#70
Training Partners

By Agota | posted on 30 June 2009 | 4 comments

I am very fortunate to have the opportunity to share my life as a wife with Forrest, but also as a training partner and student. We spend a lot of time together enjoying sport such as dancing, yoga and of course parkour.

I got to know this great discipline through Forrest and I am very happy that he is still taking a lot of time teaching me and sharing with me the joy of practicing parkour. The majority of our spare time is spent on training. It is not always easy to let go the feeling to be a wife and take on the position of a student but every minute of it is worth it. I learned to deal with the fact that when we train together in the academy, outdoor class or on our own, he makes comments just like a teacher. It wasn`t always easy to deal with it but I am really pleased that I can now let go and accept him being my teacher who sees me as his student. But of course having a hug after a hard session is great and takes away all the pain :-)

Many people have asked me whether it is not too much time spent together and how I feel to share so much with Forrest. My answer is simple; having a training partner, teacher, friend and husband in one is the best that could happen to me. I love it and I am very thankful for having this fantastic and unique opportunity.

Sometimes I do manage to challenge the teacher though...we always learn, doesn`t matter if you are a teacher or a student...

The images give an insight of our training, captured by Mick Mason who was interested in getting to know a bit more about our time spent together training parkour.

Labels: Training

#69
Summer jammin...

By Tracey | posted on 27 June 2009 | 2 comments

Sunday 14th June saw the 30th Women's Jam taking place on another beautifully warm and sunny day...

Congregating in great spirits at our well known and well loved spot in Kilburn Park, instructors Annty, Andy and Tracey were present to kick-start the session with warm-up and training guidance to those that needed it. We were pleased to see new faces as well as regular practioners from the Parkour Academy! Also joining us for the day was Shi Ong - webmaster of girlparkour.com - a now well-seasoned female practitioner fully dedicated to travelling the world and spreading love and word in the female community!

Starting with core fundamental techniques, enthusiastic balance practise ensued with various challenges beginning at base level - staying in balance, working up to turns, crouches, routes, and rail precisions... It's always so cool to see confidence growing and techniques improving with a little persistence and everyone did great stuff - particularly Preetha and Tracey, both new to Parkour but gutsy and determined ;)

Moving onto a new spot and some wall-runs and cat-leaps, everyone beasted their arms and shoulders working on the endless goal of efficient upper body strength and the much coveted smooth climb-up! Again, the persistence of all the ladies present was impressive so we moved on to some nice lil cat leaps with some height to work the mind.... And the real challenges begin!!

Now your senses start to really try and tell you that this is dangerous. You look down and the ground seems so far away. What if you fall, what if you miss the wall you aim for and drop down all that way?! What if... Endless scenarios playing out in the mind trying to steal your concentration. You jump down and view your starting position from a more usual and rational place - and realise its not even very high! You see aren't going to hurt yourself and jump back up to try again. But it seems you are in a different and much higher place again! Damn! You fight back the fear, you focus only on your landing point, everything else quietens and becomes another world to your current place in time and you jump............ You land! All is well, and theres elation and applause as everyone who knows that journey so well feels your joy and joins you in your acheivement. Hell yeah! Lets do that again!!!

Everyone pushed through boundaries and fear, making some great jumps and feeling a little of that sweet airtime before you stick strangely easily to a wall - the things that makes cat-leaps probably my favorite thing in the world to do!!! (No kidding!)

Warming down, breathing deeply with focus, stretching hard-worked muscles, relaxing, giving your body some attention after a good training session... It serves us well and we leave smiling and satisfied - happy in the knowledge of todays acheivements and increased strength from some good dedicated training. Thank you to all that came for a great day!

Labels: Jam Reviews

#68
A work in progress.

By Kiell | posted on 22 June 2009 | 3 comments

Brian, preparing before a day's shooting.

As you might recall from the last selection of photographs I posted on the main PKG site (here), there is a housing estate in London that I'd been planning to return to in better weather. Last month finally presented me with that opportunity, and I was privileged in being joined by all of the coaches as the visit was combined with team training.

A complete gallery of images is almost finished as, for me, it seems a shame to release a selection of shots that aren't quite ready. That said, I think I can easily return there many times in the future before I tire of this location, such is its potential.

