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How competition negatively affects Parkour as a whole and traceurs as individuals

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ACE

Fri 27 Apr 2007 : 03:39

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This is a brilliant post by TK17 outlining many, very good points as to how starting up industry/company competitions for parkour is negative. Thought I would share because it gives alot of insight to those wondering.
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There are three broad realms in which competition would affect my training - it would affect the structure, discipline, and public conception of parkour, it would change the quality of the communities around me, and it would interfere with my own motivations.

The first broad realm: parkour itself.
Your example of a martial arts academy is far from being standard. You seem to have an exceptional degree of integrity, and a desire to be true to your art while at the same time catering as best you can to others. I am a martial arts instructor myself, though I don't own a school, and I have visited and trained at a dozen other academies in my lifetime. Money and demand change everything for most people, and if competition became available and feasible for the average would-be traceur the way it is for the average would-be martial artist, the vast majority of newcomers would begin to learn an unbalanced and incomplete form of parkour for the sake of winning and fun-above-all-else. Now, you can argue that it's not my responsibility to worry about other people, but as far as I understand things, that's completely contrary to the spirit of parkour to begin with. I cannot in good faith call myself a traceur and allow inexperienced people to go down the road of chronic injury, if there's anything I can do to stop it. Doesn't matter if I know who they are, doesn't matter if they live across the world - if I KNOW they're about to do something that will hurt them in the long run, I have to do my best to persuade them to change. Now, I know that opens up a whole new question of how do I know what I know, and how far can I justify pushing others, but we can deal with that question somewhere else. Parkour is misunderstood by beginners plenty as is - do we think competition will produce FEWER idiotic videos on youtube?

Furthermore, in the eyes of the public ... parkour is already difficult enough to practice as it is. I don't appreciate the fact that every time I see a cop car while training, I have to feel nervous or stop what I'm doing - I'm a law-abiding citizen and somewhat proud of it. With the public attention of major competitions, likely televized, parkour will move from being an unknown and unquantifiable activity that someone may see and not like - BUT IGNORE JUST THIS ONCE - to a recognizable and stereotypable thing - NO RUNNING, NO BIKING, NO SKATING, NO PARKOUR. I quite frankly don't want to be lumped in with a lot of the people who do parkour, I don't want to be blamed for others' irresponsibilities. And while competition may legitimize the art to some extent, because people will understand that I'm not just messing around, it will also limit it. If there's no skate park in the city, then even people who don't like skating will tolerate it to some extent. But the second you have parks or academies or courses designed for parkour - the second you have "proper places to practice," and "officials who are in charge" of it, then the world shuts down. I already get crap for doing parkour on the streets "when there's a park just down the road for you to go run around in, son." Imagine how much worse it'll be once there are designated areas - step outside them, and you're immediately being disrespectful and not knowing your place and violating other people's "rights" ... even if you're on public property. After all, how often do you take your swords and nunchakus outside to practice, even if it's legal in your area? It's completely legal in my area, I've checked ... but even if I'm out in the middle of a field, not bothering or threatening anybody, I get yelled at for not practicing in "an appropriate place" - i.e. my school. Same situation with parkour.

And lastly, competition means attention, and attention means advertising, and advertising means products. What products do we need? ABSOLUTELY NONE. I wear a certain kind of shoe that I like very much, I think it improves my performance a bit and I big it up to other people. But it doesn't REALLY matter - you can do parkour in any kind of shoe if you're smart about it. Shirts, hats, logos? Give me a break, parkour doesn't belong to the corporations. Water bottles? Crackproof phones? Sweatbands? In my personal opinion, these things are completely fine in general, but I don't want to see parkour whored out to sell them - PLENTY OF THEM GET SOLD AS IT IS. I don't need a sponsorship to give me free t-shirts; I buy $5 black t-shirts and that's all I ever wear. I don't need to tie myself to some organization - which may later turn on me, or drop me when someone better comes along - to get money for travel, I can just get a job.

Second major area - the communities
There's plenty of tension in the world of parkour as is. Freerunners hating on "purists," traceurs pointing fingers at people "bastardizing the art," UK arguing with US arguing with France, huge debates over flips and spins ... it goes on and on. But you know what? There's still more community in parkour than just about anywhere else. When people actually get together in person, all the tension seems to disappear.

