Bob Wire Has a Point (It's Under His Cowboy Hat)
Parkour: We Ain’t Afraid Of No Concrete!
It's like watching a Bruce Lee movie, but without the ass kicking.By Bob Wire, 11-13-09
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| Rusty performing an "underbar," where you, uh, go under a bar. | |
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If you see a sweaty young guy sprinting past you downtown or on the University campus, jumping over trash cans and picnic tables and doing flips over concrete barriers or other architectural features, relax. He’s not a purse snatcher, he’s just practicing parkour.
Rusty’s latest obsession has Barb and me cringing in dread as we go online, double-checking our dental coverage and investigating the going rate for reconstructive plastic surgery. Parkour (French for “suck it, gravity”) is a cutting-edge sport that’s pretty much the same as free running (“because jogging won’t get me on MTV”), an urban athletic hipster trend that peaked when it was featured in some Sprite commercials a few years back.
The difference between parkour and free running, according to Rusty and the other traceurs (“trespassers”) who practice it, is this: Parkour is the art of getting from point A to point B as quickly and as efficiently as possible. Free running is moving in any way you feel, in a way that’s cool or looks good, but not necessarily focused on trying to get anywhere. Of course, the one thing in common between the two is that you’ll need special $100 shoes.
If you watch the video here, you’ll see that these people are quite clearly insane. Where a normal human being would use a handrail to help him or her walk down a set of stairs, a parkour enthusiast (“deranged pedestrian”) will fly through the air like Superman, grab the handrail, and swing under it like some playground gymnast with a Speedo full of red ants. Then he’ll fall two stories and immediately go into a roll when he hits the ground, dissipating the energy from the impact and avoiding several broken bones, not to mention a lacerated spleen. And he’ll do all this while holding a 44-ounce slurpee in one hand.
Now, I hate to put the kibosh on the boy’s exuberance, or stifle his physical activity in any way, but this parkour business is a lot riskier than rollerblading or riding a bike or other activities that normal kids with no death wish do. I mean, if a kid hits a cigarette butt in the sidewalk and his razor scooter goes out from under him, the injury will probably be minimal, even if he lands in a sticker bush. But what happens if a parkour runner snags a toe (“le ohshit”) during a kong-to-cat vault, and he hurls himself forward, reaching out to catch a brick wall with his face? It’s going to take more than a couple of Spongebob bandaids and a verse of “Baby Beluga” to patch him up. We’re talking LifeFlight (“beaucoup dinero”).
For a parent, it’s a real dilemma. When I was 15 or 16, my friends and I were in Southern California reinventing the sport of skateboarding. Not to brag, but I was a contemporary of the Z-Boys from Dogtown and we were skating empty pools, concrete sewer pipes, and any paved ramp we could find, blazing the trail for what skateboarding has become today: a huge fashion trend. My passion for skating drove a wedge between my dad and me, because he saw the whole thing as childish. Of course, that father-son conflict colored my shift into adulthood (which some would say is still in progress), and I don’t want to bring that onto Rusty.
But it’s different with parkour. It’s not childish, but it is downright risky. And the better he gets, the bigger the risks. We recently sat down as a family and watched a parkour special on MTV. It was Rusty’s big moment to show us the sport that he loves, a new sport the rest of us don’t understand. In the TV special, the world’s best parkour runners vaulted, leaped and ran their way through an “abandoned” warehouse in L.A. Fortunately, whoever had abandoned it had left behind plenty of thick gymnastic pads underneath all the parkour features. These guys were jumping roof to roof between four-story buildings, doing handstands on the edge of a precipice, and all kinds of stuff that made us squirm on the couch to just watch. The closest thing to protective gear they wore was a nose ring. There were a few on-camera injuries, including one fall that certainly would have caused a broken neck were it not for the padding on the floor.
Rather than inspire confidence in Rusty’s new passion, this special did the opposite. But after the show, we talked it over and came to the conclusion that Rusty and his gang weren’t jumping over the alley between buildings, they weren’t diving off of 12-foot-high chain link fences, and there was no $40,000 prize tempting them to risk their lives. So we decided not to stop him from pursuing parkour, but I know we’re playing Russian Roulette with this. It’s just a matter of time before one of his (mostly older) parkour brethren blows a move and cracks his melon on a retaining wall or something, and winds up looking like the victim of a curb stomping. We just hope it won’t be Rusty.
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Comments
If the writer had known anything about Parkour, they would know that Parkour is NOT jumping from building to building or doing flips, and that safety is a main focus of Traceurs.
Perhaps the writer would also have been keen to do some research before they spewed this garbage onto the internet.
One last thing, the second you tell "Rusty" that he can no longer do what he loves, he'll do it MORE OFTEN.
and im surprised about how much research you really did, the guy above is wrong, you know what you are talking about. you just dont like it. and you dont have too i guess :)
i think you should read more about the philosophy behind PK though. one of the main points ok pk is training safely for a long time. a true Tracuer wants to be able to do pk 30 years from now. while most dirt bikers and really any athlete are popping their shoulders back into place every time they go jogging, or shooting quartozol (spelling?) once a week, Tracuers want to be going strong in their forties.
falls due to going ast your level, or just trying something stupid, are frowned upon in most PK communities.
Parkour has an unofficial slogan or two "be strong to be useful" &"to be and to last".
in order to be strong, useful, exist (be), and last (endure), one must start from the ground up (no pun intended) and train safely and intelligently. I've train with a lot of people from many communities...the worse injuries I've seen have been minor scrapes and bruises. These are not unlike ANY physical activity. On occasion I've seen worse, nothing outside of an injuryyou see from basketball, football, or ballroom dancing. Case and point, what you saw on MTV with your offspring, I'm sure painted a clear picture of a poor image of parkour. Many tracuers cringe at what we see as a grossly inaccurate depictions of a martial art and discipline we know and love. And I can tell you, as a prior serviceman, I roll my ankle more in basic training than I have doing parkour. That scares me more than any kong to ohshit =]
Parkour, Traceurs, Douche' bags.... it's all french to me.