A reminder of the social problems in this area of London was made clear early on in the day. The curious concrete walls where we began our training had various items of detritus scattered about. We learnt from a passing local that the residents of the tower block overlooking the walls occasionally threw things out of their windows. During the day, it was mainly fruit, eggs and other foodstuff. In the evening, it was more likely to be recently drained bottles of vodka and gin. Even TV sets had been known to make the direct journey from the twelfth floor.

My thanks to all that commented on my last blog post. Dan has kindly picked out Andy Fisher's comment as being his favourite (in spite of the typos) so a poster will be winging its way to you very shortly. Drop me a line and let me know your address. :D

I might well offer another competition next month, this time international, so watch this space. :)

Labels: Behind the Scenes

#67
A Training Session in Lisses

By Chris 'Blane' Rowat | posted on 21 June 2009 | 4 comments

Photo by Brian Appiah Obeng 2009

I was fortunate enough to spend yet another few days in Lisses with some of the guys from the team last week and as you might expect from a trip to one of the birthplaces of Parkour.. it was awesome! I'll leave the majority of the details to some other happy blogger though, I just want to talk about one of the training sessions I had.

It was late afternoon and very wet outside but having been blessed with excellent weather thus far I wasn't too surprised when it stopped raining and brightened up as soon as we left the hotel.

After realising it was the last full day and knowing we planned on taking a trip to an 'all-you-can-eat' chinese restaurant later that day (yes Chris, you missed out!), I decided to train a bit harder today.

I started with a 20 minute run and found a series of long staircases for some sprint training, which consisted of sprinting up a flight of stairs, jogging down the other side and running to the next set of stairs, which were to be found every 40 metres or so. After 20 sprints or so I was feeling good and felt it was time to work my legs with bodyweight squats.

It has been a few weeks since I'd done a large number of squats without rest and I didn't want to totally destroy myself so I settled for 500 repetitions and began the process. Looking out over the lake to the dame and the trees beyond I found it was a much more peaceful experience than the days spent at Vauxhall doing the same drills. I finished 20 minutes later and ran back in to central Lisses to try and find the guys.

Having decided today was going to consist of more endurance based work I decided I'd now complete 10 lengths of quadrupedie along a 25 metre stretch in front of the lake, 5 forwards, 5 backwards. But when I reached 6 or 7 I realised 10 wouldn't be much of a challenge so wanted to double it and do 20.

Getting to 20 took a bit of time and in the humid and hot air I was dripping from the training so far, but I found myself to be really enjoying it and wanted to continue.. 25 should suffice!

Upon reaching 25 lengths I found myself heading for the 26th and listening to my body to see how it was coping with more quadrupedie than I think I've ever done in one go. I felt tired, a bit sore and very hot but generally I was fine.. could I do the same again? Could I make 50 lengths?

The lengths between 30 and 40 seemed to be the worst. The muscles stopped hurting though and there was just a dull ache in my wrists from the constant pressure from the past hour. Somehow the last 10 never seem so bad when the finish line is in sight!

I reached the 49th length and decided as is usually the case to do one extra after this for all my friends and family, and for those who couldn't be with us in Lisses.. but wait! I'm not completely exhausted yet, maybe I could do a few more? The 50th length was hard but I could do a few more, I was sure.

So I did another one for Brian who had given me some support throughout the ordeal by willing me on and joining me for a portion of the crawling. Then one for Alli who couldn't be there for the last couple of days.. then one for Dom and one for James who I'd listened to teaching themselves French by my side for the past hour and a half.. and finally one for Shirley, who deserves an honourable mention for planning most of the trip and putting up with us for five days!

56 lengths of 25 metres = 1400m of quadrupedie, so a few short lengths short of a mile.. which I guess is my next goal! I felt like I could have continued for a lot longer but would have been tempting potential wrist problems, I figured stopping there and coming back another day was the best course of action.

On reflection the one thing that surprised me the most was how the body went through a phase of feeling the pain then finally realised it was useless trying to get me to stop and just settled in for the ride..

Mind truly does rule over matter.

Labels: Challenges, Experiences

#66
Everyday Life.

By Andy | posted on 18 June 2009 | 3 comments

It's funny, only five years ago you could probably count the number of times parkour was used in the mainstream media on one hand. There was the famous "Rush Hour" BBC Ident featuring David Belle that inspired so many people and obviously District 13 (or Banlieue 13 for our French counterparts) had come out in 2004 that not only inspired practitioners but gave many media industries a new perspective in what was possible with the human body. Lets also not forget the seminal 2001 movie 'Yamakasi' by Luc Besson which is arguably the spark that ignited the entire movement.