With competition, though, people won't be getting together - except to fight one another. Now, you can draw the parallel to the martial arts world again, where the majority of competitors love seeing their "favorite opponents" and competition builds bonds between schools. But you also have to admit that rivalries and vendettas emerge, that people scream foul and fall out and never speak to each other again, that there's elitism and trash talking and all manner of politics.

Parkour's ALREADY GOT all the goodness of community that comes out of competition, we don't need competition to foster our bonds of friendship. And parkour's political problems AREN'T NEARLY AS BAD as the ones that come out of competition. So we stand to improve very little, and while we MIGHT not make anything worse, there's a good chance that we will. Not to mention that little detail that anyone who makes a breakthrough or a new discovery is unlikely to share that with everyone if it means weakening their shot at a $10,000 sponsorship

Furthermore, I DO have difficulty training with certain people, just because of my own predilections and beliefs. I stay on friendly terms with everybody, but some people just aren't dedicated enough for me, and I get bothered when I try to drill something and they're itching to move on. Similarly, I'm too uptight for them, and they don't want to be held back. These kinds of differences will increase tenfold when competition becomes commonplace, when half the world thinks the way the other half trains is stupid and reckless, and the other half thinks the first half is boring and repetetive. There's no way I'd feel as comfortable walking right up to someone I'd never seen before training if I knew there was a 50-50 chance that they were going to think that training fingertip endurance is unneccessary and that you don't need to condition to do a 6-foot drop. The world of parkour would just fragment one more time, with most of the people who've trained up until now going one way, and just a few - along with the majority of the next generation - going the other. That would be a tragedy.

Third hemisphere - myself
I touched on this in the other thread, I don't know if you've read it. I agree that most of the people who argue against competition focus too much on the other and never talk about themselves - although I repeat my earlier conviction, that a focus on the well-being of others is CRUCIAL to calling oneself a traceur.

I am not a perfectly responsible individual. I WAS one of those idiots who got started copying moves straight off of videos. I DID get myself hurt, I AM focused on building a trick list of cool techniques. I've gotten over some of these predilections thanks to the support of the communities - people who've reassured me that I'm cool enough even if I can't do Move X, people who've guided me through injuries and opened my eyes to philosophy, people who've met me to show me their knowledge.

But if I'm honest with myself, I still like a little attention. I still like to feel cool. I still like flashy moves. It's hard work to limit those tendencies, to balance myself. In a competitive world, it would become even harder. Even though I wouldn't compete myself, others would, and I would be hard-pressed not to step up if I saw a crowd of people surrounding my town's "regional champion." I would be hard-pressed not to show off on the street to people who saw me training and asked if I was doing parkour. Ultimately, competition would leave me with only two choices - succumb, unbalance my own training, and give in to the urge to show off and look cool (which is a genuine possibility), or isolate myself even more, separate myself and avoid people involved with competition who are receiving "expert" (impossible) advice and engaging in "innovative" training and doing things I'm really, really envious of. Not a good choice, to me.

I hope you've read the other thread, because while I've repeated myself, there are some other details in that conversation that are applicable and I haven't mentioned here.

-TK17

"Tell me how you MOVE, and I'll tell you who you ARE"

"For every person that says Parkour is what YOU want it to be, god kills a kitten." -Ruzkin

anbu_cpt

Fri 27 Apr 2007 : 04:28

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nice stuff. there is also a great anti-competition essay (it really really brings up some good points) on apk. i think i'll post it up

Taihuo

Sat 28 Apr 2007 : 01:12

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Joined: Mon 18 Dec 2006 : 19:26
Location: Orange
Posts: 193

Yeah, that was well written. If parkour competition does come up, I think there will be a huge split between Traceurs like ourselves who don't believe in it, and people who start training only for competitive parkour.

But I really like this essay, I totally agree that competition would be bad for parkour.

