Parkour
Parkour (PK) or l'art du déplacement (English: the art of moving) is a physical discipline of French origin in which participants run along a route, attempting to negotiate obstacles in the most efficient way possible, as if moving in an emergency situation, using skills such as jumping and climbing, or the more specific parkour moves. The objective is to get from one place to another using only the human body and the objects in the environment around you. The obstacles can be anything in one's environment, but parkour is often seen practiced in urban areas because of the many suitable public structures that are accessible to most people, such as buildings and rails. (Source: Wikipedia)
The official definition from the American Parkour community states that:"Parkour is the physical discipline of training to overcome any obstacle within one's path by adapting one's movements to the environment."
Because individual movements could vary so greatly by the situation, it is better to consider Parkour as defined by the intention of getting somewhere by moving efficiently and as quickly as possible, using only the principal abilities of the human body to overcome obstacles.
Parkour is also called the Art of Utility, as it is useful, practical and beneficial. Functional rather than attractive.
Parkour focuses on practicing inherent basic movements for efficiency and to develop one's body and mind to be able to overcome obstacles, whether during an emergency situation or most especially in helping others.
Parkour practitioners are often called traceur if male, or traceusse if female. These terms are coined after the objective of Parkour oftracing a path as one moves along in the given environment or situation.
etre et durer (To be and to last.)
Two primary characteristics of parkour are efficiency and speed. Practitioners are supposed to take the most direct path around an obstacle as rapidly as that path can be traversed. Developing one's level of spatial awareness is often used to aid development in these areas. Also, efficiency involves avoiding injuries, both short and long term. This idea embodying parkour's unofficial motto is être et durer (to be and to last). Those who are skilled at this activity normally have an extremely keen awareness of oneself and of his/her surrounding.
Parkour Aspects Parkour is most often practiced outdoors, usually without spectators, and is not considered to be performance oriented. According to REFO, "the physical aspect of Parkour consists of getting over all the obstacles in your path as you would in an emergency. You want to move in such a way that helps you gain the most ground on someone or something, whether escaping from it or moving towards it."
"Parkour is an urban sport and as a traceur (people practicing this discipline) you focus on moving from point a to point b as fast, smoothly and efficiently as possible. You are using the abilities of your body to surpass any obstacle in your surrounding whereby you are given complete freedom – physically and mentally."
—Urban Idiots
"You think for yourself, it shouldn't be a sport to impress other people.
You have to be convinced that what you're gonna learn, its gonna make you better, and to give you confidence." -David Belle
