08 September 2005

"Case Study: Le Parkour"


This is our long topic on Le Parkour, please do put in your thoughts about it! (:

Hazrul:
Hi guys,

I was watching the news yesterday and there was this report on Le Parkour practitioners in Singapore and how this "sport" is gaining popularity among the young. Here's the bombshell. Police say, the sport is illegal. There were cases where "practitioners" were caught for "Trespassing" and "Causing nuisance to residents".

I wasn't comfortable with the "Proposal must be Legal" criteria but I couldn't voice out an example.

Le Parkour is not an official sport, and no organisation represents it. What if a group of practitioners would like to propose a public display of Le Parkour to encourage more people to take up the sport and to give it due recognition as a sport?

How then do you balance between what is a positive change against what is legal/illegal?


Imad:

Hhhmmmm......

I think that as with all sports,practitioners of that particular sport must register themselves with SSC (or an equivalent organisation) for it to be "recognised" as a sport.A long time ago,skateboarding was illegal in the strictest sense of the word. Over time,views became more developed and the sport was subsequently accepted and recognised.Now,we have skateboarding parks and youths do it all over the place.This does not mean however that if they were caught skating at places where they shouldn't be,they will be let off.

IF a bunch of youths came to YCM for a grant to promote the sport of free running,I think it will be prudent for us to mentor them accordingly.Get the proper license for them to demonstrate the activity and etc.I,for one, would support it 100%.I saw the movie "Yamakasi" and want to be hero lah and want to start jumping and flipping all over the place....dem yaya lah me.... can't even get out of my own bed properly :-p

I mean think about it... how would you feel if one of these chaps (leftover word from the training session :-p) was suddenly found hanging from your 5th floor HDB flat at Yew Tee or something?

But never say never....

On another matter,kudos to all involved in the creation of the contact list.Absolutely outstanding! :-))

Imad
p.s. I went home on Sunday and saw a note on the fridge.My parents are out of town for 2 weeks....hahahhaaa.....


Hazrul:

Good call.

But then again, Free Running and Skateboarding are 2 different things. (I don't think there is a Skateboarding Association of Singapore. Anyone know of any?)

Imagine if we built a "Free Running Park". Kind of weird don't you think? With live-size buildings and bridges and people flying and jumping around.

Anywhere else, free running is illegal. And you have to put up all those stick man signs like those "No Football at the void deck!" hahaha... Imagine, "No Parkouring!" I wonder how the stickman will look like. heh...

Please Parkour at designated Parkour Lots!

But eventually, people will have to live with it. Like how many of us are guilty of playing football at the void deck and at the basketball court?


Angeline:

hey, i'll have a say in it, coz I once tried parkour (only once) and
i have buddies who does le parkour like how one would go for tkd
training. it's a very interesting sport, I'd have to say as it
challenges your body and your mind. Let me tell you, it's SO
addictive and fun coz it makes you feel like you're superman..!
hahs...

Anyway, Parkour is said to be illegal only because it is potentially
very dangerous (i'll get to that in a bit) and it isn't safe for the
society, i might add.
I'd say it isn't safe because, what if criminals learnt parkour in
order to do their crimes?

I have to emphasis that by practicising parkour on a regular basis
makes one REALLY fit, and i mean like SUPER fit, they are very
agile, they travel like ninjas (they must learn how to land lightly
on their feet after dropping 9 feet down) and they are VERY VERY
fast. This would give an advantage to these potential criminals and
it would take a car just to catch up with them. You can't catch up
with these guys if you're gonna chase them on your feet.
This is possibly one of the standing reasons why the police aren't
making it legal.

Another reason would be that, if parkour was to be allowed, we're
gonna see ALOT of broken bones, alot of foot prints on buildings
(yes, i said buildings) and alot of speed-crazy youths on feet.


I've watched this documentary on Discovery Channel on Le Parkour.
I'll just introduce Le Parkour briefly to those who are clueless
about it. Le Parkour was founded by a youth (who's prolly around 24
now) in France. It is a new alternative sport that embraces a cross
disciplinary of martial arts and a hell lot of running.
It practices the arts from ninjitsu to (actually i can't remember,
but they had put the emphasis on the way ninjas travel around).
Anyway, these guys came together one day and got bored of just
running on the ground, they loved playing platform computer games
(eg: sonic, spiderman, you get the idea) and they wanted something
MORE challenging that the norm, hence, le parkour was formed.
These guys are so good, they even did a guiness record of travelling
above ground at a certain rate for a few hours to complete some
kilometres. This was done either in France or Londone (i can't
remember those details), and they jumped from building to building
as much as they could and this happened over a span of several
famous buildings.


But anyway, back to the topic, I'd love to see a free running park
in *scape. ahaha.. they're still looking for ideas, I think this
would be a good one. Coz i think even if parkour is to be made
legal, there'll be more parkour kids around to help out as well. The
only concern left would be them trying to climb up the walls like
the chinese kungfu heros (eg: jackie chan or jet li) would do and
jumping 2 stories down without the intent to commit suicide.

A good friend of mine who does parkour fractured his wrist and
sprained his ankle from jumping 1.4m down.. that's how bad it gets
if one doesn't have proper training.

Yep..
so that's my say on it.. hahs.. i know it's pretty long a say, but
yeah.. hahas..
hope you guys learnt more insights to parkour.. (:

toodles!
angeline




any other thoughts, anyone?

9:34 AM. By: Administrator