This ‘Moving with Purpose’ strategy shares the intentions of Parkour UK through 5 clear objectives designed to build a sustainable and resilient future for the sport.
1. Grow our community – Increasing the number of qualified coaches, growing the number of communities and practitioners and sharing best practice and sustainable models
2. Communicate, educate and influence – Influence and advocacy, a media and communications strategy and Parkour parks and facility guidance.
3. Maximise culture and commercial opportunities – Leveraging investment for social, health and wellbeing interventions, a digital strategy and working with the leisure operator, health and fitness sector.
4. Build our capacity and resources – Securing continued capacity investment for a core team, working in partnership with other lifestyle sports and leveraging external investment through commercial and social partnerships.
5. Insight and impact – Developing an efficient and effective way of capturing participation data and understanding the community (workforce and participants).
The emergence and growth of parkour during the last 10 years represents a period of ‘justification’. Through this strategy we will transition to ‘amplification’ by leveraging necessary resources and effectively promoting, growing and developing parkour across England and the UK.
Parkour UK would like to thank Sport England and 4 Global for their support to develop this strategy.
We will update regularly on our progress to the board and the community through reports, consultations, blog posts and other forms of media.
Q1 21-22 – Enquiries Report
Q2 21-22 – Enquiries Report
Q3 21-22 – Enquiries Report
April 2021 – Enquiries Report Q4
February 2021 – Summary of 2020 Progress
February 2021 – Reflections on the Workforce SubCommittee – Scott Jackson
January 2021 – Thoughts on the January Board Meeting – Richard Marshall
January 2021 – Parkour UK Qualifications Statement
November 2020 – Enquiries Report Q3.
November 2020 – United We Stand – Equalities Work – Natasha Preville
October 2020 – Reflections on September Board Meeting – Hannah Holland
History – the discipline
Parkour and Freerunning as we know it today, originates from a holistic, person centered, highly physical discipline called Art du Deplacement. Art du Deplacement was founded in France in the 1980s by a group of nine young men, friends and family. The founders are Yann Hnautra, Chau Belle, Laurent Piemontesi, Williams Belle, Guylain N’Guba Boyeke, Charles Perriere, Malik Diouf, David Belle and Sebastien Foucan. Over the decades, the founders diversified their training styles, dissemination techniques, aims and applications, giving rise to three practices trained all over the word today, Art du Deplacement, Parkour and Freerunning, which although ultimately all belong to the Art du Deplacement umbrella, each have their own unique nuances and cultures.
The term ‘Parkour’ was first introduced by David Belle in 1998. Parkour derives from the French word Parcours meaning ‘route’ or ‘course’. The term ‘Freerunning’ was the creation of Guillaume Pelletier, a representative of a group of French practitioners involved in the production of a Channel 4 documentary, Jump London, in 2003. This term was used in order to communicate this amazing new sport to an English-speaking audience.
Parkour / Freerunning / Art du Deplacement is the primarily non-competitive physical discipline of training to move freely over and through any terrain using only the abilities of the body, principally through running, jumping, climbing and quadrupedal movement. In practice, it focuses on developing the fundamental attributes required for such movement, which include functional strength and fitness, balance, spatial awareness, agility, coordination, precision, control and creative vision. It is however, also inherently an art form – a means of self-expression, self discovery and ultimately a medium to grow physical strength and resilience to allow one to give this strength back to one’s own, family, wider community and beyond. It has often been described as a transformational sport and its uniqueness lies in the myriad of ways in which it serves to empower individuals globally, whether they use the discipline professionally, recreationally or in direct application for individual wellbeing, for social change or for community cohesion.
History – Parkour and Freerunning in the UK
Parkour/Freerunning has grown in popularity in the UK since the early 2000’s through the emergence of documentaries such as Jump London (2003) and Jump Britain (2005). Films such as James Bond: Casino Royale (2006), that featured Sebastien Foucan in the opening sequence, have helped to promote Parkour internationally. More recently, Parkour has formed a significant part of the popular culture through the gaming, TV and film industries with titles such as Assassins Creed, Mirrors Edge, The Matrix films and Ninja Warrior competitions. These platforms have raised the profile of the sport and increased the commercial appeal of and potential of Parkour.
History – Parkour UK
Parkour UK as an organisation was founded in 2008 and incorporated in 2009 by Eugene Minogue. Working as a sport development officer for Westminster Council, Eugene was inspired by the Jump London documentary and saw the huge appeal of parkour to engage people in an alternative sport and physical activity. He enlisted the support of two of the top parkour instructors working in the UK to incorporate parkour as part of the Positive Futures programme that Westminster Council Sports Unit was delivering in the city.
