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Is the spirit still there ?
Training method wich allows to overcome obstacles, to adapt yourself to the environment and to move in an efficient and safe way.
Journalist : Is everything ok between energy drinks and the community ?
Malik : I think there is 2 kind of people, purists and openminded, some of them boycott these energy drinks.
I think that there is a real problem with people who wants to overexpose themselves in the media through parkour.
In order to reach as many people as possible, we lose quality.
We accept things that should be inacceptable for those who care about their discipline.
This overexposition of parkour should be based on an ethical question in order to not misrepresent it.
Initially based on efficiency and simplicity
parkour turned into different aspects
At first practiced by a few, parkour community has grown within years and with that tracers desired to develop their own style.
I enjoyed when parkour was wilder, you know
I started parkour in 2007-2008 after watching Oleg Vorslav's video
And back in the days, we didn't know how to move, we had some bails, you tried things without knowing how to land
And then we got the firsts David Belle's interviews and from there « spirit » emerged among the first practitionners
It was like « Help each other » it was kinda abstract, what does that really mean « To be strong to be useful »
« To improve yourself ».
All these ideas ...
Then again when you want to teach parkour to everybody ... you can't force people to think as you do.
The biggest problem we are dealing with parkour as a new discipline is it's expansion
More and more people want to join associations but we don't have enough coachs
older practitioners, experimented tracers to take care of the beginners
Quantity ? Quality ? A bit of both
it's pretty difficult, we're trying out
Here in grenoble there is a big turnover but eventually the core is made of a few
We have a lot of new subscribers, in most federations it would be seen as a failure
that coaches should change their way of training.
To me it's a little different
we should be able to spread pakour to the majority but letting one discover it is different from making one being dedicated to it
We have many beginners practicing for a whole year, they keep coming often with a lot of motivation but they see it as a momentary hobby
It's not our job to constrain them to practice parkour and only parkour for life
In my opinion, quantity yes then the quality comes from itself
In a way those who discover in what we share something they're interested in, a motivational aspect as a hobby or as a sport, well those one come back, they create other groups, they travel, ...
Often considered as an unusual discipline
Tracers, parkour practitioners, all try to protect its values
If daily training consists in going out and move
it's also seen as a way of living
That's why it involves many encounters and the will to improve oneself is a good opportunity to travel
and it increases the kind of obstacles you'll have to overcome
I was lucky enough to meet the right people at the right time
I think especially about Lisses' people
The early practitioners : Seb Goudot, Mike, Morue
The early practitioners : Seb Goudot, Mike, Morue ...
then I also met Benoit, Erwan, Tom from « shintai » with whom I spent many years training, traveling
All this combined made me understand what parkour is really about
When I started I used to think that parkour was just about jumping around
and then I went to Lisses and discovered the true spirit
Roughness, Toughness, strength conditioning you know that was the first step of my progression
Seb Goudot A.K.A Gouda introduced me into parkour ...
I remember when I started real training with them
(push-ups, one leg squat, quadrupedal movement, ...)
I told myself « Ok, that's training, last year I did crap now wake up and train this way. »
Barely recognizable by tenacious diggers who had found the oldest videos
First practitioners rarely used videos support
With advanced technologies and sharing greatly simplified with supports like youtube and dailymotion
We have been witnessing an exponential rise of parkour videos
Unfortunately the will to share has been replaced by a will to always do more
Further
Higher
More dangerous
In order to make more views (like, share & subscribe)
In order to make more views (like, share & subscribe)
That incited commercialization of parkour
Protagonists are turned into heroes, tracers look at them without thinking about their own practice.
Indeed, there's a drawback about the expansion
As Blane once said, it's a dilution
That's not the original spirit wich has been relayed
From generation to generation, it seems like it's not the same discipline
It's been modified, transformed, ... and it's not like ... soccer wich is a strictly defined sport ...
for parkour, of course we don't want it to be as structured as soccer
wich is annoying cause we lose the founding principles
For some it's now a catch-all where everything's confused parkour and tricks, gymnastics and hip-hop
And we lose the idea of getting over, strength & mental conditioning, ...
You can't keep people from doing flips but they must keep in mind that's not parkour
We're trying to create places to study and develop parkour to keep the essence
The essential
Parkour is simple, it's essential
If we start to complexify it ...
to initiate we're trying to simplify it, i had a chance to talk about it with other practitioners, we're trying to simplify it to make it accessible
but parkour is already accessible
Is there anything easier than running, jumping, climbing
There's nothing easier and at the same time there's nothing harder than that
It seems so natural but you realize it's not that easy
They want to travest parkour into something easier but it's already simple
There were many steps, as you said
at first we had forums, then came blogs and after videos. Showreel and stuffs.
At the beginning the goal was to show that someone was practicing in this place and it was a tool to meet other tracers
It was also very useful when you needed some help for training, when you had some questions about parkour or sport. It helped to bring motivation and find new people to train with
It was also very useful when you needed some help for training, when you had some questions about parkour or sport. It helped to bring motivation and find new people to train with
Then, on the blogs, it was the beginning of the videos
There wasn't the same purpose than now, it wasn't meant to show our level, a particular jump, or to show that « Yes, I did this particular jump »
Now we don't use videos to be in touch with other tracers but only to impress others...
Associations have also made some videos to show parkour under supervision to show what they do, to reassure parents
Now 99% of videos are made for showing off and the rest is made to show and share the idea that parkour is also made of good times with friends.
He should do it at least 5 more times, even if he gets hurt. With that we'll have something to show, some bails. It'll be great, it'll be great
At the beginning we didn't care about media
Some had a blog but only to explain and help others, give advices, ...
But now I feel that even when I go training
guys just come with their camera ask to be shot during a big jump so they can make their showreel
This is what I feel but there's also more and more tracers
then they're the one mostly seen...
When we were fewer
we knew all each other and it allowed you to travel in unknown places
You could contact tracers, they would answer and they would offer you hospitality
At this time we all shared the same values
autodiscipline, strength and mental conditoning, ...
It's not that easy, and I don't feel like I'm the right person to say if it's a good or bad evolution
But yeah, a lot of things have changed
I just feel that, maybe by geographic area, communities seems to be very different
between Paris and the South of France for example
And I don't think that it was the same before
Back in the days, it was kinda weird, as you said, you were looking for a group, you came in
But now, as it's bigger it's harder to join in the community.
It's a bit harder, it's less made of groups.
As we're a lot more it's harder to get to know new people, invite them at home and share more than just training
Well it's not always true cause I've been in many places and I always managed to be welcomed
perhaps it's cause I have some acquaintances now wich isn't the same for a beginner.
FUN PART
Given the medias, parkour will keep on evolving.
It's practical aspect, it's daily basis will lead the tracer to adapt his practice to his everyday life.
Unregarding all its different aspects, every practitioner should do his best to share the original spirit.
To train hard should'nt keep you away from the fun side at risk of losing pleasure.
The inherent value of parkour lies within the exchange in it's original community.
When the opinions differ, the reality of concrete should always lead the movement. Given that, every tracer knows he has to be focus at any time.
We try to defend it but to defend it you have to define it
How do you define it ? Only few can.
Even the word « tracer », it's interesting to think that a tracer isn't just a practitionner of parkour but someone who tries to understand his discipline.