Spok

Sat 28 Apr 2007 : 02:57

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Joined: Tue 27 Mar 2007 : 00:23
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trACEur wrote ...
Second major area - the communities
There's plenty of tension in the world of parkour as is. Freerunners hating on "purists," traceurs pointing fingers at people "bastardizing the art," UK arguing with US arguing with France, huge debates over flips and spins ... it goes on and on. But you know what? There's still more community in parkour than just about anywhere else. When people actually get together in person, all the tension seems to disappear.

-TK17

I especially liked this part of the piece the most. I think that it brings a good point up, in which people do tend to put away their differences when they do sessions together. I can be arguing with another traceur on the internet, but if he and I met face to face and decided to do some training or runs together... Then I would forget about our arguement, and focus on what we have now.

Competition would make that even harder due to the sense instead of having a session you are trying to become better than someone. And that other individual is trying to be better than you. If you are trying to become better than someone, in the end of the day that doesn't accomplish you anything. If you try to better yourself, then you will feel a sense that your life is real, and that you can get through with whatever it is you are dealing with.

Morbid_Angelo

Sun 29 Apr 2007 : 00:37

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Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!

Okami_Mibu

Sun 29 Apr 2007 : 11:07

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Joined: Tue 27 Mar 2007 : 11:28
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Posts: 70

yup, even though i only read about a quarter of it i still 100% agree

"Helping to create the Traceur Dream..."
" Tru Shinobi KiN"

Todrick

Mon 30 Apr 2007 : 11:45

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Spok wrote ...

Competition would make that even harder due to the sense instead of having a session you are trying to become better than someone. And that other individual is trying to be better than you.

that's not necessarily true...

look at Skateboarding, lots of them get together, "just to skate"

[ Edited Mon 30 Apr : 09:46 ]

Formerly: Jason@FiveTen

Not all who wander are lost...

cak010

Mon 30 Apr 2007 : 13:15

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@Todrick - I don't think we want Parkour to follow the path that skateboarding has by any means. While there are some people that get together just to skate, the general view of skateboarding is not the view we want for Parkour.

"We want a change through parkour, not a change of parkour." -Erwan

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Riddler

Mon 30 Apr 2007 : 23:53

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I completely agree that we do not want the world to view us as they view skateboarders. However, Touching more on Todricks point and how people aren't always trying to be better than the next. I think pros are all still pushing to excel the sport, not just themselves, but everyone who practices. who remembers the X games where tony did the 900? He didn't win the comp until he hit that. No one was mad that they gave tony the gold, infact everyone pushed for it. I think it is safe to say they the majority of pro skateboarders have that community of helping one another out to further everyone and the sport. However, I believe that Parkour, as stated in the essay, already has that, and maybe even better.

Though I strive for perfection, I wear my scars with pride.

Spok

Tue 01 May 2007 : 00:56

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Todrick wrote ...

that's not necessarily true...

look at Skateboarding, lots of them get together, "just to skate"

They get together just to skate. We traceurs get together in sessions to practice together. The difference is that skaters also have competitions, while as we traceurs don't. Which is where it should stay at.

Todrick

Tue 01 May 2007 : 01:02

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how about the first time hdid the 900 at xgames?

he didn't win, in fact he was so determined to stick that move that he went far beyond the alloted time and at that point it was not about the comp...he made several attempts to prove to himself he COULD do it... he was no longer competing against anyone, but his own limitations.

and Cliff, i would never think to suggest Traceurs make the same mistakes skateboarders did... bt my point was that there are skaters who skate to skate... for the love of it and the personal challenge... not to be better than the next guy.

just like any other sport where there is competitions... thee re still the "weekend warriors" who do it for the love of the sport.
rock climbing is the extreme example... there are competition climbers who make a living climbing... but they are not the group that are considered "hardcore" the hardcore climbers never compete,they are the ones who will eat nothing but top ramen while they spend days ascending El Capitan... the fact that there are climbers who make a living by trying to "be better than the next guy", does not remotely impact the hardcore Trad climbers, beyond advances in technology

[ Edited Mon 30 Apr : 23:07 ]

Formerly: Jason@FiveTen

Not all who wander are lost...

Todrick

Tue 01 May 2007 : 01:25

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Spok wrote ...