Flash-forward today and I literally cannot go through a single day without seeing something directly or indirectly influenced by parkour. Ok, I'll admit that yes, my life is about the discipline and I guess that any practitioner would also agree that their eye is trained to notice these things more, but I'm just talking about what you pass in the street, read in the newspaper or see on the TV or games consoles. The really interesting part is that it has no signs of slowing down and has now become more accepted within society than ever before.

Just have a read of Dom's post (Number #64) and notice that all of the responses that are quoted gave the impression that the speaker had some form of familiarity with what he was doing. There is a lot less "What on earth is he doing?" anymore, or "Does anyone know whats going on here?"... It's more of the "Oh, that's that jumping thing isn't it... I can do that... :)"
This all suggests that the populace are becoming more comfortable with what they see us doing, some might still not like it, but the important thing is that it is more recognisable than ever.

I could be wrong, but I'd wager that recently one of the biggest welcoming industries of parkour would have to go to computer games developers. Through their products I think that parkour has reached millions of children and adults alike. Initially in a diluted and subtle form, but now a more direct representation of parkour (albiet usually over-exagerated). You can look at the early Tomb-Raider games to see the first generations of this. Today, there are too many games to count... Assassins Creed, Mirrors Edge, Prototype, Splinter Cell, etc... And the future has even more on the way. (Splinter Cell Conviction, Assassins Creed 2, Beyond Good and Evil 2, etc.)

As for movies and the silver screen I'm sure many of you get excited, like I do, when you see parkour moves integrated into chase scenes or the usual infiltration clips. Hollywood and the media are becoming more and more comfortable with using professional practitioners to supplement their action sequences to the point that most viewers take it as normal practice now.

For a community I think it is good news that so many people are getting to see and experience parkour on one level or another, but we need to make sure that the correct spirit and ethos is also delivered to the general public. Its the responsibility of everyone to ensure that the message of safety and training hard in the right manner is the only way that these professionals are able to do what they see.

I feel that now, more than ever, every traceur and traceuse, as an ambassador of parkour, needs to be extra vigilant with ensuring the understanding of being respectful to others, your environment and yourself is an absolute priority for our community.

As for the future, who knows? I think it's fair to say that Parkour is here to stay and I for one am excited to see what the future holds.

Labels: Experiences

#65
Parkour Power to the People

By Peter Bell | posted on 15 June 2009 | 7 comments

There is a movement, a mass movement, running free through the cities and towns, effortlessly vaulting, climbing or balancing on almost any obstacle in their path. Movements executed with amazing power, speed and grace.
This is parkour. A revolution in the streets, sports halls and city walls:

Battling against anxiety, boredom and movement suppression: "walk don't run", "no talking", "no ball games" and definitely no fun.

Parkour can liberate the power of youth and we have proof...
The disaffected become self corrected and redirected. Confidence is built, skills developed and fears faced.
Apathy & aggression turns into Energy & Progression!Fatness turns to fitness and youth crime is replaced by training time.
The journeys, the achievement, personal bests and group success, all levels of skill and fitness are welcome.
Gender, ethnicity and post code area are irrelevant. Respect your self and others. Build bridges. Make friends and push each other on. "lets all get stronger together". No one is left behind.
Free up movement, free up minds, redefine what's humanly possible.
Though progress has been made there is so much more to do. You have to move to improve...and parkour's momentum is building everyday.
So ask yourself"what part can I play in this revolution?"
Pass the message to everyone you meet, explain, demonstrate, repeat.
Do presentations at schools and community groups, set up parkour clubs, vault, balance, climb whenever you have time. Network with friends and campaign as a group.
Free up movement.
"use your environment to keep fit""you're not too old to jump around!""Break out of social conditioning and take that short cut" "Move the way you want to in public "
Tell your family, your friends, your sons and daughters. Help them be the healthiest and stealthiest they could possibly be.
Spread the word, let parkour be seen and heard. You are a liberator of human movement!

You have a month to make a difference. This is your blog now - post here your pledges and your progress.

Labels: Psychology

#64
Look its spider-man!

