SLCPK.org

A Personal Essay

This article originally written by Ryan Berlin.

Parkour.

I bet that I can tell exactly what you’re thinking, Par…kour? What is that? How do you say it? I don’t get it… Admit it. You haven’t got the slightest idea what I mean. Well, unless you’re one of the few traceurs who attend BYU with me, and I’ve only found…wait, I haven’t found any other traceurs at BYU, so never mind. Hey, there’s another word you’re probably trying to figure out, traceur. If you can’t tell, and I’m sorry for this, but it’s true, I’m really enjoying confusing you. But I admit when I first heard about parkour, I had no idea what it was either. Heck, you have an advantage over me too, because I didn’t even know how to spell it. But after about nearly a year of practicing, learning, studying, watching, and growing in the discipline…no, that’s not the right word…the art, yeah, that’s the word I want, the art of parkour, I’ve come to love it.

But what is parkour? Well, let me show you. Parkour is the art of movement. But that’s not all it is either. It’s also about fluidity and grace. That doesn’t help you at all, does it? Parkour is something that you have to experience to really understand, but I will do my best. Now I know why Gary and Dixon had such a hard time telling me what it was. I could give you the clichéd definitions, but it doesn’t really do parkour justice, and I’ve never really liked them. But it may help you to get a visual idea of what I mean. Parkour has also been defined as “urban gymnastics� or “skating without a skateboard.� Can you picture what I’m talking about now? You may have this image of some “punk kids� running around downtown doing little tricks over or under some stuff. But that is not what parkour is, and that’s part of why I really don’t like those definitions. Parkour is not some rebellious act that angry teens do to prove that they won’t be controlled by “the man.� Although, most of the security guards we’ve run into don’t really believe that…especially that bald one. The only way I can really tell you what parkour is, is to tell you the way that I was first introduced to it.

About one year ago, my friends, Gary and Dixon, told me about this new sport that they had tried out. They called it parkour. I was skeptical at first, so they tried to describe it to me.

“Well, you run around and…jump over stuff. Or off of buildings, but there’s more to it…I can’t really explain it to you until you’ve tried it. And there’s the guy who organized the group that does it, well, in the Salt Lake valley. His name’s Manic Velocity. No, that’s not his real name, that’s just his nickname. We have another jam this Saturday. You should come, man. Come on, at least give it a shot.�

Not exactly the most reassuring speech that they had given me. But I had nothing better to do that Saturday anyway. So I went. Manic wasn’t there. He was sick or something, I don’t really remember, but I met a few new people who were interested in trying it too. Then Gary, who is probably the best at parkour in our little group, ran up a wall, climbed up onto the roof and was standing about ten feet above me. He looked down to me and said, “Your turn.� I looked up at him and said, “What are you crazy? There’s no way I can do that.� He said, “Yes you can, it’s easy, you just have to DO it.� I looked around. The rest of the group was watching me, and I thought, Well, I came here to do something, didn’t I? The first time that I tried, I ran up to the wall and put my foot up as high as I thought Gary had, slipped, and landed on my face. I tried again, and fell again. Gary started laughing at me. So, I decided, I have to do this. If for no other reason, just so Gary will stop laughing at me. I ran up the wall, grabbed the ledge (barely) and pulled myself up. Gary looked at me with a kind of surprised look, and said, “I can’t believe you actually did it.�

I did it! When I realized that I had just not just climbed, but ran up a wall, and then got on top of it. I felt like Superman. Actually, it was Spider-Man, because I think he’s cooler, but anyway. There I was standing looking down on my friends. Then I turned to look at Gary. He looked at me, smiled, and jumped.

I couldn’t believe it. That was ten feet, straight down, onto concrete. He looked back up at me and I knew exactly what he was going to say, “Your turn.� I thought, crap. Going up is one thing, but to trust your body to go back down, and to trust your legs not to break, is completely different. Also, ten feet looks a lot higher when you’re standing at the top of it looking down. But Gary had done it, and he seemed to be alright. I mean he wasn’t limping or anything. That is unless he was really good at hiding it. Then he yelled, “Quick, before you think about it.� So I jumped. I watched as the ground—that solid, hard ground—came rushing up to meet my ever so breakable feet.

Then I was on the ground again. No real pain. There was just a small stinging in the bottom of my feet and the palms of my hands. I stood up and looked around. I thought I might still be alive. I don’t see anyone with wings or harps…or horns and pitchforks for that matter. I turned to Gary. He was shocked. He said, “I thought you were afraid of heights. I didn’t think you’d actually do it.� And I thought I felt cool when I was on top of the wall. Now, I felt the same way, only a thousand times over.

Now, you’re wondering, ok, so you climbed a wall and then jumped off, so what? Well, this is just my introduction to parkour. And Gary told me, “You haven’t even begun to see what parkour is.� I tell him, “I want to. What do I do next?� He smiled, and said, “See that ledge, then after the ledge, there’s a planter, then a wall, then a rail, and last there’s a drop into a nice patch of grass. I want you to play connect the dots, connect them all together, using your body, and your mind. And if you can’t figure out a way to do it, just watch me the first time, and then make your own path.�

