of the best in the world. That’s a huge honour. So I’ll be enjoying myself and giving it my absolute best and hopefully the home crowd will be behind me.”
We certainly are, Kamal – we all are!
