yes, that’s right! I have a presentation to present in front of Polk State College’s Dean of Academics and the VP of student activities, to convince the college into funding a parkour club. I’ll let you guys know how it goes!
I really want to go do some parkour where it’s not allowed!
If you really think about it, parkour can be used to illustrate Christianity. You find it silly, but keep reading, you’ll understand.
The traceur represents the Christian of this day and age, trying to get over obstacles, climb over walls, etc. Non-Christians, or people who’ve never attempted…
Having another parkour session in Downtown Lakeland, FL! Last time in lakeland with the crew. Next month, we’re hitting up Kissimmee!
[This is something I feel very strongly about. If more people realized this, I don’t think parkour would have the current sorta-kinda-bad reputation it has now. So please read this. Also, FYPK.tumblr just got a redesign! The CSS for it is available on request.]
“Jumping and running across rooftops in the high-flying sport of parkour…”
“The sport of parkour, in which teenagers run and somersault across roofs…”
“The group of fit, athletic students are practitioners of the extreme sport of parkour…”
News stories with phrases like this crop up all the time. Reporters and journalists call parkour a sport because they just don’t know how else to classify it.
Parkour is not a sport.
“But Alan,” you may say, “It doesn’t matter if parkour is called a sport! That’s just nitpicking points of semantics!”
It does matter. Ideas have power. Words give form to ideas. The way an idea is framed and presented is a critical part of how it’s received by those who hear it. The way we reference parkour is no different. Terminology matters.
Take skateboarding and martial arts. Consider how differently the practitioners of each are regarded. Skateboarders are often seen as irresponsible, reckless rebels who need to grow up. Martial artists are respected, and not just because they can beat the tar out of anyone who doesn’t respect them. They are respected and admired because what they practice goes beyond a hobby, beyond a sport.
Parkour has a lot in common with both skateboarding and martial arts. Parkour is creative movement, like skateboarding; fast, efficient movements, like martial arts; (seemingly) crazy stunts like skateboarding; constant training like martial arts. To the inexperienced eye, it seems that parkour could be a sport, as it has so much in common with skateboarding. I disagree. The differences between the two outweigh the similarities. Let’s explore this topic further.
Le Lievre!
Those following my blog know the story of the “Polk State College Jumper” on YouTube. I jumped from the second floor, on to a covered sidewalk, then back to the floor. I got caught, but didn’t get in trouble.
I had an appointment with the Captain of the police academy at my school. I patiently flipped through magazines, waiting for the Captian to get back from the firing range. The secretary gave me a badge and told me to follow her to the Captian’s office. There, I shook the strongest hand I’ve ever shaken in my life! It was like shaking the Thing’s fist! Incredible!
After what seemed like minutes of explaining what parkour is and how it could help the police force and the academy, and showing countless videos of traceurs online, he came up with an idea: Since most of the upcoming students in the Academy are not physically fit to learn parkour, and they only have 30 hours of physical fitness left, he said I will be the hare they chase around!
After pondering for a good three seconds, I agreed, He also said that he highly doubts they’ll catch me. Hopefuly he’s right!I also got unlimited access to the agility course to train for the big day. Now I am known as ‘Le Lievre’ which means The Hare in French. God really opened a big door for me because I was getting tired of driving for hours to find a decent parkour spot. Now I have a training ground that I am not going to get in trouble in!
I’ll post a video and pictures of the first day that the academy tries to catch me.
vertical street/city by Sergiy Prokof`yev, Arsenii Kuznetsov, Oleksandr Garashchenko / via evolo
Runner’s Vision, anyone? ;)
Training and Working!
Imagine, if you will, that you’re a traceur. You have a history of 7 years of practicing parkour and you can do almost every trick in the book: Almost!
Some traceurs find themselves asking “Why can’t I climb over this wall? Why can’t a do a Kash Vault over this limo?” Well the answer is: training.
Many, including myself, have had this experience. As I think back, all I’ve been doing is working out my muscles. That’s not good. Take the George Washington Bridge that civilians take on their daily commute between New Jersey and New York. Imagine it as a body. The road is the muscles, the wires are the tendons, and the bolts and intersecting of the metals are the joints of the body, such as the wrist, shoulder, ankles, ect. George Washington Bridge is always busy with taxiz, trucks, cars, and even pedestrians.
That bridge would not be as stong and remarkable if the ‘joints’ were weak and fragile. This is an example of how traceurs should work out and train. Train to have a stable body, stable grip, and stable balance. Then work on your muscles. The body is one body, one mind, and one spirit.
Increase your grip by doing wrist work outs like wrist curls, reverse wrist curls,wrist rolls, etc. When your wrist strength is increased, many vaults will become easier to do.
Just a little advice: use the whole body. Strengthen yourself completely. Don’t over look the ‘behind the scenes’.
PSC Jumper
I am now known as the PSC Jumper for my stunt I pulled a week ago. For everyone who read my post titled Parkour Is Not Illegal, I did not get in trouble. The Dean of Student Services and the Provost of the school actually found it very noble, after an hour and a half of explaining parkour and its theology.
Long story short, as I was eplaining certain scenarios where parkour would be essential for survival, the Provost told the Dean that they should introduce me to the Chief of campus security. He’s a Captain in the police departmant of my city. He teaches at the school for upcoming police officers.
The school is building an agility course for them, and I, thanks to God favor, and youtube, I am going to be teaching parkour to LEO’s! How cool is that? I think it would increase the safety of our society if cops new parkour. Does anyone else agree?
