Development of parkour and freerunning

To explain the absence of parkour and freerunning within sports clubs, it is necessary to take a look inside its history and development. The birth of parkour and freerunning is not easy to pinpoint because mankind has been moving around different natural obstacles since year one. In the past it was used to hunt or to escape. The question is when the functional moving went into a sports discipline.

THE BEGINNING IN FRANCE

The general opinion is that it originates in France in the south of Paris. In the 1980s a small group of young children started to use their urban environment as a playground. Right in the middle of the group was David Belle whose father, Raymound Belle, taught the children military training methods. These methods were developed by Georges Herbert who got inspiration from the natural physical conditions of indigenous people from Africa. For him it was important to use the whole body in a fluid motion to get over obstacles. The group of children used this influence and developed their own style over the course of a decade. Round the age of fifteen they called themselves Yamakasi and gained the attention of the media and the mainstream.

FROM THE UNDERGROUND TO THE WORLD STAGE

In 2001 parkour’s popularity exploded because of the movie ‘Yamakasi: Les samourais des temps modernes’ which showed the impressive skills of the group. Furthermore, TV commercials brought the discipline to London - For example, the BBC1 commercial with David Belle and the Nike commercial with Sebastian Foucan, two important members of Yamakasi. Dangerous copycat behaviour began to emerge. Many people tried to imitate the masters but didn’t have the necessary experience. In 2003 the ground-breaking documentary ‘Jump London’ was produced, featuring Sebastian Foucan among other professional freerunners. This documentary showed the philosophical aspect and the physical discipline of the sport. The number of parkour crews exploded and the understanding of being a freerunner changed to self-challengers instead of risk takers. In 2006 the first services for learning the discipline were started by the Westminster Council in inner city schools and community sports centres. Two years later the ADAPT coaching program was founded by Yamakasi and Parkour Generations to give coaches a higher and standardised qualification. Since then, the discipline has been brought into schools as an element of physical education.

  

CURRENT SITUATION AND FUTURE PERSPECTIVES

Nowadays parkour and freerunning is still growing and evolving. There are many professional teams and crews which are very well presented in all medias. It’s common for action movies to include elements of parkour or freerunning. It can no longer be called an underground discipline, however it’s a young discipline and needs to developed by the people. The emergence of parkour and freerunning into usual sports clubs and the creation of periodical competitions appear to be the thriving future of the sport.