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Have you heard of Parkour?
Parkour is an activity with the aim of moving from one point to another as efficiently and quickly as possible, using principally the abilities of the human body. It is meant to help one overcome obstacles, which can be anything in the surrounding environment — from branches and rocks to rails and concrete walls — and can be practiced in both rural and urban areas. Parkour practitioners are referred to as traceurs, or traceuses.
Originating in France, it’s basically freestyle gymnastics.
David Belle and his friend Sèbastien Foucan are the first generation of modern parkour practitioners. Their vision of parkour: You just have to look, you just have to think, like children.
My traceur skills are limited to urban puddle avoidance these days. It’s cool to see people take on urban structures and obstacles as I used to as a skateboarder in the 80’s.
Integrating the environment with your skating was the goal. Obstacles were not to be avoided, but skillfully integrated with your forward progress. As with parkour, momentum and intertia can often be used to one’s advantage.
When I was a kid, my favorite game was tag. Our version was where 2 or 3 people would try to catch one person. I really enjoyed the way my brain would devise some pretty complicated avoidance techniques. From the Wikipedia entry on Parkour:
According to David Belle, you want to move in such a way that will help you gain the most ground as if escaping or chasing something.
This got me thinking about the concept of the Urban Olympics. X-Games are great, I watch the skateboarding and freestyle bike stuff. The motorcycle/snowmobile jumping is boring to watch on TV.
Imagine the Orban Olympics. Turnstile jumping, thief avoidance, bike messenger Chmpionships, jaywalking maneuvers, just think of all the cool events that could be staged.
