Parkour Brittan Siefert EDUC-W201 Assignment 2

What is Parkour? ► Parkour is an art of moving throughout your environment around you using only your body and the obstacles around. It includes running, climbing buildings and walls, and also jumping. The obstacles may be many things from rocks or tree branches to concrete walls and buildings. ► It was founded by David Belle in France. Helps to focus on movements of the body and mind to overcome obstacles in an emergency.

A little look at Parkour ► This is an example picture showing a far jump off rocks. This is a good picture to show the way it would look like if you were there in real life looking at this jump. This is just one example of an obstacle that could be used in Parkour.

Some terms used in Parkour ► Traceurs and traceuses : Terms describing the gender of the person who does Parkour. The males are known as traceurs and the females are known as traceuses. ► Vault: To jump or leap especially when using your hands for support. ► Drop: To jump down or to drop from something ► Gap Jump: To jump from one place to another, over a gap or distance. This is often followed with some type of roll. ► Tic Tac: To kick off a wall to get over an obstacle or to gain height to grab on to something else for support.

Origin of Parkour ► The first form of Parkour was started by a French solider in the Vietnam War by the name of Raymond Belle. He developed methods “to reach or to escape”. It was then later handed down to David Belle who has now been working on the principles of Parkour most of his life. To the right is a picture of David Belle.

DANGER! ► There is obviously a lot of danger involved with Parkour and everything around it. Parkour is said to be “only as dangerous as you make it.” A lot of the injuries occur when the traceurs lose focus and they are tired, if they are going beyond there abilities, or attempting difficult maneuvers to try to impress people. ► Parkour is a very dangerous sport!! It takes a lot of practice before actually being able to perform the art of Parkour.

Positive things about Parkour ► Considered an extreme sport but an art that resembles self defense also ► Takes a lot of physical needs so it help keep your body fit and also keep you in shape as well ► You need to have a lot of mind concentration so it helps you clear your head of other things in your life and makes you concentrate on this one obstacle to overcome

Conclusion ► Parkour is more of an art form rather then a sport. Its also a good way to keep your body physically fit but also really good for your mind set also. It helps out your concentration a lot because you have to have your mind set on the obstacle in front of you and overcome that obstacle any way you physically can by either jumping, or climbing.