By Dominic | posted on 13 June 2009 | 21 comments

At various times when I have been out training and generally doing that crazy parkour thing we all know and love I’ve been in the middle of something and I hear a comment thrown my way. I’d like to start this post by sharing a few of the most common ones and my responses (sometimes only in my mind) to them.

“Hey are you trying to be spider-man?”

(This is easily the comment I hear the most from all age groups in all areas. To be honest if I had half the climbing and athleticism associated with that wall crawling super hero I don’t think I’d be training here out of costume I mean I’d really suck as a superhero if I went out during the day with no disguise and practiced my moves. Secret identity would be blown out of the water!)

“Careful you could break your neck doing that”

(well perhaps that is technically true but I’m no more likely to randomly fall over onto my head here than you are walking down the road. They could both happen but does that stop you from leaving your house in the morning?)

“I used to do that when I was a kid”

(You used to do parkour. cat leap, kong to precision, wall run parkour? I kind of doubt that. Really? Awesome maybe you can help me with my technique)

“pssh that’s easy I could do that”

( I just running precisioned over a big-ass drop then konged that wall and landed on a rail, a RAIL man! I was amazed by that when I first saw it! You know how hard that is, you’re like 6 years old how would you even see over the wall, look I don’t have to prove myself to you!)

“You’re those guys who jump off rooftops right?”

(Um no… that’s not exactly what I do, its more a physical training to get the body strong and resilient, um no its not gymnastics either its more all round training, running, jumping, climbing, etc)

“What’s the highest building you’ve ever jumped off?”

(What like to the ground? That’s really not what I do, and how would anyone ever survive something like that, no wait seriously think about it for a second, jumping from the top of a building to the ground. People do that when they are trying to die, that’s really what you think I do?)

Do a backflip!!!!

(Hey you’re that kid from before you weren’t impressed by all that other stuff I did but a backflip would amaze you, well I can kinda understand that but come on man it was a RAIL!!!)

This is but a grain of sand in a desert of what I hear sometimes but at the end of the day its cool, they share, I share, occasionally im amazed at the cognitive processes of some people and other times I’m pleasantly surprised when I find out the guy im talking to used to be a mountain climber, or a break dancer or even just someone with a story to tell. It’s that approachability gained from doing this that I don’t generally have walking down the street normally. Especially in a city where people do their best to avoid eye contact, or conversation worried that they may talk to a crazy person or be looked upon as a crazy person themselves.

The problem comes when certain people use this as an opportunity to try and force their negative views upon me. “Why don’t you go and join a gym” when I hear this I must admit it still winds me up to a degree. I wonder if you seriously think its better to go and pay hundreds and hundreds of £ on membership and equipment to run inside on a treadmill while watching TV? Rather than pay nothing to run outside and get to see more of the city I live in. Or when I’m told that I’m damaging the area or breaking the walls. I remember a time when I was training with James and a local council members or some such approached us and told us we needed to stop cause we had caused damage. I asked him how and he showed me a slightly cracked bollard, take a second to realise that this was literally a couple of steel rods covered and reinforced by concrete. I couldn’t break it if I tried; I could actually drive a car into it and still would come off worse. Yet somehow this logic was not enough for the man. If told we are damaging the walls I highlight the fact that this is the environment we need and use. I have more respect for those walls then any of the “commentators” I use them on a daily basis, I know how they feel if I touch or land on them, I know if one part is a bit weaker than the rest, etc.

I’ve found that often these people are just horrible human beings; the only joy they get in their life is from the lowering of others. Sometimes its just people afraid of anything different, something that stands out or doesn’t move with the crowd scares them far more than it has any right to. Psychology would suggest that perhaps its them recognizing their own shortcomings, restrictions or missed opportunities in your happiness or success that angers them so much. Often it’s like talking to a brick wall when you try and engage with these types of people they’ve made up their mind and logic or evidence be damned. Yet that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try and its these sort that I’m most interested in talking to and trying to convince. If you get angry, abusive or even rude you’re just lowering yourself to their level and as the saying goes “never argue with an idiot. They bring you down to their level and beat you with experience” real change can only come if you put in the effort on your end. Each time all you can do is offer the explanations or opportunity to talk and if they listen good you’ve made one person think, if they don’t fine you’ve lost nothing as your still where you started.