Positive Futures was a social inclusion project targeted at some of the most deprived areas that engaged and enabled young people to explore their full potential through sport and physical activity.
Parkour in the UK has seen considerable growth in popularity. In addition to the appeal of Parkour and its ability to target and engage disengaged communities, it is also well aligned due to its low barriers to entry to support many of the government and Sport England wider outcomes in relation to improving health, physical and mental wellbeing, individual, social and community development through sport and physical activity.
Parkour in the UK has seen considerable growth in popularity as well as the NGB seeing wider immersion into the sports sector and other related areas.
Examples include:
Working with the community, Parkour UK has also curated the European Standard for Parkour Equipment; created the first formal accredited Parkour coaching qualifications; and developed afPE endorsed guidance for introducing Parkour into schools.
The UK made history in 2016 by becoming the first country in the world to officially recognise Parkour/Freerunning as a sport and Parkour UK as the National Governing Body (NGB), by the Home Country Sports Councils (Sport England, Sport Wales, Sportscotland, Sport Northern Ireland and UK Sport). This was achieved through the incredible work and effort of Parkour UK, its CEO and board, and provides governance and regulation of Parkour/Freerunning throughout the UK, acting as custodians of the sport/art, protecting the rights & freedoms and promoting the interests of Art du Deplacement practitioners, Parkour Traceurs/Freerunners (practitioners), their member organisations & the UK community.
Following recognition, Parkour/Freerunning features in the participation figures in the Sport England Active Lives Survey that measures sport and activity across England of people aged 16 and over. With the first set of participation figures for Parkour/Freerunning featured in the Active Lives November 15/16 Report, showing figures of 96,700, the May 16/17 Report, showing figures of 101,800 then May17/18 Report, showing figures of 93,600. Then Nov 17/18, showing figures of 96,900.
On the 16th October 2019, Sport England published the Active Lives Survey May 18/19. The data on those (16+) in England have participated in Parkour/Freerunning over 106.500 people aged 16+ participating in Parkour/Freerunning at least twice a month. Across the UK there are over 80 registered Parkour communities, a qualified workforce of over 600 people and more than 50 Parkour Parks. Freerunning is now in a large number of primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities all over the UK, all this in just over 7 years.
A considerable amount of time and effort and a period of justification has been delivered by Parkour UK in order to get officially recognised as a National Governing Body in 2016. So much has been achieved by Parkour UK over the past 10 years. The emergence and growth of Parkour and the development of its first national strategy, via this document provides Parkour UK with a fantastic opportunity to transition from a period of ‘justification’ into one of ‘amplification’ by leveraging necessary resources and effectively promoting, growing and developing the sport/art form across England and the UK.
Parkour can appeal to many parts of society and is taught through principles such as exploration, adaptation and problem solving. For this reason, a good coach can teach parkour movements to any age group.
Older People & Falls Prevention
Parkour has the ability to engage and increase participation across all groups including priority groups such as older adults who are more likely to be inactive and live sedentary and isolated lifestyles. One of the fundamental principles of Parkour is teaching functional movements. This applies across all generations, an article published in 2018 entitled: ‘Can Parkour Teach Older People to ‘Fall Better’?’ explored how Parkour can be used to enhance balance and agility and in turn prevent accidents for older people. Parkour can be used to learn how to land, or fall more safely.
Kathy Cameron, director of the Falls Prevention Resource Centre says:
“One might be surprised to learn that many older adults who have experienced a fall, or know someone who has, develop this fear of falling, which can restrict their activity. The less active they are, the more their balance and muscle strength will decline, which puts them at greater risk of [falling again] and of social isolation and depression.”
This study in itself is a reason for making Parkour accessible to everyone, in order to ensure that this happens in practise, some Parkour communities offer courses for those age 50 and above.
Mental health
Parkour UK was one of the first National Governing Bodies to publish research and support in relation to Mental Health and has collaborated with the Sport and Recreation Alliance, Professional Players Federation and Mind to produce the first Mental Health Action Plan to promote Parkour as means of improving and maintaining good mental health, using the campaign hashtag #SportMinds.
A survey by our member organisations to their members revealed a number of quantified benefits to practicing parkour, such as:
These findings are vital fuel to encourage parkour communities to commit to taking positive steps to addressing and encouraging the community to start a conversation about mental health.
