The History of Parkour

Series Summary

Parkour is thought of by some as a sport but it's founders consider it as more of a lifestyle and state of mind. Parkour is also known to some as free running, but regardless of what you choose to call it, it is amazing! Our expert, a founding member of Texas Parkour, is adept in this art. Watch this video series to learn all about this high flying art based partially off of gymnastics. Not only will you learn about the history of this sport but also watch as he demonstrates many different techniques. The Cat, the Kong vault and Wall Running are just a few of the techniques that you will see. You will also learn freestyle moves that, although not part of Parkour, are very popular amongst free running enthusiasts. Check out these techniques and learn more about this up-and-coming sport by watching these videos.

Video Transcript

"Hi! I'm Matthew Willis with Texas Parkour. I would like to tell you a little of the terms today and a little bit about the safety. Now parkour is a french word and it means obstacle coursing loosely. I am butchering the words of course and there is also another term that we like to use traceurs and in french it means the bullet or bullet and that is what we generally call ourselves; the practitioners of parkour. Parkour originated in France with a couple of people. Generally the name that you will hear is David Bell. He is the actual founder. David Bell, he started out this movement. It started in France. The actual movement it came from was art of displacement. I'm butchering the name but it is french and it is about trying to find a way of displacing what it is around you and in parkour what you are trying to do is you are trying to find your pleasure. It is a great thing to try to do whether you understand the philosophy or not. The most important thing to do is understand the history. David Bell, when he was 14, he and a couple of his friends left school to actually pursue this great philosophy that was created by his father and him, William Bell. It was used in the french military and they just kind of took it to the next step and it is 100 percent efficiency through urban movement. Now the main thing you want to realize is with parkour it is the philosophy that defines the movements. The movements does not define the philosophy and that is the main thing you want to understand when you are doing parkour. Now you might see parkour in football. You might see parkour in swimming because people say that you are using your 100 percent efficiencies through these different things. Now this is not 100 percent accurate because you have to have the mind set of parkour. You have to know what parkour is. You have to know where it came from and to actually understand what you are doing. So yes they might be doing these techniques but what you want to know is the mind set and that is what is really going to help you overcome your obstacles and become a better traceur."