News

October has been a huge month for Parkour Parks & facilities in the UK, with two #ParkourParks launched in Southfields Park, Loughborough & Crynant, Neath. Additionally this weekend see’s the launch of Dorset’s first Parkour/Freerunning facility in Poole, The Parkour Project

The Parkour Project is Dorset’s first dedicated parkour facility and is the creation of Parkour UK members – Train Hard Parkour. Train Hard have been coaching Parkour/Freerunning in Dorset since 2006; creating a dedicated training facility has been a goal of theirs from the very beginning.

For the first time ever in Dorset, Parkour/Freerunning practitioners will have a dedicated space, with Parkour UK qualified and insured coaches to help guide them with their training. Train Hard expect The Parkour Project to tear down many of the barriers that prevent people from starting Parkour/Freerunning training. The Parkour Project welcomes people of any age from absolute beginner, right through to experienced practitioners, looking for a place to call home.

The creation of this ground breaking facility would not have been possible without the amazing support of The Project Climbing Centre, who have transformed the sports centre above the Dolphin Centre into a first-class climbing wall and Natural Sports, a company that specializes in the construction of parkour facilities, who have sponsored a lot of the build.

The Parkour Project will be opening its doors for its official launch over two days, the 25th & 26th of October:

Saturday 25th: 12:00 ­ 20:00 & Sunday 26th: 10:00 ­  20:00

There’ll be mini­-workshops, giveaways, and lots of opportunities to use the purpose ­built facilities. The event is absolutely free and open to everyone. The Parkour Project can be found inside The Project Climbing Centre. The Project Climbing Centre is on the same floor as the library in the Dolphin Centre, in Poole.

You can find out more about The Parkour Project & the launch on their website, Twitter & Facebook or call 0808 189 3253

The Parkour Project follows in the footsteps of other Parkour/Freerunning facilities in the UK, from Parkour UK members including Parkour Generations – The Chainstore & Airborn’s – Airborn Academy

If you would like more information on Parkour Parks or facilities please do contact us.

#MoreParkourParks #GiveParkourAGo

On Wednesday the 24th September our President/Ambassador, Sebastien Foucan visited the at the Coopers’ Company and Coborn School in Upminster, to celebrate the huge success of the Sporting Promise programme and launch this years involvement from Parkour UK

Seb, who was delighted to see more young people trying out Parkour/Freerunning, said:

“Sporting Promise is having a great impact in schools and encouraging more young people to be physically active through non-traditional sports like  Parkour/Freerunning. It is fantastic to be able to visit the school today and see first-hand the excitement and enthusiasm of everyone involved.”

Here are some photos from the event:

Not everyone enjoys traditional sports like football, rugby and cricket so the Sporting Promise – yoUR Activity programme co-ordinated nationally by the Youth Sport Trust and supported by Matalan & Sporting Pro, offers secondary school pupils the chance to get involved with sport in a fun and energetic way – mainly through trying alternative sports like Parkour/Freerunning. This year marks our fourth year of invlovement in the programme, building on the previous three years of success.

yoUR Activity aims to increase participation and whole school impact, thereby addressing the drop-off in sports participation in 14-16 year olds; particularly in pupils who are not attracted to mainstream or traditional sports. Pupils can enjoy themselves and be active by trying sports like Parkour/Freerunning, but also other sports including Dodgeball, Jump Rope, Lacrosse,  Rowing, Street Cheer, Tchoukball and Ultimate Frisbee.

Other benefits are clear to see, yoUR Activity:

• improves the sports offer and widens the breadth of provision in schools;
• creates a mechanism to support transition into club and community sport;
• motivates young people to develop leadership skills; and
• equips young people with the ability and desire to continue their involvement in sporting activity beyond their school life.

The Youth Sport Trust co-ordinates the programme nationally for schools involved in the programme, allowing teachers to understand how to make the most of the programme. Teachers will have access to a yoUR Activity resource pack which shows how a range of activities can be easily integrated into a school setting using existing facilities.

This year we are working with 4 lead schools in England; The Deanes School in Colchester; Corpus Christi in Leeds; Bristol Gateway in Bristol; Coopers Coborn, in London.

We will be delivering 3 ‘days’ of engagement to each school plus a one day at a national event. For each school the 3 ‘days’ are split as:

• 1 day – Parkour UK Sports Leaders UK Award in leading Parkour/Freerunning  course for Secondary School pupils (yr10/11)
• 1 day – Parkour UK 1st4sport CPD Introductory CPD Award in Teaching Parkour/Freerunning (QTS) course for Teachers
• 1 day – A Masterclass and a 30-45min Q&A/meet and greet with Sebastien Foucan 

If you would like more information on the Sporting Promise programme please contact us on info@parkouruk.org or 02 3544 5834

#ParkourInspiringAGeneration #GiveParkourAGo

Our partners the Outdoor Industries Association & Go Outdoors are conducting a survey to find out how & why people do/don’t participate in outdoor recreation

The survey will take no longer than 10 minutes to complete and all responses are anonymous.

The OIA was recently awarded a Sport England lottery award to fund an extensive market research project to gain a better understanding of the outdoor sport/physical activity market – both to retain and attract regular participants to the outdoors.

This research follows the Sport + Recreation Allaince’s – Reconomics report, which pulled together all the existing information, research and evidence relating to the impact of outdoor recreation and provided a compelling case to politicians of the true value of outdoor sport/physical activity & recreation.

In the Parliamentary debate sparked by the report’s release Minister for Sport, Helen Grant MP, committed her department to considering a strategy to support outdoor recreation.

Therefore we would like to encourage all our members and the whole UK Parkour/Freerunning community to complete the survey to ensure that Parkour/Freerunning is represented in the survey and subsequent report. This will demonstrate the benefit Parkour/Freerunning has in outdoor sport/physical activity & recreation in the UK. Additionally we are working directly with the OIA to feed into the report as the NGB for Parkour/Freerunning.

If you would like further information please do contact us on 020 3544 5834 or info@parkouruk.org

As detailed in Parkour UK’s Memorandum & Articles of Association (our governing document), in relation to an International Federation:

3.1.2 to  [Parkour UK will] act as the representative member for the Territory [UK] in international affairs and to affiliate to and carry out functions delegated to it by a registered international governing body that is recognised by SportAccord;

Therefore we are awaiting formal recognition from SportAccord for an International Federation. Once this is granted Parkour UK will apply for membership with that International Federation to fulfill our duties under our memorandum & articles of association 3.1.2 (as detailed above) & as required by an International Federation.

Alternatively our members can vote via an AGM (or an EGM) to have the current clause in our governing document amended to enable Parkour UK to apply for membership with an International Federation prior to formal recognition from SportAccord.

Formalities aside, we are excited to see the emergence of an International Federation for Parkour/Freerunning and we will keep abreast of the developments as they happen and inform our membership accordingly.

If you would like further information please contact us on info@parkouruk.org or 020 3544 5834.