Young people
Parkour is particularly popular amongst young people. The latest Active Lives survey (aged 16+) shows that the dominant age group for participants is between 16-25 year olds. In a recent survey it was also identified as one of the most popular activities within schools. The popular culture, social media presence, flexibility and expressive nature of Parkour are some of the reasons why Parkour has such an appeal to the younger generations.
Across the parkour community there is belief that teaching children parkour at a younger age will positively benefit them in the future and will make them creative, confident and independent thinkers. The process of learning to navigate a course from one end to the other over various obstacles teaches them quick decision making skills, lateral ‘out of the box’ thinking as well as building their confidence and spatial awareness.
Parkour in Schools
Parkour has been successfully introduced into many schools across the UK. Access Parkour, an Edinburgh based company, have the most extensive active primary school education programme in the UK. They are an example of one company who provide training to teachers as well as direct coaching to pupils. Parkour UK has also developed and delivered a Teacher’s CPD to support the development of the school’s workforce to bring Parkour to the classroom.
Youth Work and Tackling Inequality
Parkour also has the power to engage the inactive, deprived and hard to reach communities in a less traditional and alternative form of sport and physical activity. It can provide diversionary activities that have had a positive impact on reducing crime and youth offending whilst improving physical and mental health of the participants. The case studies provide a couple of examples of the fantastic work the Parkour community is delivering by engaging young people from disengaged communities to tackle key issues such as knife crime and anti-social behaviour and channel energy towards achieving positive social, health and wellbeing outcomes.
Toddler Parkour
Parkour focusses on the freedom of movement within your surroundings and is perfectly aligned to encouraging play whilst teaching and developing balance, coordination and agility in young children. The youngest traceurs start between the ages of 18 months 5 years, learning the basic movements, they learn to roll, jump, tumble, use bars and do wall tricks, this is as well as learning basic stretching and safety training. Through our strategic aims and objectives we will work with our communities to grow and develop Parkour sessions delivered to toddlers, often attending and moving with their parents or guardians, sharing best practice and creating strong building blocks for thousands of children across the UK to access lifelong involvement in sustained sport and physical activity. Toddler Parkour is increasingly popular and delivered by a large number of Parkour communities and practitioners. They say that during early years, Parkour can develop children’s physical skills specifically their balance, coordination and agility.
Family Classes
Our member organisations also offer Parkour to families. The aim of this offer is to involve both parents and children in one class environment. We aim to be as inclusive as possible, welcoming children as young as 1 to be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
There is a growing demand for these types of classes as parents and organisations supporting parents help to tackle inactivity and improve parent-child relationships.
In order to professionalise and standardise the workforce Parkour UK created the first fully accredited coaching qualifications. There are a number of qualifications that have been made available for Parkour coaches, tutors and teachers. All awards. qualifications and Continuous Professional Development (CPD) are awarded by Ist4sport Qualifications. The awarding organisation of Ist4sport Qualifications is regulated in England by the office of the Qualifications and Examinations Regulator (Ofqual). This regulation is extended into other parts of the UK through Qualifications Wales, and in Northern Ireland by the Council for the Curriculum. Examinations and Assessment (CCEA).
Qualified coaches affiliated to Parkour UK are able to benefit from insurance as well as being listed as Professional members, being affiliated and accredited coaches.
AfPE Guidance on introducing Parkour/Freerunning to schools
In response to the interest from students there has been a growing interest in schools over the past 10 years to deliver Parkour as part of their curricular and extra-curricular activities. In response to this Parkour UK has worked closely with the Association for Physical Education to develop the afPE guidance on introducing Parkour Freerunning into schools ensuring that proper procedures are delivered to allow parkour to be carried out safely in a learning environment
Parkour, being unique in its foundation, very humanitarian in values base, allows for schools to diversify their physical education provision to reach the harder to reach, non-engaging students through this fun but very profound discipline that ultimately allows pupils to learn core values of respect, trust, positive decision making and boundaries all while getting fit and healthy in a fun and social manner.
Since the creation of the coaching qualifications and CPD there have been over 800 coaches qualified across the UK delivering Parkour sessions within their communities and schools and growing the profile and development of the sport.
Our strategic objectives for the next 5 years will help to sustain and grow this workforce, ensuring there is a wide network of high quality and appropriately qualified Parkour coaches deployed across the UK enabling anyone who wishes to partake in Parkour to access a coach in close proximity to where they live.
British Equipment Standard
Parkour UK has been heavily involved in the development of Parkour equipment over the past 3 years. Parkour UK, along with various European partners & experts from various fields, utilising BS10075:2013 as the base document have collaboratively developed the European Standard EN16899:2016. This is a significant achievement for Parkour/Freerunning, as this European standard will continue to aid the marked increase in Parkour/Freerunning training facilities developed, not just in the UK but now across Europe.