So the next time someone gets on your nerves with stupid or negative comments don’t allow yourself to be baited by them, simply mention what your doing and leave them to continue their day. Its always an idea to try and spread the real reasoning and structure of what your doing even if they don’t take it on board maybe the next person will, its up to us to do that…remember “with great power comes gre….wait uh never mind” Lol :)

Oh and feel free to add any of the wacky comments people have said to you or similar stories you've had in the box below people, you know how this works....

Labels: Psychology

#63
... suite

By Yao | posted on 11 June 2009 | 2 comments

No PK - restaurant - running late - late running - bus - no bus - taekwondo training - knees up - kick high - kick higher - quick kick - faster kick - kilburn park - football - basketball -running

fatigue - ennui - finsbury park - taekwondo - competition? - cathartique - sport - sueur - fatigue

fired - no restaurant - more PK? - parkour! - monday class - hard hard - sweat - pain -fun - pain - sweat - easy easy - weak arms - strong legs - big jumps - small touch? - nice and fluid - tired - tired - tired? - pull ups! - muscle ups??? - abs ?????

barbecue - barbecue - barbecue - barbecue - crystal palace - french - TKD for ever - lost - fun - Annty Kty - london bristol -barbecue - barbecue - football - basketball - running -barbecue - barbecue - internet café - annty - barbecue - barbecue - Starbucks?!!

french boy - Italian- Spanish - Italian - Spanish - Italian and Spanish - italian - rhoo font chier eux! - bed bugs - Annty Kty Bamby - bransdale close

predator fanfan jeap doums

ohh Abbey road!!!! - trainning - barbecue - off the grill - ohh archways - off the wall - ohh westbourne park - tranning!!

poarkour coaching - parkour generations - youth academy - st augustine - porchester demo - barbecue - trainning - strong arms - strong legs - liverpool street - weak joints!!

instrus de fous! - Cds - disques durs fruity loop - reason - "on n'oublie pas" - instrus de malade

acces class - physiotherapy - rolfing??? - ADAPT - team trainning - fat - chocolate - cereals

annty & yao's PK trips

brioche - happy hippo - evry lisses

jump! - trainning - barbecue? - trainning

strong body - strong mind?

apparemment ma vie tourne autours du sport, il semblerait que j'ai trouvé ma voie!

#62
Motivation.

By Chris | posted on 8 June 2009 | 4 comments

I was in the middle of probably the hardest training I have ever done in my life. It's amazing what the prospect of some time away does for you.

For those who don't know, I was supposed an operation on my left ankle on the third of June. The injury came from messing around on holiday back in 2006 and has been a source of virtually constant irritation ever since. Annoying because of its longevity, irritating because though not a parkour injury originally, it has recurred through training and made many movements difficult at one time or another; and frustrating because I really should have been more careful! Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I can't wait to properly develop some foresight...

Regardless, hopefully the injury will be in the past soon. And hopefully few, if any, of you will have to endure the same.

But the point is, from the time I discovered I was going to have the operation, I attacked my training, and especially my strength conditioning with a renewed vigour. I'd like to think that I hadn't exactly been slacking off before, but I'd definitely found a little extra energy from somewhere.

Which got me thinking: have I only been giving 80% up until now? Have I been short-changing myself in training for the last couple of years?

And these begat more questions: was being strong or good at parkour not that important to me? Or, and I've come to believe this to be the case, was I not really aware of JUST HOW important it is to me? And in this I realised I was guilty of taking things for granted. How strong I've become, how much stronger I want to be, and how lucky I am to have found this discipline and be able to practice it.

All of which, in my usual meandering manner, brings me back to motivation and my operation. Because surely, my movement, health and fitness can't only be important to me when they are taken away temporarily. Likewise, they can't be more important when I don't have them.

So in a funny way I find myself giving thanks for my injury, and even the need for surgery. True, it shouldn't take something so serious to make you appreciate what you have. And I certainly hope no-one else has to make the revelation in the same circumstances. But I think a lot of us at some point or another may "coast" a little. And you know what? If parkour isn't such an important part of your life, that's fine! I don't suppose (or wish) that everyone has the same motivation, or even the same level of motivation as others. But if it is, think why. And try to remember this and keep it with you.

