Parkour

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Parkour (sometimes abbreviated to PK), is commonly confused with l'art du déplacement (English: the art of displacement) or sometimes freerunning. Parkour is a utilitarian discipline based upon the successful, swift and energy-efficient traversing of one's surrounding environment via the practical application of self-taught techniques, based around the concept of self-preservation and the ability to help others.^[1] It is a non-competitive, physical discipline of French origin in which participants run along a route, attempting to negotiate obstacles in the most efficient way possible, using only their bodies. Skills such as jumping, climbing, vaulting, rolling and swinging are employed. Parkour can be practiced anywhere, but areas dense with obstacles are preferable, and it is most commonly practiced in urban areas. The usage and employment of flips into the named route does not constitute parkour.

The term freerunning is sometimes incorrectly used interchangeably with l'art du déplacement. While l'art du déplacement aims to enable the practitioner to be able to move quickly and creatively past obstacles, freerunning is a competition sport, with Urban FreeFlow being credited with this change of definition. Freerunning includes the use of tricking moves such as aerial rotations and spins, while the definition of parkour founder David Belle does not consider these part of parkour because the moves are merely for show, not efficient, can't help to assist anyone and do not help the participant to get from place to place. Although Sébastien Foucan is considered a co-founder of parkour, his philosophy later turned out to be different to that of parkour and grew to become known as freerunning (see below).
A practitioner of parkour is called a traceur if it's a man, or traceuse if it's a woman. The word is most likely derived from Parisian slang "tracer" which means "to hurry" or "to move quickly". In proper French "traceur" is an adjective qualifying something that leaves a trace or a trail behind it.

Overview :

Two primary characteristics of parkour are efficiency and speed. Traceurs take the most direct path through an obstacle as rapidly as that route can be traversed safely. 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).

Parkour's emphasis on efficiency distinguishes it from the similar practice of free running, which places more emphasis on freedom of movement and creativity.
Traceurs say that parkour also influences one's thought processes by enhancing self-confidence and critical-thinking skills that allow one to overcome everyday physical and mental obstacles.^[2][3][4] A study by Neuropsychiatrie de l'Enfance et de l'Adolescence( Neuropsychiatry of Childhood and Adolescence) in France reflects that traceurs seek more excitement and leadership situations than gymnastic practitioners.^[5]

Terminology :

The first terms used to describe this form of training were l'art du déplacement and le parcours.^[6]
The term parkour (French pronunciation: [paʁˈkuʁ]) was coined by Hubert Koundé. It derives from parcours du combattant, the classic obstacle course method of military training proposed by Georges Hébert.^[7][8][9]
Traceur [tʁasœʁ] and traceuse [tʁasøz] are substantives derived from the French verb tracer, which normally means "to trace",^[10] or "to draw", but which is also a slang for "to go fast".^[11]

History :

See also: Timeline of parkour

 Hébert's legacy

Main article: Georges Hébert

Before World War I, former naval officer Georges Hébert traveled throughout the world. During a visit to Africa, he was impressed by the physical development and skills of indigenous tribes that he met:^[12]

Their bodies were splendid, flexible, nimble, skillful, enduring, and resistant but yet they had no other tutor in gymnastics but their lives in nature.

—Georges Hébert, ^[12]

On May 8, 1902, the town of Saint-Pierre, Martinique, where he was stationed, suffered from the volcanic eruption of Mount Pelée. Hébert coordinated the escape and rescue of some 700 people. This experience had a profound effect on him, and reinforced his belief that athletic skill must be combined with courage and altruism. He eventually developed this ethos into his motto: "être fort pour être utile" (be strong to be useful).^[12]
Inspired by indigenous tribes, Hébert became a physical education tutor at the college of Reims in France. He began to define the principles of his own system of physical education and to create various apparatuses and exercises to teach his méthode naturelle,^[12] which he defined as:

Methodical, progressive and continuous action, from childhood to adulthood, that has as its objective: assuring integrated physical development; increasing organic resistances; emphasizing aptitudes across all genres of natural exercise and indispensable utilities (walking, running, jumping, quadrupedal movement, climbing, equilibrium (balancing), throwing, lifting, defending and swimming); developing one's energy and all other facets of action or virility such that all assets, both physical and virile, are mastered; one dominant moral idea: altruism.

—Georges Hébert, ^[13]

Hébert set up a méthode naturelle session consisting of ten fundamental groups: walking, running, jumping, quadrupedal movement, climbing, balancing, throwing, lifting, self-defense, swimming, which are part of three main forces:^[13]

• Energetic or virile sense: energy, willpower, courage, coolness, and firmness
• Moral sense: benevolence, assistance, honor, and honesty
• Physical sense: muscles and breath

During World War I and World War II, Hébert's teaching continued to expand, becoming the standard system of French military education and training. Thus, Hébert was one of the proponents of parcours — an obstacle course, developed by a Swiss architect,^[14] which is standard in the military training and led to the development of civilian fitness trails and confidence courses.^[12] Also, French soldiers and firefighters developed their obstacle courses known as parcours du combattant and parcours SP.^[15]

Movements :

There are fewer predefined movements in parkour than in gymnastics, as there is no list of "moves". Each obstacle a traceur faces presents a unique challenge. The ability to overcome the challenge depends on multiple factors, for example, on body type, speed, angle of approach, the physical make-up of the obstacle. Parkour is about training the "bodymind" to react to those obstacles appropriately with a technique that is effective. Often that technique cannot and need not be classified and given a name. In many cases effective parkour techniques depend on fast redistribution of body weight and the use of momentum to perform seemingly difficult or impossible body maneuvers at great speed. Absorption and redistribution of energy is also an important factor, such as body rolls when landing which reduce impact forces on the legs and spine, allowing a traceur to jump from greater heights than those often considered sensible in other forms of acrobatics and gymnastics.^{[citation needed]}
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. Also, if you go from A to B, you need to be able to get back from B to A,^[23] but not necessarily with the same movements or passements.
Despite this, there are many basic versatile and effective techniques that are emphasized for beginners. Most important are good jumping and landing techniques. The roll, used to limit impact after a drop and to carry one's momentum onward, is often stressed as the most important technique to learn. Parkour has sometimes received concerns for its health issues due to large drops.^[24][25][26] Communities in Great Britain have been warned by law enforcement or fire and rescue of the risk in jumping off high buildings.^{[27][dead link][28]} Although David Belle has never been seriously injured while practicing parkour,^[29] there is no careful study about the health issues of large drops and traceurs stress gradual progression to avoid any problems. American traceur Mark Toorock says that injuries are rare "because participants rely not on what they can't control – wheels or the icy surfaces of snowboarding and skiing – but their own hands and feet," but Lanier Johnson, executive director of the American Sports Medicine Institute, says "It's really hard to get people to report these kinds of injuries."^[30]