The British Standards Institution published the European Standard for parkour equipment, which stipulates the safety requirements, test methods and design configurations required for Parkour equipment.
Following the publication of the European Standard PKUK has continued to have a direct and beneficial impact enabling local authorities, schools, colleges, universities, sports centres, land owners, manufacturers and installers to build and/ or install Parkour/Freerunning facilities and equipment that are fit-for-purpose, safe and to the recognised European standard.
As part of our strategic objective over the next 5 years we will enhance the awareness of the Parkour/Freerunning European standard to local authorities, planners, architects and leisure operators. We will also enhance our knowledge and database of existing Parkour Parks and play a key advocacy and influencing role to ensure more fit-for purpose Parkour facilities are developed in appropriate locations to help grow participation in Parkour.
Hadleigh Park, Essex
The improvement and development of equipment has been exemplified in a number of new ‘Parkour Parks’. The Hadleigh Parkour Park in Essex was opened in 2016 and demonstrates an array of equipment that has been developed and which complies with the European standards of equipment for the sport.
Slough Parkour Park
The new #ParkourPark is located in Salt Hill Park, Slough and is part of a wider regeneration of the sports facilities at the park by Slough Borough Council. The £720,000 regeneration also includes refurbished Tennis Courts, Skate Elements, Climbing Rocks and fencing.
The Parkour Park has been built and installed by Parkour UK partners Natural Sports. The facility was designed in conjunction with designers from JUMP Parkour & TRAIN HARD Parkour and Freerunning to create a challenging but encouraging facility to introduce more people to Parkour/Freerunning. The facility is split between low level elements on the existing macadam area & higher elements including Natural Sports, signature ‘table’ element and framework on rubber mulch surfacing.
Churchill Gardens, Salisbury
The first parkour park in Wiltshire opened in Salisbury in October 2019. The £50,000 parkour park has been funded by grants from Sport England Community Asset Fund, the Landfill Community Trust, Salisbury City Council and Wiltshire Council’s Salisbury Area Board Community grant. The park is for all ages and abilities.
The decision to look at creating a new parkour park came after interest from a group of young people in Salisbury, who were keen on parkour but had no suitable sites to practice in the area. The parkour park, along with the skate park, outdoor gym equipment and the weekly ParkRun means that Churchill Gardens is becoming a well-used outdoor venue which provides a host of opportunities to be physically active in the city.
The role of parkour has also been extended beyond its recreational application. The highly skilled manoeuvrability of parkour practitioners has been used to provide a range of services.
The vast popularity and interest in Parkour through movies, TV, gaming and online content generated by the community places the sport, and Parkour UK, in a unique position compared to other sports. Much of this content is not controlled or created by Parkour UK but it is still promoting and raising awareness of Parkour.
Our unique position therefore is about how, as an NGB, can we capitalise and develop tangible links to the digital content to grow the reach and scale of the audience that Parkour UK is able to access and therefore directly influence people participating in Parkour.
Tactical and Uniformed Services
Through a number of member organisations, parkour has been used to test the adequacy of facilities’ security measures. This has been done from a number of perspectives including keeping people out or preventing people from accessing a building. Actual physical testing of the buildings is carried out (‘penetrative-testing’). Examples of buildings in which this service is applied has been provided below:
Tactical Movement Training is provided to a wide range of military and emergency services, improving their physical ability to overcome difficult terrain and move effectively. Parkour for mental health has also begun to uniquely work through psycho/socio/emotional conflict or threat induced effects of trauma, many of our UK members spreading their growing expertise with the wide global community in the United States, Germany and France for instance, in the form of practice and research.
Movies
Parkour has also been applied for use in a wide range of films. Due to fast paced nature and exciting elements of Parkour it has been a key element in many blockbuster movies that have been seen by a large-scale audience. Directors and choreographers from around the world have used key Parkour elements in many exciting action scenes to grip the audience. Movies, along with increased social media, have increased the awareness of Parkour in the wider community and have especially targeted a younger audience.
Films such as Kingsman, District 13 and James Bond (‘Casino Royale’, featuring Sebastien Foucan one of the founders of the Parkour movement) have been key drivers in the increased popularity of Parkour.