And then try a little bit harder ;)

Labels: Injuries

#61
One Month In

By James | posted on 7 June 2009 | 3 comments

My last blog post described how I've wanted to do a one arm chin for some time and how I'll be going about it training for it.

You can read it here.

So my progression and observations so far:

At the moment when fresh I'm able to start a negative, stop at 90 degrees and pull back up to the top on my right arm. On my left no such luck making me realise me right arm is a lot stronger than my left. A Possible way to work on this is to start with the weaker side first.

On the assited pull ups front I was able do 8 reps with my assisting arm at the very bottom of the belt. The first problem with this is that the there isnt enough resistance to keep the number of repititions below 5. Strength gains can still be made in the 5-10 range but instead of training for maximum strength the focus shifts to hypertrophy, and considering I'd like to achieve the OAC as quickly as feasibly possible it's not in my best interests.

The second problem that arose was that once my assisting arm was at the bottom of the belt the position that my body was moving through thoughout the movement was not close enough to an OAC, as I was twisting out changing my hand position on the bar to a neutral grip.

To solve both these problems I wore a 10kg weighted vest and adjusted the height of my assiting arm so I could keep the reps to 5 or less.

A big issue I've noticed many people face is elbow tendonitis. To avoid this I've really tried to listen to my body for any aches and pains I've found out of turn elbows or otherwise and resting until they've gone and begin training again. I've also been using this to gauge how my much I've recovered muscularly and judge how many days to rest to get the best results from my training. Although I am on a program and consistensy is a key to success, the human body isn't a machine and should be listened to.

From the past months training I've changed the regime to:

1 to 3 sets of 5 reps of negatives depending on how controlled they are

3 to 5 sets of 5 reps assissted OAC's depeding on how successfully I'm able to complete each repitition without kipping.

I'll keep training and hopefully I'll get the skill down in the next couple of months.

Labels: Injuries, Training

#60
Street Camp III

By Johann VIGROUX | posted on 5 June 2009 | 1 comments

From the 29th of May to the 1st of June, I've been invited by the Danish group Street Movement. They were running a parkour camp for 3 days in their sport center, 1 hour drive from Copenhagen.

The place where the camp is held is a peaceful sport center, far from the cities and the only thing you can do there is having fun, eat sleep and do sport ! It was great to spend time in a quiet place for 3 days, it changes a lot from the stressful city of London...

Street Movement has his own parkour structure in the center including concrete walls, railings and a massive scaffolding ! It's like a small paradise for Parkour...

About 40 young people from 13 to 18 attended to the event. As most of young people, they had a lot of energy and were jumpimg around all day ;) Our goal during these 3 days was to make them have fun of course, but also give them some basics tips about training and values which are essentials in Parkour...

We worked a lot as a group, helping each other, starting something together and finishing it together as well. The danish guys have a lot a funny drills which makes you work on the basic movement functions of the body, I found it very interesting because kids like it, they have fun, and at the same time they improve the mobility of their body...

We had 3 days of hard work and fun and I would like to thank all the poeple who attended to the camp, and of course I thank Street movement a lot for the good work they did, this kind of camp is great for young people and I enjoyed it so much !!!

Looking forward to the next one guys ;)

Peace

Labels: Event Coverage

#59
RETOUR VERS LE FUTUR (BACK TO THE FUTURE)

By Forrest | posted on 3 June 2009 | 1 comments

« PREMIERE... »

Depuis février 2005, j’enchaîne les démos et séminaires. Nous sommes maintenant en avril 2005, on vient de me demander d’ouvrir la première académie de parkour à Erith. Cette ville se situe à 30 minutes en train de la station Waterloo Est. Les dires étaient les suivant:” Forrest, j’aimerais monter la première académie de Parkour ici (uk), la seule personne que je connaisse, qualifiée et compétente pour s’en occuper, c’est toi. Est ce que cela t’intéresserait?” Ma réponse fût simple: ”Pourquoi pas ça peut être cool mais à une condition; je ne veux personne derrière moi pour me dire ce que j’ai à faire, je structure les séances comme je l’entends.”Un sourir et une poignée de main et le deal est fait: «Merci Ez pour l’opportunité».

