Mackenzie Clayton (Mac1)

How I Started:

My dad used to break when he was young at the beginning of it becoming popular in the UK. He used to show me different power moves like a windmill when I was younger, I used to always want to go to an academy and my mum eventually took me, and I kept going to the same academy, which is called Trinity, and after two years they invited me to battle to join their crew. I have been breaking for the same crew ever since!

My greatest achievement:

My greatest achievement was joining the crew that I’m in today. In order to join I had to battle everyone in the crew and I looked up to them as I had been training with and taught by them for two years leading up to it and one day when I was practising a power move and I overheard one of the leaders mention that I was getting really good and developing well and I remember being really ecstatic because it was what I had been working up to for so long, and it was my first goal too. I am also proud of winning the Milton Kings & Kweenz battle which is a tournament int he Milton Keynes area hosting around 200 people, and the prize was paid travel to go to the Who Got The Flower? Battle in France which was a huge opportunity for me at the time because the level is higher and I got to meet a lot of different B-boys and B-girls from all around the world!

My greatest challenge:

My greatest challenge has been suffering from having Asthma. Sometimes I have to break my routine in order to use my inhaler, and I am generally also battling to get my stamina as high as it can possibly be to mitigate the chances of having to use my inhaler while I’m breaking. I’ve got to make sure I’m breathing correctly while I compete because it can harm me or I could suffer an attack.
Otherwise I also found having a full-time job whilst training and competing very difficult too. I worked as a Porter in a hospital working from 8-4 or 8-6, meaning I was missing training or turning up late because of my shift timings. This put a lot of strain on me and I was feeling the pressure of missing training and feeling like I was falling behind my peers too.

My Hobbies:

Outside of Breakdancing I enjoy doing anything creative, so creating montages of battles, editing photos and videos, drawing, and spray painting. Other than that I mostly spend the rest of my time training or with friends and family.

My Future Aspirations:

I wanted to be chosen to represent Team GB and compete in the next Olympic Games but unfortunately my sport has been removed from the next Olympic Games, so the next best thing to compete in, is the Red Bull BC1. It’s the largest Breaking competition on earth and I would love to not only compete but also win that one day. I am also currently working towards winning my first ever international title.