I decided to watch Gary the first time. He took off at a comfortable jog. When he came to the ledge, he put one hand on top of it, and threw his legs and body to one side using only his arm to push him over it. He landed on the other side of the ledge, and ran to the planter, where he jumped and placed both of his hands on the far side of the planter, and then swung his legs through his arms. He ran up the wall and jumped off of the other side. When he came to the rail, he jumped on top of it and walked across, balancing the whole way, leaped off at the end into the grass about eight feet below him and rolled over his shoulder. It was inspiring. When I tried to imitate Gary, he stopped me, and said, “No, you don’t get it. Find YOUR way to connect them, not mine.� So, I tried to do things differently. I reverse vaulted over the ledge rather than using the basic vault that Gary used, and I simply cleared the planter rather than trying Gary’s kong vault. I was terrible at balancing on the rail, so instead I used a cat balance. I didn’t know what any of the stuff I did was called; I learned that later. But when I came to the end, I was ecstatic. Gary looked at me and said, “Now you’re starting to understand.�

Afterward, I searched for parkour sites on the internet, and realized that compared to most people who do this, I sucked. And I sucked really bad. Of course, most of the people who have sites have been doing this for years. But the most important thing I learned about parkour is the idea behind it. Parkour is about movement. It’s about grace. It’s about flowing from obstacle to obstacle. It’s about creating your own path. The ONLY rule in parkour, and it isn’t even adhered to all of the time, given certain circumstances, is to never go backwards.

Also, there is NO competition in parkour. There aren’t parkour battles, where you go against someone to see, who can do this trick better, or who has the better flow. Because that is not what parkour is. The only person you are working against in parkour is yourself and your fear. Everyone who comes to a jam is there to learn. And those who know more, or are more experienced, teach those who are newer to parkour. Because the more you learn, then the more you can help others. Everyone is trying to grow as much as they can from parkour. But it takes practice. Even Sebastien Foucan and David Belle, the founders of parkour, often go around visiting other groups of traceurs to coach and help wherever they can.

One of the greatest lessons that I’ve learned from parkour is the importance of dedication and hard work. You can’t just show up to a jam and expect yourself to be able to vault perfectly or make it up a wall without having practiced them before. Parkour is very dangerous, and many people have been seriously injured trying things they were not ready to do. Unless I’m talking to my parents, in which case, no one has ever been hurt doing parkour and we spend most of our time talking rather than jumping off of buildings. It takes long hours of practice and training. I’m not claiming to be an expert in anyway, and I’ve had my share of bumps and bruises too. I’ve seen people who just amaze me at what they are capable of, but I also see the years of practice that they have spent to be able to do those things. I’ve seen some of the best in the world fall, tear ligaments, and break bones. And they have put an enormous amount of effort into learning techniques, but no one is perfect. You cannot account for everything. Weather, loose rails, slick surfaces and human error can cause several accidents. It takes a great deal of practice before you can perform a good handspring vault or pin-drop. I still mess up on these even though I’ve practiced them over and over. It is very important to know your limits.

There was one time that I was too stupid to know my own limits. I was running down a set of planters. For some reason I don’t really remember, my foot slipped out from under me but I couldn’t stop. I saw a rail and reached out for it, hoping that I could grab it and slow down. Unfortunately, my leg got caught between the rail and another planter. I dislocated my knee, but I didn’t know it at the time. There was too much adrenaline pumping through me to really notice. So, I got up and started walking around. Everyone kept asking if I was ok and telling me that I looked as white as a ghost. I kept telling them that I felt fine. I mean sure it stung a little, but that was normal after banging your knee, right? Then when I tried to sit down, my knee gave up. Phil came over and looked at it. When he pulled on my knee, it went about twice as far as it normally should have. Then Manic said, “Dude, you’re done for the day.�

Now you’re probably saying to yourself, I guess that’s cool, but you haven’t been getting into any ideas, personal essays are supposed to be about developing ideas and so forth and I don’t really see how this sport you do can help you with that. Well, let me tell you one of the main philosophies behind parkour. Parkour is a parallel to how we live our lives.

In life we have obstacles that come at us from unexpected places, or even obstacles that we can see coming. Part of life is getting over these obstacles as smoothly as possible, trying not to look stupid, if you will. Well, isn’t that what parkour is? We try to move from obstacle to obstacle as gracefully as possible. In life, things may not always work out, we’ll stumble a few times, or even fall flat on our faces, but we always move forward. Do you remember what I said the only rule in parkour is? Are you beginning to see what I do? In parkour, you stumble a few times, you even fall flat on your face a few times, but every time that you do, you learn something. You look back, try to see what mistakes you must have made, and learn from them. Isn’t that what life is? Learning from our mistakes?

Every time I go home from a jam, I feel refreshed, exhausted, but refreshed. It’s an odd sensation that I can’t really explain. But after a jam, I can look at life, and think to myself, I can do this. This is nothing. This is easy. Life is easy. I’ve jumped off of buildings. I’ve gotten over bigger, harder obstacles. And after this, I can just keep moving forward. You can conquer the world after a jam. And admittedly, I’m still terrible at parkour compared to most of the people on the internet, or in some of the documentaries. I recommend watching Jump Britain or Jump London if you ever get the chance. They can show you so much more than I can here.

There’s another connection between life and parkour. In life, there is no competition. In life, you’re trying to find your own way, make yourself the best that you can. People who are older than you and have been at it longer try to guide you along your way They aren’t trying to make things worse for you, despite what you may think sometimes. They want you to do your best, because the better you do, the more you can help those who come after. Do you remember what I said about competition in parkour?

Life is about experience, and it takes time, work and dedication. You can give up, some things may knock you off your feet, and some people never get back up. But every time that you get back up, you grow a little stronger, gain a little wisdom. You break down and rebuild from the pieces. Isn’t that one of the most important parts of life is? Parkour acts the same way. Everyone slips at least once, (possibly dislocating their knee) and, unfortunately, some people decide that it’s not worth their time to try again. But when you get back up, and try it again, you come away a little wiser, you move a little smoother, and you rebuild yourself. Can you see what I see?