I do see his becoming another X games sport, but I kinda wish kids would stop screwing around and get serious with these new daredevil activities.
Blindfolded-skydiving-driveby-shooting perhaps? They could call it Dickheadour...
My previous post was not aimed at Rusty. Rusty is a good kid and gets the Clarence Worly seal of approval in all his endeavors.
...congratulation you just won the "ignorant post of the day seal of approval, Tour Eiffel 2009"!
Check more carefully because you may be out of touch with everybody, not only today's youth.
"Douche' bags"? I guess it takes one to know one (I don't know, so I won't say you are).
While this is not supposed to become any of what you said (unless you believe in MTV, which mature people don't), your talent in backpedaling, once having realized (slowly, a post away) that you are offending an acquaintance's son, is quite remarkable.
Your posts suckour...
Yes, looks dangerous. Also looks artful, clever, amazing.
As the guy who never had any kids, I say don't worry about it until the traceurs adopt a special haircut that only they can wear. Then it's only a matter of time until the poseurs come along and wreck everything.
By the way, kudos to the videographer(s)--there were some awesome shots set up there!
Parkour is NOT a sport at all, therefore it will likely never be seen on the X-games.
Also, most tracuers (including myself) disagree with the way MTV has portrayed Parkour. We believe that Parkour is a self-improvement mechanism, both mentally and physically and shouldn't be shown as a competition.
The WFPF (World Freerunning and Parkour Federation, also the makers of MTV's "Ultimate Parkour Challenge") are just out to make money showing the more extreme side of Parkour just to draw a bigger audience.
@ Jay
Jay is right, tracuers start slow, and work their way up, Parkour isnt about finding the tallest building and jumping off, or doing flips, it's about keeping your mind and body strong.
While I can understand that how you misunderstood Bob Wire, I assure you: You misunderstood him.
He is a great dad who is supportive of his sons athletic activities, even when they occasionally frighten him. He may be out of touch, and even off the mark with his facts, but don't confuse his humor and sarcasm for ignorance.
Also, in my opinion you come off as slightly arrogant. What if a Traceur did enjoy parkour as sport? Does that mean they are not "real" traceurs? Does a traceur need to adhere to a specific line of acceptable behaviours to get your OK as legit? Is it OK if someone does it just for fun, or is there a requirement that they take themselves way too seriously to be considered a real Traceur?
And as far as helmets go...I don't care how careful someone is, and how much practice they do, and what mottos they follow. If someone does a move like the one Rusty is doing in the article's picture, accidents can happen. Maybe the bar fails. Maybe a bird crapped on the bar and Rusty's hand slips. Maybe Rusty just has a bad grip and slips. But one thing is for sure...that cement won't give before the back of his head does. And as a father, Bob Wire has every reason to worry about things like that. "Real Traceurs" should be pushing hard to encourage helmet use if their motto REALLY is "be strong to be useful" & "to be and to last".
What it all comes down to is the idea of movement, discovering one's own abilities regarding movement, and allowing oneself to have fun while also challenging body and mind through conscious progression.
--I wrote a long post previously, featuring far more information and various links, but it was filtered as spam, so I'll simply list some organizations and why they're useful.
Below are examples of the thoughtfulness and determination found within the parkour community:
American Parkour (dot com): More than simply offering fancy 'parkour merchandise', this internationally attended site has every resource a beginning traceur may need to pursue a safe training career. Hosting a number of articles, tutorials, and FAQs, it's often the first stop for aspiring practitioners of parkour and freerunning, (even offering widely accepted definitions of each ;P) The community forum hosts a vast range of topics with plenty of discussion, from how to condition properly to optimize training, to what shoes to wear, and are moderated by highly experienced and upstanding members of the national parkour community.
APEX Movement (dot com): The perfect example of what dedicated traceurs who love the discipline can accomplish, APEX Movement is based in Colorado, and headed by very experienced and thoughtful trainers. These folks are at the forefront of spreading the discipline at its best. Beyond seeking to improve themselves daily, they are striving to best learn how to optimize training for their athletes and creating a facility that is prime for discovering playful and challenging movement.
Parkour Visions (dot org): The first non-profit organization for parkour in the U.S., Parkour Visions is based in Seattle, WA, and was founded by traceurs to spread the safe, positive teaching of parkour. Our website doesn't look like much, but the 'resources' section can be invaluable for aspiring traceurs and the parents of. We also run a gym that hosts classes for adults and children, as well as an ongoing outreach program focusing on disadvantaged populations--namely youth in the 'at risk' communities. Just another example of the drive from the parkour community to establish a positive understanding of a discipline that is so easily misunderstood and misrepresented.
If you've read to this point, thank you for your attention, and I hope some of the resources above may alleviate any worry or ignorance you may have regarding these movement disciplines.
~Brandee
For those actually interested in real information about Parkour please go to http://www.urbanfreeflow.com. They are the leading organization on parkour worldwide. Go to http://www.urbanfreeflow.com/jumpmagazine to view a free e-magazine put out by them each month.
Just like the average skater is not going to come off the lip of an empty pool and do a backflip 360 before somehow landing on his board and skating back down, the average traceur is not going to do a flip of the second story of a building. The ones in either area who are doing the really flashy and risky stuff generally are doing it after years of practice and have a good sense of their abilities and limits.