Parkour
A New Kind of Sport
Megan Williams, Staff Reporter
mewilliams@csumb.edu
High above the city streets, a woman stands at the brink of a parking structure roof, gazing across the gap between her perch and the apartment building in front of her. She takes a few steps back, breaks into a sprint and leaps across the divide, landing with a tumbling roll, ending on her feet. She is off and running again, coming to the end of the apartment complex and without pause jumping off, bounding from balcony to balcony on her way to the street below. This is not a scene from a superhero movie; it is is an everyday occurrence in the life of a traceuse, or a traceur if male – a practitioner of the active art form known as parkour.
David Belle, the founder of parkour, defines it as “an art that helps you pass any obstacle to go from point A to point B using only the abilities of the human body.” AmericanParkour.com, a major parkour website, describes it as “the physical discipline of training to overcome any obstacle within one’s path by adapting one’s movements to the environment.” These descriptions take on an extra sense of the extreme when one takes into account the obstacles parkour typically takes on; rooftops, high-rises, and and the urban landscape of city structures are the traceuse’s playground. A core value in parkour is efficiency. A traceuse will try to navigate a challenging environmental obstacle course with the fewest possible movements, utilizing leaps, sprints, vaults, and flips to the best of her advantage.
The culture and philosophy surrounding this activity rely heavily on self-improvement, humility and respect. Parkour enthusiasts actually discourage competition. Activists for the preservation of the art like Erwan Herbertiste believe that, “parkour is unique and cannot be a competitive sport unless it ignores its altruistic core of self development.”
More competition and showmanship-minded individuals sometimes gravitate toward free running. Although the terms are used interchangeably outside the community, traceuses and free runners consider themselves the practitioners of two very different activities. Where parkour claims the values of minimalism and cooperative self-improvement, free running incorporates elements of exuberant artistic showmanship. It values acrobatic flair and style; not just how quickly a runner can make it through an obstacle course, but how good they can look doing it. Stunts, tricks and freedom of movement are the focus in free running, and contrary to parkour, competition is accepted.
Both activities are a unique take on movement and running, infusing adrenaline, and at times danger, with physical fitness. The moves and activities associated with parkour require a great deal of practice and training to perform properly. Even then, there will always be an element of risk involved in jumping across rooftops or performing flips down the side of a building.
Sfparkour.com hosts a variety of training tutorials as well as beginners classes for those interested in learning about the activity. The site also contains information on when and where jams, or parkour meets, are taking place in the Bay Area. Classes and jams are both free of charge and welcome participants of all levels of experience.