Todrick wrote ...

that's not necessarily true...

look at Skateboarding, lots of them get together, "just to skate"

you need to be smarter about this.

this may very well be the most unpopular post on here, and i want to preface it by saying that i personally do not think PK is about competition this is not a post about me proting competition, it is about me sharing my experience as a long time climber, old school skater, former musician, media whore and one time press credentialed member of the Music / action sports media.

do not compare skating now to PK now... they obviously don't compare.

compare skating when it was just a few years old to PK now.... then it is a much more far and honestly similar comparison.

I find it amazing that most Traceurs say they are against competitions and want to avoid the Skateboarding image... but never bother to think that many skaters felt the same way before comps... and even more so, traceurs don't seem to think about how to go down a different path... if traceurs who really know what PK is don't do something, then someone else will...

a great example was Jump London and that was just a taste of how even a little bit of exposure can completely change the face/history/reality of something

look TK17 and Fealcid wrote great articles... they have well thought out points... but the sad reality is unless you make a choice to promote PK and portray it in the right light... someone else will make it what they think will sell their energy drink... no one owns PK, David belle let it become public domain by not protecting it from the get go... but even so... the name is irrelevant, in the grand scheme of things.

When a major comp does happen and it is seen by enough eyeballs.. it could be called any thing... the talking heads could call it "gooble stein" and the end result is if it looks like PK, when you are seen doing PK on the streets a few days later, no one is gonna care to ask you what you think you are doing... they will "know" you are doing "gooble stein" and if the comp attaches certain imagery to "gooble stein" then you could very well be perceived to be a delenquant, vandal, hoodlum... a "skater" or worse yet "Xtreme"

Formerly: Jason@FiveTen

Not all who wander are lost...

irishstallion

Sun 06 May 2007 : 00:32

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This is a huge question, and todrick makes a good point, that I think is worth stating more clearly, at least as I understand it:

If we do not tell the world what parkour is, and firmly define it, then someone else will eventually do it for us. As parkour gets more and more popular, it will be harder and harder to be heard among all of the other voices out there.

Well, why should we care about what the rest of the world thinks about us, we can just train with people that have our same mentality, and ignore all the young idiots that are training incorrectly and damaging their bodies and parkour's reputation, right?

In my mind, this is absolutely not an option. I know that I want to do parkour everywhere I go, and if parkour is viewed negatively, I will never be able to do this.

Parkour can be a dangerous activity, and it is perceived as much more dangerous than it actually is by outsiders that are unfamiliar with it. If we can define parkour as a safe sport with a community that teaches people the safest ways to train, then parkour may be able to stay relatively free. The second that parkour is represented negatively in the media, the first person that dies doing a risky move, the first rich parent with media ties that goes on a crusade to banish parkour from or streets, our ability to define it as a safe activity is gone.

So I believe that it is obvious why we need to define our sport and get publicity for it and make sure that the new practitioners are doing it the safest way possible. If anyone wants to correct me on this, I would love to hear your spin on it.

Now, the question of competition. What are the reasons for competition? In my opinion, the reasons would be to get publicity, to drive each other to become better, and to find out who is the best. Wikipedia can expand on the reasons for here: -link-, but if there are more, please let us know.

Publicity -- We can publicize just as well with exhibitions and teaching kids that will talk to their parents, and if done right, with youtube and the internet.

Becoming better – In my opinion, this is up to the individual. I’ve never met someone won’t progress in a sport on their own without competition, so maybe someone can give a better reason why this would benefit/hurt parkour than I.

Finding out who is best – This is ridiculous. I see a competition being very similar to skateboarding or gymnastics, which means that any competition simply states that on a particular day, this set of judges thought that pker A was better than pker B. When you have a set of rules and make points, like in soccer or basketball or tennis, then competition really does determine who is better that day. But when everything is up to judges, what does it really determine? Again, if there’s a more convincing reason as to why this would be beneficial, I’m all ears.

In my opinion, competition will not help us in any way, whether it is publicity or taking control of parkour, and in my eyes judging will be rather arbitrary and pointless(since moves are being made up every day, and you can’t really decide if this guy’s kong to precision was worth more points than guy Y’s dash to precision. Dash is a tougher move than kong, but dash to precision is a lot easier than kong to precision.