Gaming
Video games have taken inspiration from a variety of real-world activities and this has certainly been the case with Parkour/Freerunning. The techniques employed in the sport of parkour have been translated to a number of games, most notably with the Assassin’s Creed games developed by Ubisoft. This was the first time in which the fluid movements of Parkour were simulated in a gaming experience. The game has gone on to become one of the biggest video game franchises in the world, with 12 different titles released since the first Assassin creed was developed in 2007 and it has parkour at the heart of it. Assassins Creed Odyssey, which is the latest title to be released (January 2019) was reported to have sold over 1.4m units in its first week of release. Other popular game titles that include Parkour include Mirrors Edge, Tomb Raider, Infamous, Prince of Persia, Brink (Agents of change), Watch Dogs, and Dying Light.
Research
Parkour UK is engaged in ongoing research investigating the link between parkour and injury prevention, parkour and the law, the biomechanics of sport and the development of parkour specific training in specific environments such as outdoor first aid.
Online
The growth in mobile technology, online videos and social media has played a large part in the awareness of Parkour and how content is created, shared and digested online by the Parkour Community. Over the past 10 years with the advent of social media and web applications the popularity has risen exponentially in the sport of Parkour, especially with YouTube and lnstagram.
There are approximately 22 million more Parkour videos on the social media website than there are skateboarding, BMX and mountain biking combined with some videos receiving over 200 views on You Tube. Parkour is a successful sport on YouTube and other social media platforms due to its accessibility and the ability to record events from the performers point of view by the use of personal cameras.
2016 YouTube video audience breakdown for sports: A combined view-count of the top 20 YouTube videos for 2016, using the following search words:
Virtual reality
Gaming has taken a technological step forward in recent years and parkour has gone with it. This advancement has been seen in the form of virtual reality, in which a person can experience being in a three-dimensional environment and interacting with that environment in a game. There are a number of parkour games that have been designed to work with this virtual reality technology, enabling people to experience parkour through a headset. A number of examples include Climbey, Sprint Vector and The Climb. This advancement has opened the sport up to new audiences who may otherwise not have been able to partake in the activity. This is the case for people with certain physical impairments, many of whom have benefited from this technology.
This shows how parkour can work alongside advances in technology to grow the audience for the sport, widening the social, physical and mental benefits that it can have. In addition, as the alternative therapy world also grows more diverse each day, the interest in the potentiality of parkour application in the virtual reality realm to work on risk management, anxiety and even pain resilience and management programmes is increasing. The unique nature of parkour allows for real world views to be challenged, people’s perceptions of themselves, others and the world to be brought into question and to have this process embodied not just intellectualised.
Parkour is a sport that is led and driven by our communities. Our communities are passionate, societally and environmentally mindful, do not follow any specific structure or definition and can range in size and scale consisting of small and agile groups of individuals who have a mutual interest in Parkour utilising the outdoor natural environment or Parkour Parks, to large multi faceted commercial organisations that could own and operate their own dedicated Parkour facility . The majority of Parkour practitioners train “to be strong to be useful”, constantly volunteering time to enhance their communities, public spaces and give back to their NGB to aid Parkour UK to grow to suit their fundamental needs in the best way possible.
Due to the flexibility and low barriers to entry to deliver Parkour, without the reliance in having to access and use facilities operated by 3rd party organisations such as leisure centres, the majority of our communities are self-sustaining, entrepreneurial and efficiently run. There are a wide range of good practice case studies that exist within our own communities and we understand more could be done to share their stories for the benefit of the whole Parkour community across the UK. Many of our communities would also benefit from external investment to expand their outreach programmes and grow the number of practitioners and coaches. Communities might also benefit from additional support and sharing best practice in business skills. This will form a key part of our strategic objectives going forward.
Many of our members are set up as commercial organisations delivering coaching, performance and media services and other consultation. The company set ups are wide and varied and have grown organically as demand increases. Within our objectives we want to focus the good practice of our companies to empower the next generation of parkour companies to grow with support and with tools that Parkour UK can provide.
Organisations see Parkour as a way of accessing hard to reach groups and moving away from a traditional sport offer.
Organisations see the journey that Parkour UK has been on as an inspirational one (from established to a recognised sport status) and appreciate the drive and passion of PKUK founders and key stakeholders and what they have achieved with minimal capacity and resources.
Organisations are keen to work with Parkour UK to identify ways in which Parkour can be delivered people of all demographic groups across localities.
There is an opportunity to work with multiple lifestyle’ sport NGB’s to develop an offer that appeals to hard to reach groups and focus demographics, especially through the sharing of resources and a consistent strategy.
There is an opportunity to develop a marketing-led approach using social media and commercial partnerships to generate revenue, following in the footsteps of other lifestyle sport NGB’s.
