What started with YouTube videos in a Lindisfarne living room has taken Jay Hennicke to the upper ranks of world freestyle football, with the Tasmanian now sitting sixth globally and still climbing.
Hennicke has climbed to sixth in the world rankings after winning the 2026 Asia-Pacific Freestyle Football Championships in Cambodia.
The title is Hennicke’s second Asia-Pacific crown, having first won the championship in Japan, in 2023.
The result also secured him a qualification spot for the World Freestyle Football Association World Championships in December.
“The event was broadcast live on Cambodian television and streamed worldwide through the WFFA’s platforms,” Hennicke told Pulse.
Now 26 and based in London for the past year, Hennicke grew up in Lindisfarne before moving to South Hobart.
He attended St Cuthbert’s Primary School, McKillop High School and Rosny College before studying law at the University of Tasmania and practising as a lawyer for around a year and a half.
He began training seriously at 14, already able to juggle to a high level with a personal record of around 7,000 consecutive touches.
At 16, he quit traditional soccer to pursue freestyle full-time and began competing.
These days, his life consists of daily training with performances, events, brand collaborations and competitions across the UK and Europe.
“Freestyle football is a busy lifestyle, and I try to train twice a day whenever possible while continuing to develop my skills and compete at the highest level,” he said.
He said the move to London made sense to further his career.
“Growing up in Tasmania, there are naturally limitations in terms of population size and access to elite pathways,” he said.
“What attracted me to freestyle was the idea that someone from Tasmania could still become one of the best in the world through dedication, hard work and consistency.”
One of his standout experiences was competing at the 2022 World Finals inside the Pula Amphitheatre in Croatia, one of the largest and best-preserved Roman amphitheatres in the world.
His recent Asia-Pacific win lifted him from eighth to sixth in the world rankings.
Hennicke said he planned to compete internationally through next year before returning to law, but wanted to continue building the sport in Australia.
He has co-founded the Australian Freestyle Football Academy (AFFA) alongside fellow Australian freestyler Yuki Tokimoto, with sessions launching in Sydney.
“Freestyle football is still quite an underground sport – many people know it exists, but don’t necessarily know how to get involved,” he said.
“Through AFFA, Yuki and I are aiming to bridge that gap, make the pathway clearer and help grow a stronger freestyle community in Australia.”
