News

Sport Wales announces £3m for grassroots sport

To mark the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow this year, Sport Wales has launched £3m of investment into community sport across Wales to tackle known gaps in participation amongst women and girls, the BME community, disabled people and those living in poorer parts of the country.

£1.5million of National Lottery funding available through the Calls4Action project will be invested into addressing the barriers currently preventing young women and girls from participating in sport.  A further £1.5million will look to tackle inequalities around areas of poverty, disability and BME communities.

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For more information click here. If you are based in Wales and would like our support for a bid, please contact us on info@parkouruk.org

Parkour/Freerunning Sportivate Sessions a HUGE success in County Durham

Parkour/Freerunning a HUGE success with Durham County Council Funded by Sport England’s Sportivate

Parkour sessions that have recently taken place in County Durham (aimed at 11-25 year olds) have proved to be a massive success. Durham County Council received money via Sportivate to run the sessions. Sportivate is a lottery funded London 2012 legacy project that gives young people the opportunity to access six-to-eight weeks of subsidised sports coaching in a wide range of sports. The parkour sessions were delivered by Parkour UK members Apeuro Parkour & Freerunning based in the North East of England. Apeuro delivered one hour parkour sessions over the course of eight weeks in three locations within County Durham – Dene Community School (Peterlee), Spectrum Leisure Complex (Willington) and Newton Aycliffe Leisure Centre. The sessions were exceptionally well attended with 55 young people, aged between 11-25 years old, involved.

Taking part has many physical benefits including improved speed, strength and endurance, as well as helping individuals to develop personal skills such as discipline, persistence and patience. The sessions were taught in a safe and secure environment for beginners and educated them on the basic principles of parkour, teaching them how to do the sport safely. It is hoped that this 8-week education programme will inspire the young people to take part in Parkour/Freerunning safely within their natural outdoor environments in the future. Participants will also have the opportunity to get involved in activities/event days organised by Apeuro across the North East of England.

It is certainly clear that this non-traditional sport has gone down well with the young people of County Durham.

If you would like more information or support establishing a Parkour Sportivate session please contact us or your local County Sports Partnership.

#GiveParkourAGo

Traceur selected for the Queens Baton Relay

We are delighted to advise that Chris Wright of Northern Focus Parkour is to be a baton bearer in Shetland on the Queen’s Baton Relay (QBR) for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Chris will will have the unique honour of carrying the Queen’s Baton as it travels the length and breadth of Scotland on the way to its final destination at the Opening Ceremony of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. By the time it arrives in Scotland, the baton will have been on an epic 248 day journey around all the nations and territories of the Commonwealth. Take a look at the Queen’s Baton Relay route, to get an indication of where it will visit on its journey through your local area.

Chris Wright said:

“I was surprised but absolutely delighted to be selected, didn’t quite believe the email until I read it a few times. I consider this to be an absolute honour, to be selected to be a part of the Commonwealth Games is fantastic and I don’t think I will forgot it anytime soon.I was nominated for the voluntary work I have done with setting up Northern Focus Parkour, Notion Circus Acts and Mind Your Head. On the day I will be just focusing on not falling over or dropping the baton! Being a Baton Bearer doesn’t just mean that I have done something to deserve it, it means that all of the guys and girls that are in both of the youth groups have worked hard to get the groups noticed and growing. So I suppose I will be thinking about how far the groups have come and where they will be heading in the future.”

Chris Wright

 

More Parkour Parks Announced for Coatbridge, Scotland & Rickmansworth, England

Our facility development partners Freemove are installing a yet more #ParkourParks this year!

Coatbridge Parkour Park set to be UK’s LARGEST!

Freemove will be installing an extension to the existing Coatbridge Parkour Park, which will see the site overtake LEAP in London, as the UK’s largest Parkour Park.

The funders for the Coatbridge Parkour Park are North Lanarkshire Council: Coatbridge Local Area Partnership, North Lanarkshire Council Community Information and Learning, Waste Recycling and Environment Ltd (WREN) and Sport Scotland Active Places Legacy Fund.