If anyone wants to do some community service or something to get the parkour name out there in a positive light, and maybe get some positive press for it, I’ll be in San Diego this summer with free weekends (and free nights after work).

Parkour is not competitive. If we don't train the new practitioners in safety, they will get hurt, and we will not be able to do parkour freely anymore. This is unacceptable.

ChoZenOne

Thu 10 May 2007 : 00:12

Gecco

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I'm just saying plots are boring without an antagonist

Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way round or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend

cak010

Thu 10 May 2007 : 01:08

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Parkour is not about creating a plot.

"We want a change through parkour, not a change of parkour." -Erwan

PK-CALI

PKNA

PAWA-USA

Peace be da journey!
ParkourClasses.com

skyfire1129

Tue 05 Jun 2007 : 02:45

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I have to agree with cak010.

Anyway, TK17, that was one of the best things that I've read about Parkour. This thread turned into a great discussion, and I believe that we really should make sure that when Parkour is shown to the public, that it is shown in the correct light. At this point, most videos you see are of some highly experienced "Traceurs" (More like tricking freeruners) doing large jumps, huge drops and usually some tricking. As I know it, tricking is not part of Parkour. Huge drops and jumps are also not the focus of Parkour even if they are apart of it.

I think the videos that better portray Parkour would include Jump Britain, a training video of David Bell, and also videos of people new to Parkour, who are afraid to do those huge jumps and drops. In those videos you see the essence of Parkour. Fluid movement through an environment of obstacles. Not back flips off of roofs or drops from 30 feet up. It makes me happy to see so many people want to give Parkour a good light.
[ Edited Tue 05 Jun : 00:47 ]

Notice: If you notice this notice you will notice that this notice is not worth noticing.

-Traceur since 6-5-07

Deamonchilder

Sun 12 Aug 2007 : 02:02

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Many people have been talking about the media portrayingparkour this way and that way, and, having read all this, I decided to do a little bit of research: in PKCali's very own articles section.
Of course, I took all of my info out of the media section.
The first article was from Press Enterpise, the article titled "Parkour Enthusiast Challenge Obstacles." The journalist who wrote this article did not really know what parkour was, even though he interviewed many traceurs, including Cliff. The witer said that parkour and freerunning are the same- I beg to differ. The article does, however, quote Cliff on his view of parkour competition: that it should not exist. Cliff goes on to state that parkour requires mental discipline. This is the whole of the article's talk about philosophy- incomplete, for sure.
Next, I read the New York Times' "Throwing Yourself Against the Wall" article. This was by far the best. Of all the articles I read, this gave the best summary of the philosophy of parkour. It described the discipline, the utility, the mental development towards life, etc. He even showed an understanding of parkour history, decribing the split of parkour and freerunning when David Belle and Sebastien Foucan were kids with disagreements about the use of parkour. But, even this article described parkour as "the latest extreme sport." As Jason said, this is most definitely not what we want- to be sided with with such badly portrayed sports such as skateboarding, or for parkour to become a competitive sports organization such as BMX biking.
In the next article, in the LA Daily News, "Parkour: Leaps of Faith," mostly describes the media coverage in thiings like music videos, commercials, etc. Obviously, the advertising gurus dont want to point out that parkour has a very strongly defined philosophy, so as to pass parkour off as some kind of thing that just happens when you put on their shoe, or drink their soda. The article does, however, describe how parkour can be used to help in real-life situations, to help people overcome obstacles within their lives.
The next article I read was San Diego Union Tribune's "Running Free." I bet you already know were this is going. And yes, the writer did, in fact, say that parkour loosely translates to freerunning. Again, this is another article where the writer has many sources of information (Silverton Nguyen, for example), and yet does not know what he's talking about. And, the closest thing coming to the mindset of parkour in the article was talking about how a traceur must know his limits, which is, no doubt, true. However, when he came to the subject of the philosophy, he barely touched on it, saying that there are many conflicts regarding it.
The next thing I read was, in my opinion, the worst. It was "The Summer Guide to Unusual Sports- The Amazing Outdoor Possibilities of You. Yes You!" I disliked this article because, while it did mention the philosophy of parkour, it brushed it off as a joke. When it quotes Cliff, for example, on the mental development, discipline, and determination that goes hand in hand with parkour, the journalist replies with a simple 'Grr.' A harmless comment, for sure, but it makes it makes every traceur out there who agrees with the philosophy look like some crazy outdated monk. Comments like that are what makes the philosophy look bad, and what makes things against the philosophy, like competition, acceptable in society. Later on in the article, the writer makes a very good description of the parkour mindset, quoting Cliff on overcoming your fears. Then, once again, the writer shoots down her own well-written summary, by saying that its too complicated to learn while playing beer pong.
The next article, in an LA Times Mag, "No Strings Attached," was based mostly on Cliff. It was a good article, quoting Cliff without making him look bad, etc. But, when it came to philosophy, it mostly talks about the conflicts between PAWA and UrbanFreeflow. It describes arguments between Cliff and the head of Urban Freeflow, Paul "EZ" Corkery. Otherwise, the article doesn't seem to address the mentality of parkour.
So, is the media coverage of parkour accurate? I think that a lot of it is, but, unfortunately, the accurate bits are only found in little bits and pieces, no one article describing parkour philosophy completely. They mostly focus on the daredevil aspect, leaving out the fact that there is a great purpose to each action, and that competition would be like throwing away that purpose. What I find interesting is that the best article, Throwing Youself Against the Wall, was written by a man who had tried parkour out for himself while researching it. Was it because of his teacher, Cliff, or because he got an idea of the utility of parkour as he tried it out?

