PKC at Yelp Sunset Showdown

Just this last weekend, Yelp did a big event in the Richmond Craneway Pavilion called Sunset Showdown, showcasing local vendors and performance groups. We stepped in with a truck full of equipment, laid it out in a 30x30 space, and led members of the estimated 4000 Yelpers in attendance through some basic parkour techniques. After the time it took to set up, test out the equipment, play around, and run the event for 4 hours, I know I was totally exhausted, but it went really well and everyone who stopped by to watch was given a really solid introduction to parkour and all the places it can take you.

The only downside I can think of is that we were kept so busy talking to the attendees that we didn't really get to try out much of the amazing food that the vendors were putting out. We still got to see some cool musical and aerial dance performances.

Thanks to Raul, Chris, Justin, Andrey, and Laura for helping us out. Hope you guys had as much fun as we did. Next time we'll try to bring even more coaches and community members with us.

Take a look at the official Yelp pics of the event here, and Raul's photos here. And don't forget to check out the Parkour Connections Yelp page, maybe give us a review ;)

San Francisco International Jam 2011

It is officially over! However, there are still things to do to wrap up the biggest jam ever held in the Bay Area, such as writing recap posts like these and rounding up all the amazing photos people took.

We can officially say, though, that we have successfully organized the largest parkour event on the West Coast, and one of the largest in the United States, despite the fact that this is our first time hosting anything "international." Throughout the many years that the SF Parkour community has been around and the time that we organizers have been a part of it, we have made many parkour connections traveling to other jams, hosting visitors, and interacting online. This is the payoff: around 130 of our friends came to train with us over last weekend from, from around the Bay, from the rest of California, from all around the country, and even from Canada, Mexico, and Brazil! We hosted them in our houses, took them to explore our favorite training spots, and gave them a sense of how vibrant the SF Bay Area parkour community is.

The majority of the organization and planning for this event was done by Parkour Connections, and the opportunity to organize an event of this scale was extremely rewarding. But most importantly, everyone had a great time. Several Parkour Connections coaches helped to lead groups and held a miniature beginner workshop for some of those in attendance who wanted a basic primer in parkour.

To say it was fun is not to minimize the fact that it also pushed many people to the limits of their physical endurance. We had training sessions set up from Friday until Sunday and by the last day at UC Berkeley, many people were content to keep the training light, considering that the previous day we had spent almost 14 hours at the event, spread between SF State University, Commodore Sloat Elementary School, Battery Godfrey (AKA The Bunkers), and Crossfit Marin. This is the kind of thing that leaves you sore but satisfied for at least a week afterward!



Jams like these are what drove us to create Parkour Connections in the first place. There is nothing more gratifying than seeing so many people meeting new friends, running around in the sun, learning to move in new ways, and pushing their limits. This is what we hope to be able to share with the rest of the world by introducing them to the discipline of parkour and the wonderful worldwide community behind it.

APEX Movement Seminars and Jam this weekend!

Parkour Connections was in Colorado back in April and invited APEX Movement instructors to come by the Bay Area and lead some parkour seminars in Crossfit Marin. They'll be hanging out and jamming with everyone at UC Berkeley on Saturday afternoon, and then leading a beginner and an intermediate workshop over at Crossfit Marin on Sunday. These guys have been teaching parkour programs longer than almost anyone in the United States so there's a lot to learn from them, and it's only for one day! Be sure to check it out.

Take a look at the threads and event pages below for more info.

Beginner Seminar at Crossfit Marin (Sunday, 11AM)
Intermediate Seminar at Crossfit Marin (Sunday, 1PM)
Saturday jam with APEX

PKC at American Rendezvous 2

This past week, Ryan and I (Albert) flew off to Columbus, OH to get the ADAPT certification from Parkour Generations and assist in American Rendezvous 2, hosted by Parkour Generations and Parkour Horizons. It was an amazing experience and I learned a lot about parkour, about coaching, and about the community.



I am pleased to say, first and foremost, that we passed the certification course and are now certified by some of the most experienced parkour instructors in the world. The course was a 3 day long program, with two 8 hour days of instruction and a day of assessment, which included both a written and a practical exam. Even though we have both been teaching for several years ourselves, Blane (Chris Rowat) and Dan Edwardes had a lot to teach us. It was especially helpful after the practical exam to get the input of the instructors on our personal teaching styles and how we could improve from there.

One of the requirements for certification is 10 hours of supervised coaching, which we did at American Rendezvous. This was a 3 day event (Saturday to Monday) where over 120 traceurs of all levels descended upon Columbus to learn from and train under coaches from Parkour Generations and the founders of parkour, the Yamakasi. Most of them were within driving distance of Columbus, so there were a lot of people from the East Coast who I haven't had an opportunity to train with too much, and it was refreshing to see so many new faces who were enthusiastic about parkour. We had several intense training sessions including a visit to Hocking Hills State Park, Ohio State University, and the downtown riverfront.

Aside from the training, the event also had several presentations and special workshops on unique aspects of parkour, such as Julie Angel's parkour history talk (which we sadly missed because we had to catch our plane home). My personal favorite was by Dan Edwardes called "Breaking the Jump," wherein he talked to a group of us about the psychological aspect of parkour and overcoming fear. Although this is one of those things that is always touted as one of the philosophical underpinnings of parkour, I think that many traceurs, at least the ones I've met in the United States, overlook it in their training. He told us that there is a specific category of training that they do in Europe that was essential to the manner of training of the original Yamakasi, which was a sort of fear training - that is, finding a situation, a jump that is intimidating for whatever reason, and figuring out what it takes to push past it at that moment. At first, I thought, "We do this all the time, no big deal." But Dan said that a "true jump," or "saut vraille" in French, was the kind that no one has done before, that you don't get to prepare for, that you don't have an opportunity to find a progression for. Those are indeed rare. The workshop ended with each of us looking for a precision that fit the bill and trying to overcome it before the hour was over.



I used to think that I had a very solid personal definition of parkour, but this workshop shook it up a little and really forces me to recognize or at least reconsider the fact that one of the core values of parkour is about understanding and overcoming risk, or rather, perceived risk. How many of you reading this considered training parkour but avoided it because of the fear of injury? Any active traceur has heard this from a friend: "Parkour looks so cool and fun but I would just hurt myself." Even with all our mats and safety equipment, we still hear this excuse all the time. But attempting parkour at all is the first step toward the road of conquering one's personal fears and learning to take risks, both physically and mentally.

If you're ready to take the first step, come check out a Parkour Connections class or sign up for a workshop!