With a few exceptions, there is little or no knowledge of the support that Parkour UK can provide local authorities.
There are examples of Parkour facilities being developed across the UK, however Parkour UK are not necessarily seen as the ‘go-to organisation for technical delivery support.
There continues to be references to perceived barriers to entry being safety issues and antisocial behaviour.
There is a common confusion between gymnastics and parkour, especially with reference to adult gymnastics.
There needs to be clarity on what the strategic aims and objectives are of Parkour UK going forwards.
We have undertaken a thorough review and analysis of Parkour supply and demand data to provide an understanding of where the current affiliated communities, coaches, practitioners and facilities are.
Map l shows the current supply of Parkour parks and indoor gyms (blue) and affiliated communities (red). Map 2 shows the location of known coaches (blue) and practitioners (grey) across the country.
Our discipline is so uniquely centered around championing individuality that it makes it very complicated to encase Parkour and Freerunning into a traditional competitive framework. As such much debate exists within the community as to what competition can look like and how it should be pursued in the future. Although there is a growing interest in competition from the younger populations entering Parkour and Freerunning today, large sections of the community are inherently non-competitive. Competition formats are emerging as well as wider competitions like World Chase Tag or Ninja Warrior in which Parkour athletes have an advantage and dominance. As an NGB these we are eager to work with the community to engage with the competition debate constructively.
The immediate threat in regards to competition is the encroachments of outside organisations – such as the International Gymnastics Federation – to claim Parkour as a discipline of their own which they govern and taking the decisions out of the hands of community. There is essentially a complete community consensus that this would be a negative move.
For many years, there have been academic studies which have included Parkour. At Parkour UK we have always prided ourselves in informing our work with great research in both evidence based practice and practice based evidence. This research includes a myriad of cross disciplinary investigation, from studies on the risk and benefit of parkour from a law and social value perspective (Gilchrist, P. & Osborn, G. 2017) to Parkour’s role in global perspectives of digital technology in physical education (Wintle, J. 2019) to research on Agenda 2020 and action sports: the promise, politics and performance of organisational change (Thorpe, H & Wheaton, B. (2019).
More recently, two of our voluntary leads have attempted to co-ordinate and amplify this work. In 2019 a research working group, set up by Dr Kasturi Torchia and Dr Timothy Yu, that primarily pioneers research in and around injury prevention, duty of care and mental health and wellbeing within Art du Deplacement/Parkour/Freerunning in the UK, largely in collaboration with Queen Mary University.
Academics and practitioners are enthralled with Parkour, its research being a subject of great interest for many, all looking at the sport/art/culture, through different lenses. Play and active streets; Agenda 2020 and the IOC; dispute resolution; positive trespass and the law; physical literacy; and the risk: benefit perspectives around Parkour generally and more specifically to it’s emerging role in wellbeing work, are merely some of such interests.
Parkour UK, internally and externally is fast becoming a hub that actively contributes to this research, proving highly attractive to both collaborate with and do research for.
Parkour UK are well positioned to work with academics (in the UK and beyond) to consider the role that the community and the discipline can play across many important agendas for a modern and inclusive society etc.
Free Your Instinct, established in September 2014, is a charity that uses parkour as a way of improving the mental health of their participants. The charity has a close working relationship with NHS mental health services and helps people with a wide range of mental health conditions. The programme has now been expanded schools, with the charity emphasising that younger and younger people are showing clear signs of depression.
The benefit that this programme is having on its participants has been demonstrated through an impact study that has been conducted in 2017. Prior to the first class on the course, the 63 participants involved in the study were asked to complete a WEMWBS (The Warwick-Edinburg Mental Wellbeing Scale) questionnaire to assess how they were feeling in a number of different aspects. Each feeling was rated out of S, with 5 being the most. Their results were re-assessed at the end of the programme and this showed an overall increase in scoring by 5.7 points. The areas of greatest improvement were seen with participants feeling relaxed, followed by feeling good about themselves and then being able to make their mind up about things. The results clearly indicated that the parkour courses offered by Free Your Instinct are having a positive impact on participants mental wellbeing, showing the social benefit that the sport can have.
Esprit Concrete was established in 2016 in collaboration with four founders of the Art du Deplacement. They have successfully created an Art du Deplacement and Parkour therapy using movement to work directly on self development and mental wellbeing, reaching approximately 1300 individuals a year, between ages 5 to 70
This therapy, informed by the first parkour therapeutic doctoral theory generation study in the world, uses the unique object relational aspect of parkour to allow people to map the obstacles they face in real life onto the obstacles they come across in parkour.
