Parkour is also known as Art du Deplacement. In this sport, the participants move freely over and through any terrain; running, jumping, climbing and performing the quadrupedal movements.
Parkour was initially developed in France, Europe by Raymond Belle and further developed by his son David Belle.
Parkour involves seeing one’s environment in a new way and imaging the potential for navigating it by moving around, across, through, over and under different features and object. Since Parkour has been developed through military training; it involves some aspects of non-combative martial art.
The practitioners aim to reach from one point to another in a complex environment, without the help of any assistive equipment (torch, ropes, sticks, etc.) in the most efficient and fastest manner.
Parkour includes various physical activities such as running, freerunning, climbing, swinging, vaulting, jumping, plyometrics, rolling, crawling other movements adopted by the players following the situation. Parkour can either be practised alone or with others and is usually carried out in urban spaces.
History of Parkour
The sport was initially known as Art du Deplacement; now it is referred to as Parkour or freerunning. It was founded in France in the 1980s by a group of nine young men. The founders are David Belle, Yann Hnautra, Chau Belle, Laurent Piemontesi, Sebastien Foucan, Guylain N’Guba Boyeke, Charles Perriere, Malik Diouf and Williams Belle.
In 1998, the term parkour was first coined by David Belle. Parkour derives from the French word Parcours which means ‘route’ or ‘course’ whereas Guillaume Pelletier coined the term freerunning. Later in 2003, a French group practitioner representative involved in the production of a Channel 4 - documentary, Jump London.
Parkour was believed to be developed from the physical education and training methods that emerged before World War I by Georges Hebert.
In the late 1990s, the Yamakas group of people practised Parkour on their own, adding more challenges and movements, and soon started giving public performances. With these advents, Parkour began to spread globally. The international organizations the World Free Running Parkour Federation was founded in the year 2008.
In 2009, MTV’s ULTIMATE PARKOUR CHALLENGE premiered on MTV channel. The WFPF partnered with MTV to develop and produce this one-hour competitive format. It consisted of WFPF member athletes such as Daniel Ilabaca, Ryan Doyle, Tim Shieff etc. In June 2018, WFPF launched the World Parkour Championship #WPC series holding their first event in Mardin, Turkey.