Nous sommes le jeudi 18 mai 2005, il est 18h, 8 personnes sont présentent pour ce premier cours.” 2 heures à tenir me dis je, c’est parti! La première académie de parkour sur le territoire Anglais est officiellement lancée. Le nombre de participants ne cessait d’augmenter d’une semaine à l’autre. Après 2 mois et démi, 32 personnes étaient là, enchaînant les exercises, tranpirant et souriant.” J’aime cette ambiance ”.

En octobre de la même année, après une des classes, le gardien du gymnase qui était aussi prof de gymnastique me dit qu’il est désolé mais qu’il va falloir que j’arrête mes activités ici. Il prétexte un problème d’assurance. “Bref...!”Je n’insiste pas ...Chanceux, un gymnase dans l’ouest de Londres; “Moberly Sport centre” nous donna la possibilité de continuer cette aventure.

Vu le succés de ce cours, il était clair que j’avais besoin de quelqu’un pour m’assister. La seule personne qui me venais à l’esprit et qui je pensais avoir les meilleures qualités pour ce rôle était Dan Edwardes. Si j’étais si sur de mon choix, c’est parce que plusieurs semaines auparavant, il m’avait demandé s’il pouvait s’entrainer avec moi pour accroître ses aptitudes physiques et techniques. Nous avons passé énormement de temps ensemble (tous les jours pendant des heures). J’ai appris à le connaître et à découvrir son potentiel. Mon choix n’était pas de l’avis de tout le monde mais moi j’en étais sûr… Même s’il a fallut que je me batte et que j’insiste pour que cela se fasse, en Décembre 2005, pour la première séance à Moberly, Dan et moi avons pris un malin plaisir à structurer et conduire cette classe pour ces 34 nouvelles têtes.

Durant cette même période, après avoir entendu parlé de l’académie, différents organismes semblaient vouloir introduire ce format dans les écoles. Saint Augustin, le mardi après midi de 15h45 à 17h15 et QK le jeudi après midi à la même heure, elles fûrent les premières écoles à essayer et à approuver notre tandem ici à Londres. Nous étions là pour seulement 5 semaines :) Je les remercient vivement de la confiance qu’ils nous ont porté et de nous aider encore aujourd’hui à nous permettre de faire avancer notre (Parkour Generations) programme éducatif. Je dois avouer que je suis particulièrement fière de voir que tous ces efforts sont encore aujourd’hui récompensés. Chaque annee de plus en plus d’intitutions sont intéressées.

”Il y a toujours une PREMIERE... dans une histoire, MAIS c’est toujours mieux de ce l’entendre dire par ce qui l’on vécue”

« FIRST... »

Since February 2005, I had been involved in parkour performances and workshops. It is now April 2005, I have just been asked to open the first Parkour Academy at Erith, which is about 30 minutes away from Waterloo East Station. These were the words: “ Forrest, I would like to open the first Parkour Academy here in England, the only person that I know who is qualified and capable to take care of it, is you. Would you be interested?” My answer was simple: “Why not, it can be fun but I have one condition; I don’t want anybody behind me telling me what I have to do. I will structure and lead the sessions the way I want.” A smile, a shaking hand and the deal was done. “Thanks Ez for the opportunity”.

It is 6 pm, Thursday 18th of May 2005, 8 people attend the first class. Two hours, I said to myself, let’s go! The first Parkour Academy in England is officially launched. The number of people constantly increased week after week. After 2,5 months, 32 people were in attendance, working out hard, sweating and smiling. “I love this atmosphere...”

In October, after one of the classes, the guardian of the gym who was a gym coach as well, came to me and said that he is sorry but I will have to stop running the sessions here. His reasons were apparently insurance issue. ”Alright...”I do not insist... Luckily, a gym located in west London “Moberly Sport Centre” gave us the opportunity to carry on the adventure.

Due to the success and increased numbers of practitioners, it was obvious that I would need somebody to assist me. The only person with the best skills for this role I could think of was Dan Edwardes. I was very certain about this choice because several weeks ago he asked me to train with him to improve his physical and technical skills. We spent a lot of time together (few hours every day) and I learned to know more about him and his potential. Not everybody was happy with my choice, but I was very certain... Even though, I had to fight for it, in December 2005 at the first parkour class in Moberly, Dan and I enjoyed together structuring and leading it in front 34 new practitioners.

