So, what actually is Texas Winter Jam?
At its simplest, Texas Winter Jam is a statewide parkour gathering. It started back in San Antonio in 2009 with the idea of bringing people together, showing off the incredible places we have to train in Texas, and bringing in practitioners from outside the state to experience it with us.
Over the years, it grew into something much bigger. It began rotating between cities like Austin, Dallas, and Houston, giving different communities around Texas a chance to host, showcase what they're doing, and connect with people from all over.
But when you look at the history of Winter Jam, there's one thing that's always been consistent: the community has built it.
Winter Jam has always depended on people stepping up and contributing what they can.
People have volunteered their time, brought their skills, helped with logistics, organized activities, created media, found sponsors, supported athletes, provided medical assistance, and contributed wherever they saw a need.
And I think that's actually the most important part of what Winter Jam is.
It's not just an event that someone organizes and everyone else shows up to.
It's something that we create together.
That's the idea we're trying to lean into this year.
Instead of having a small group of people figure everything out behind the scenes and then asking everyone else to participate at the event, we want to open up the organization of Winter Jam itself.
We're going to identify the different things that need to happen to make Winter Jam successful, create opportunities for people to take ownership of those areas, and let people choose where they want to contribute.
Maybe you want to help with media. Maybe you want to organize a competition or training session. Maybe you're good at logistics, sponsorships, design, hospitality, community outreach, athlete coordination, or something completely different.
Whatever your skill set is, there's probably a way for you to contribute.
And you don't necessarily have to be an experienced event organizer. Part of the point is creating opportunities for people to learn how to organize, lead, collaborate, and build something alongside the rest of the community.
So when we talk about Texas Winter Jam this year, I don't want to think about it as an event that you're invited to attend.
I want to think about it as something you're invited to help create.
Because Winter Jam belongs to the Texas parkour community.
The question isn't just, "Who's organizing Winter Jam?"
It's "What do you want to contribute?"