CultureNL Ltd project manage and deliver the projects on behalf of North Lanarkshire Council. Our members Coatbridge Parkour are partners in this project and have had full involvement form the outset, in particular Peter Mc Kee.Screen Shot 2014-04-04 at 18.53.52

 

Two new Parkour Parks in Rickmansworth, London, England! 

Two New Parkour Parks will be installed in Rickmansworth at Croxley Green & Mill End

Freemove and Parkour Generations carried out consultation with the local user groups to find out what they wanted from each of the projects.  Traceurs highlighted the Freemove Kings Lynn install, liking the variety of movements which could be carried out and that it could be used by a variety of ages and abilities. The facilities is being funded by Three Rivers Council.  Three Rivers_Croxley Green

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#MoreParkourParks

Pre-application for recognition with the UK Sports Councils APPROVED!

Today, 26th March 2014 we received confirmation that our pre-application for recognition has been approved.

The letter from Sport England, on behalf of the UK Recognition Panel (which is made up of representatives from Sport England, Sport Wales, Sport Scotland, Sport NI & UK Sport), confirmed our pre-application for recognition has been successful. The decision follows our re-submission of the pre-application for recognition with the UK Sports Councils on the 4th November 2013.

We implemented a number of changes at our 2013 Annual General Meeting, to ensure that the re-submission fully addressed the points raised by UK Recognition Panel in their decision letter dated 12th July 2013, following our original submission of a pre-application on 1st March 2013.

While our pre-application has been successful this does not yet grant recognition,  however the approval of the pre-application now means that we are being invited to submit a full-application for recognition (which is essentially the final phase to the application process for recognition).

Parkour UK will now be invited to a meeting with the UK Recognition Panel in May/June to discuss the full-application submission process in further detail, the time-scales for the submission and time-scales for when we are likely to receive the decision on recognition. Following the meeting in May/June, Parkour UK will then proceed with submitting the full-application for recognition, which is likely to be this summer following our 2014 AGM, which will be held in July.

This is a very significant and positive milestone in the on-going development and recognition of Parkour/Freerunning in the UK, but also worldwide.

We will keep the community, members and partners updated on the progress towards the full-application for recognition. We will also be providing a full briefing at our 2014 AGM in July.

#HistoryInTheMaking

New Parkour Parks for Crynant, Wales & Sheffield, England

Our facility development partners Freemove are installing a new #ParkourPark in Crynant, South Wales & Endcliffe Parkour Park, Sheffield this Summer!

Crynant Parkour Park, South Wales

Crynant Parkour Park is a joint effort by Play Works, Groundwork Bridgend & Neath Port Talbot and Crynant Community Council.

Local young people, Traceurs/Freerunners highlighted a need for a Parkour Park in their area and the Community Council allocated a space next to a Skate Park and MUGA that is ideal for a Parkour training facility.

To assess the popularity of Parkour in the area the group asked local Parkour group & Parkour UK members Fluidity Freerun to host taster sessions. The sessions were a huge hit and the Parkour Park is due to be installed this summer.

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Endcliffe Parkour Park, Sheffield

In 2011 the need for a Parkour Park in Sheffield was highlighted by local groups & practitioners. Sheffield City Council have secured £38,000 to provide a new #ParkourPark in Endcliffe park.

Endcliffe Park is a large park in the city of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The park was opened in 1887 to commemorate the Jubilee of Queen Victoria.

Endcliffe Park comprises parkland as well as woodland. The portion along Rustlings Road is grassy and used as a recreation whilst the Northern border, separated from the recreation grounds by the Porter Brook, is woodland, and is traversed by many paths.

As well as several monuments a new playground was added in 2008 with many attractions for children. The park often hosts circuses and other events in the summer. There is also a cafe.

The new Parkour Park will mean this park is one of the most comprehensively equipment parks in Northern England and will become a leading facility for Parkour in the North. The new Parkour Park installed this summer.

If you would like more information on how to begin the process of getting a Parkour Park locally please contact us on info@parkouruk.org or 020 3544 5834 or our partners Freemove.

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#MoreParkourParks