At the same period, after hearing about the Parkour Academy, some organisations wanted to introduce and set up a similar format in schools. St Augustin, on Tuesdays 3.45 to 5.15pm and QK on Thursdays at the same time were the first schools to accept and implement parkour classes in London. We were supposed to run the sessions for only 5 weeks :) I would like to thank them very much for trusting us and for still helping us out today with pushing forward our (Parkour Generations) educational program. I’m particularly proud to see that all those efforts are still awarded today. Every year more and more schools are interested...

“There is always a FIRST...in the story, BUT it’s always good to hear about it from the people who lived it and were part of it”

Labels: Behind the Scenes, Training

#58
Connections: Coaching Parkour

By Dan | posted on 1 June 2009 | 5 comments

We teach. Lots. As Parkour Generations we run several classes every single day of the week, all year long, both in the UK and internationally – recently we have held seminars in Spain, Italy, Portugal, USA, France, with more coming up in Denmark, France, Italy again, and requests for the same in Turkey, Kazakhstan, Chile… the list goes on. The coaching we do ranges from private one-to-one tuition to the regular London Parkour Academy classes to weekly sessions for schools in the UK to corporate workshops and special event seminars. It’s non-stop.

And it’s a huge responsibility. I have taught in several different fields for over 15 years now, from lecturing at universities to martial arts instruction, but this is a vehicle by which to reach people like nothing I have ever seen – crossing all boundaries, be they of culture, creed, age, ethnicity, class, etc… parkour has no political agenda, and is a transformative practice truly open to all. And every one of the Parkour Generations instructors I work with brings something special and unique to the passing on of the art, over and above being excellent, dedicated teachers themselves.

So why teach? We are all happy to practice for ourselves for the rest of our lives, even were we the only ones on the planet doing it. Is it to pass on specific training methods, or see people become fitter and stronger, or to fight the cotton-wool culture much of the western world finds itself ensnared by? Or for social reasons such as combating obesity and ill-discipline?

Probably not. Although those are great by-products of learning this powerful art, I would hazard a guess that they are not the main motivator for people who wish to pass on parkour.

No, for me it is about connections. Anyone who has ever taught seriously in any field will know that the most rewarding part by far is the connection formed between you and those you share your knowledge and experience with: the joy of seeing someone benefit from something that has brought so much to your own life; the reward of watching sparks of understanding become a blazing fire within another; the bonds and friendships that arise from it all.

Life is always connection of course: nothing exists in a vacuum. We all of us are connected to everything and everyone else on all sorts of levels, physically, fundamentally, psychologically… truly no man or woman is an island. Teaching mirrors this truth – for it is far more than just a process of conveying raw information or data from one body to another: machines may communicate in that fashion, but humans are far removed from such mechanistic approaches. Were we not, all learning could be done via books or from simple audio instructions, yet it is clear that there is no substitute for live, personal contact time with a teacher.

Most sports instruction is done through modelling – which is simply watching someone skilled perform an action, and then attempting to perform the same. In fact, many studies have shown that modelling alone, with no verbal instruction, is an incredibly powerful teaching tool. Too often we attempt to think through things we are trying to learn, when the best way can be to get out of our own way and let our body instinctively carry out the task. But it still needs that model, and the better the model, the better the knowledge that is conveyed. To attempt to teach a physical practice without being able to demonstrate that practice competently would not only be lacking in all credibility, but would also likely be met with little success. Further, as no two people move exactly alike, every instance of modelling is unique to the particular individuals involved. Slight nuances in technique, posture, stride and so on that are specific to that one instructor will be taken in by the viewing student and either assimilated or used as a reference for their own attempts. Again, the individual connection at even this basic visual level is all important.

The connections we form are, of course, far more than merely the transmission of raw information from one person to another. That information does not exist independent of either the one doing the transmitting or the one receiving it; our knowledge is always coloured by our own experience, our own perspective, flavoured by the subjective nature of all things. Indeed, what is transmitted is affected by both sender and receiver each time it is transmitted, making every ‘teaching’ connection a two-way phenomenon and truly unique in and of itself.

I would suggest that it is that which makes coaching such a compelling and enjoyable experience for those of us who are drawn to it. Not just the meeting and interacting with so many individuals around a subject we are passionate about, but the quite unique and unpredictable nature of each of those connections. That is certainly what draws me back to it, time and again, and what I hope will be discovered afresh by every new generation of guide and practitioner of the discipline.

Labels: Behind the Scenes, Experiences