serafino

Sun 12 Aug 2007 : 14:43

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What I'm about to say may take up a large section of this thread lol please read the whole thing and enlighten me :). I have to say that is exactly what I think (TK17's) about parkour competition. I have one little part to add though. We will all at sometime probably be approached by people saying your awesome and other similar things. I think we all want a little attention for doing parkour. This isn't necessarily a bad thing though. When I was approached yesterday by some people around my age they started saying things similar to what I just mentioned. I wasn't sure what to say back. I don't want to become a freerunner so I wasn't sure what to do. I was torn between saying thanks and not saying anything and just walking away. Now that I have looked back at this I feel that my hard work and training is being recognized. I wasn't trying to put on a show. I was just training for myself. I feel that I can accept the attention and see it as getting respect for what I believe and practice. I don't believe in doing the same movements to put on a show for people and just to show off. I do think it is ok to receive attention for just training for myself. I train very hard I will repeat myself I think traceurs should feel free to accept the attention without feeling like a freerunner lol. I guess one example of this happening could be David Belle receiving attention from his movie B13. He was overwhelmed by attention from fans. He was called Godlike and other things. I'm pretty sure he didn't appreciate it too much. I do think if he looked at it from a different view e would have seen that they are paying their respect to him for dedicating his life to parkour. There just may have been way too much attention to get used to though. I haven't have the opportunity to meet David Belle but if I ever get to I will definitely ask him how traceurs should handle attention. How traceurs accept attention could change the way people look at parkour. I don't know if anyone else feels the same way I do or not but I just felt like I needed to say this and this seems like an appropriate place for it.

[ Edited Sun 12 Aug 2007 : 14:53 ]

No Impediments

ACE

Sun 12 Aug 2007 : 17:54

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David wouldn't be able to tell you how to handle attention... What don't seem to know about David is that he isn't a leader. He is simply the man who had the idea and philosopy of Parkour. Knowledge he will pass on, but besides that he hasn't been a part of the larger Parkour community since it left France. He doesn't surf the forums, he doesn't talk to most traceurs outside of his own neighboorhood and half the time, he has no idea what is going on in our world. He is content with that though.

"Tell me how you MOVE, and I'll tell you who you ARE"

"For every person that says Parkour is what YOU want it to be, god kills a kitten." -Ruzkin

serafino

Sun 12 Aug 2007 : 19:21

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Location: Central Valley
Posts: 908

How did he handle the attention when he came here? I'm very intrigued by this subject. Since you guys have had the oppurtunity to meet him and talk to him do you have an idea of how he does it. It is one of the things that seperate parkour from freerunning. I am not too suprised with David Belle not being a leader. Who would want to? Do you consider getting attention acceptable or does it contribute to having a negative image of parkour?