The Esprit Concrete Method has demonstrated positive changes in clients Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) Generalised Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD) and Work and Social Adjustment scale (WSAS). The PHQ 9 shifting from scores of moderately severe to minimal, the GAD 9 shifting from 10-15 to 0-5 and the WSAS shifting from scores with a mean of 20 reducing to a score of 10 or below, within three months of weekly engagement. Marked improvement in school behaviour, improvements to home dynamics and autonomy in children and young people is also reported. This has also been reflected in the qualitative research from 2019:
“I became stronger. My life feels stronger. I am happier” Crisis UK member, working on self trust, aged 50+
Team Kinetix started out as three friends training in London and around Essex. They are now a company consisting of a group of experienced practitioners who have been working together since 2005. The team offer consultancy and choreography for theatre and film and in addition to this, they started to offer coaching in 2010. They opened the Kinetix Academy in 2018 which is a 7,000 sq ft training space in Essex.
They now have hundreds of students and currently run over 40 classes a week ranging from Toddlers Parkour (18 months and over) to Family Parkour to more advanced team training sessions. This variety of classes makes the team Kinetix offer an inclusive one. To support this, the classes cost between £5 – £11 for sessions lasting up to two hours, making it financially accessible for many. The indoor space not only enables beginners to train but it provides a space where experienced practitioners can train and learn new tricks in a safe, controlled environment. They offer a range of workshops in schools and the community. They have run Parkour and Freerunning workshops for Local Authorities County councils and schools around the UK. Through Parkour, team Kinetix have created a community that attracts young people across Essex and encourages them to train and understand the value of the sport from a young age.
Salford Community Leisure and partners
With knife crime reaching record levels in 2018 and plaguing local urban communities, Parkour can provide the distraction needed to get children off the streets and into a sport. Parkour initiatives in deprived areas are being used to reduce levels or crime and anti-social behaviour and in March of 2019, two community groups in Salford teamed up to do just this. The managing director of an estate where scheme was launched said that Parkour played a part in creating vibrant communities where people felt safe. The sessions were free and accessible to all young people and will include the help of young volunteers. He went on to say:
“Our goal is to empower young people to build a better future for themselves. We are really proud to be working with Salford Community Leisure and partners on this important project which not only provided diversionary activities and training opportunities, but really brought home to hundreds of young people the consequences of knife crime.”
As part of this scheme, training was delivered to volunteers and employees involved in Parkour youth projects across Salford to ensure that young people are engaging.
A documentary, entitled: Jump Westminster, shot in 2007, followed two Parkour coaches who coached local children over an Easter and a summer holiday period as part of the Positive Future programme run by Westminster Council Sports Unit. After the programme had finished the Metropolitan Police recorded significant drops in crime rates in the local community. Crime rates fell by 69% over the Easter and 53% over the summer of 2006. Perhaps more importantly, the Metropolitan Police directly attributed this dip to the Parkour programme that was run in Westminster. When interviewed, a Metropolitan Police officer said that the programme was a great alternative activity for children because it encouraged them to positively engage with their surroundings. This is particularly relevant given that it was at a time when ‘no ball games signs’ continued to go up, preventing those in inner cities from using their open spaces for sport and physical activity.
Parkour Dance, a parkour group in London identified the benefits of Parkour and its appeal to an older generation. Sessions were delivered to a group of older adults aged over 60 who were looking to use Parkour as a way to get fit and overcome fears. Not only this but one of the founding principles of Parkour is the emphasis on functional fitness. This group of pensioners, working with Parkour instructors, found that by taking part in the Parkour sessions helped with their balance and stay upright on pavements during the winter. One of the groups oldest members praised the Parkour class he attended saying:
“This is a great opportunity for many older people like myself who live alone, to get out of the house and keep both physically and mentally fit,” George aged 84.
Level up Academy is a fantastic demonstration as to how parkour has developed from an activity undertaken by enthusiasts into a self-sustaining community sport.
The Academy is a not-for-profit community interest company that has been set-up to support a wide range of ‘urban sports’, including parkour. Situated in a modified warehouse building, the Level Up Academy has created a community of practitioners and continue to develop the next generation of practitioners.
The facility that is used contains a large amount of technical equipment, allowing for a wide variety of classes to be held there. These include ladies only parkour classes as well as classes that are dedicated to both kids and adults, working on the two core elements- strength and agility.
One of the major aims of the organisation is to change perceptions around ‘urban sports’ and to demonstrate the highly creative, expressive and technical elements that it provides. This is something that the Academy believe is frequently overlooked by the general public
The physical benefits of parkour are well known; however, the Level Up Academy is also a prime example of the community and social impact that the sport can have, providing the blueprint as to how this can be rolled out nationally with the support of Parkour UK.
Originating in Leicester, JUMP is a Parkour coaching organisation, based in the Midlands. JUMP is one of the longest running Parkour organisations in the UK, boasting some of the world’s most experienced coaches and a strong, supportive community.
Their principal focus is coaching however, they also provide workshops, media performances, consultation and design. With partners ranging from local councils and schools, to international brands, they are providing Parkour on any scale.
JUMP Parkour’s aim is to spread the message and spirit of Parkour whilst producing the best athletes they can with their well developed coaching programmes.
As well as developing athletes through their classes, they also aim to develop current and aspiring coaches of the discipline. This let’s JUMP Parkour provide top quality tuition in all of their sessions as well as providing a career pathway for those that wish to pursue Parkour proffessionaly.
Established early 2005, Fluidity Freerun have been pioneers of the scene in Wales, from when the first freerunners met through underground meet ups to pushing parkour into the mainstream and becoming professional, running classes, workshops, coaching academies, stunt work for films and adverts and performing across festivals and venues all over the UK and even abroad. Fluidity Freerun are now a group of highly competent and qualified practitioners, each one with years of experience working professionally with freerunning in various fields.
Their goal was to open an indoor playground that brings movement based arts together, and with the long awaited Fluidity Freerun Academy, have done just that. The Fluidity Freerun Academy opened in October 2016 and is the first indoor Parkour and Freerunning center in Wales and one of the largest in the UK.
A centre with movement based disciplines at the heart of it the ethos is for full inclusivity, bringing people together through the art of movement, across a platform of different practises and disciplines, with creative movement and physical fitness at the center of it all. More than just a sports facility, the Fluidity Freerun Academy is a creative space for all ages, with no gates or separation.
The London Parkour Project started out as a small company seeking to form a community of like-minded individuals interested in using the divers urban London landscape to practice Parkour.
There was also a desire to create a social enterprise project with the aim being to inspire young people though using movement as a means to find their own determination and drive. In addition to this, the project looked to creating a way to provide jobs for people during the last recession.
They now teach around 250 people, from young students to adults. They have four different packages, aimed at Primary Schools, Colleges, Universities and Youth Organisations.
The founder of the London Parkour Project attributes their steady growth to hard work and now word of mouth, with project requests coming to them.
An example of a successful asset owning Parkour community is Train Hard Parkour. As with many Parkour Communities they started out as a group of friends practising together. Train Hard is based in Bournemouth and Dorchester, they run sessions across Bournemouth, Poole, Dorchester and Weymouth. This community provides opportunities for all types of people to be involved in Parkour, from experienced traceurs through to small children experiencing the sport for the first time.
A key facility for the community is The Parkour Project in Poole, which is a re-purposed indoor leisure facility that was previously used to house climbing and squash facilities. The facility has a fully spring floor, foam pit and padded walls. In addition to the core facilities, Train Hard also runs a range of outreach programmes, working with local schools and community organisations to ensure Parkour is accessible to the greatest number of local residents as possible. Train Hard currently offer over 40 sessions a week, with 10 registered parkour coaches. They offer classes for children from aged 3 and above.
A key focus of Train Hard is providing women and girls with the opportunity to be involved with Parkour. Specific courses, such as ‘Introduction to Parkour – Women-only’ are specifically focussed on reducing perceived and actual barriers to entry and increasing female attendance across all programmes.
Edinburgh Parkour came about in 2010, it now runs weekly sections on Saturdays and Wednesdays for practitioners of all standards. A small number of individuals started Edinburgh Parkour, Access Parkour, Edinburgh University Parkour Club and Parkour Outreach. Access Parkour is a formal coaching company and Parkour Outreach has recently been launched in order to target hard to reach communities in and around Edinburgh. It was made clear that these
4 organisations are closely linked and work together in order to bring more Parkour to more people across Scotland.
When asking a longstanding member and Vice Chair of Edinburgh Parkour what he attributed the organisations growth to, he said that organisation and consistency was key. In 2017 Edinburgh Parkour formalised itself again as an unincorporated association to better support and promote Parkour in and around Edinburgh. The committee was elected by the community. They have approximately 30-50 regular practitioners and aim to continue growing and bring Parkour to the community through their integrated approach to coaching, jams and meetups. Finally, they have a firm belief in the importance of inclusivity within their community and to this end, they have set up a women only space in order to encourage more women to get into Parkour.