No Impediments

ACE

Sat 18 Aug 2007 : 15:07

-= PKCali Mod =-

Registered Member #9

Joined: Mon 19 Dec 2005 : 15:51
Location: So.Cal, Woodland Hills
Posts: 1295

Well, both times he's come to Cali, the groups to meet up with him were small and calm. We didn't crowd him or suffocate him or anything. Treated him like one of us, except with more questions directed at him. With that in mind, he didn't really have to "handle" anything.

When he went to New York though, from what I heard he was practically stampede-ed (?) and being a shy person, it probably wasn't the best experience for him.

"Tell me how you MOVE, and I'll tell you who you ARE"

"For every person that says Parkour is what YOU want it to be, god kills a kitten." -Ruzkin

N o F l o

Sun 19 Aug 2007 : 13:42

Registered Member #443

Joined: Mon 11 Sep 2006 : 22:16
Location: Fullerton (Orange County) / Diamond Bar
Posts: 1447

As pk's & his popularity grows so will his celebrity status, hopefully this mobbing won't grow, you'd figure he become weary about traveling if he's experiencing that more often. Guess we're a bit off topic here.

" Train parkour for yourself first. If people like it or not, who cares? As long as you feel good doing it. " --David Belle :: ALL FULLERTON LOCATION INFO. IS IN 1ST POST ON PAGE 1

Ma9net

Sat 27 Oct 2007 : 18:56

Registered Member #1230

Joined: Sat 27 Oct 2007 : 18:48
Location: Australia
Posts: 1

hey guys brand new to this whole thing only been training for about a month now.. very good post well written...in one part though you talk about products more specificly shoes is there a kind of shoe that is really good for this sport at the moment im goin barefoot

If you fall, get back up.......then look around and see if anyone noticed

TRun17

Sat 27 Oct 2007 : 18:57

Registered Member #773

Joined: Wed 18 Apr 2007 : 17:29
Location: La CaÃ±ada
Posts: 2395

Ma9net wrote ...

hey guys brand new to this whole thing only been training for about a month now.. very good post well written...in one part though you talk about products more specificly shoes is there a kind of shoe that is really good for this sport at the moment im goin barefoot

Welcome to the site ma9net!

Going barefoot is a good idea to strengthen your feet, but be sure to be careful and start small since you are more prone to injury then without shoes.

Training for strength and flexibility is a must. You must use it to support your techniques.
Techniques alone are no good if you don't support them with strength and flexibility." - Bruce Lee

Microbrave

Sun 28 Oct 2007 : 00:59

Registered Member #959

Joined: Fri 29 Jun 2007 : 00:20
Location: Chula Vista San Diego
Posts: 30

Um I beleive a portion of this article was about not arguing
now i am relly no one to talk on how PK should be or whats right or wrong because i dont train everyday like i should or train as much as i should but i take my weekends and i go to a local school with my friends and we have a good time practicing and whether it is parkour or freerunning or parkrunning or freekour we dont care at the time and we are just doing something we like to do and having fun
now i dont support parkour competition but honestly compitition makes you better competition makes you try harder run faster lift more
like i said i am no one to jugde anybody else on how they do parkour but let me say this
I believe that Parkour is different for each and every person that practices it
If we go on trying to say what is right or wrong eventually their will be a breakdown and exactly what everyone says they dont want to happen will and parkour and freerunning will become different then what is was made to be and then every one will look back and point fingers at everybody
so if we choose to consider PK or FR as an art then treat it like an art
Art is how you make
like beauty is in the eye of the beholder
PK or FR is whatever you make PK or FR does what ever you want it to
and should be free and not bound by any rules or philosophies
and we should go out have fun and just be FREE

The important thing in life is not where you stand but the direction your moving
Through time you will gain success and through success you will gain time

PKCali - Parkour California :: Forums :: General Parkour Talk :: Parkour Discussion

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