Johnny Parkour Appleseed

As a member of the APK Alliance, I set a lot of expectations and goals for myself. I'm always trying to improve APK as a website, organization, and community. The Alliance is composed of strong local community leaders though, and so I spend a lot of time working on my local community in Rochester, New York.

That being said, I'm in a fairly unique position. I've been involved with APK and NYPK for most of my parkour-life, and I've created a very strong community in Rochester out of nothing. Through other non-parkour projects too, I have a lot of experience building/rebuilding organizations and making them far more effective.

I was looking at the Google Analytics map for New York State the other day, and I realized that there were bubbles of activity around a lot of major cities (Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, etc) in Upstate. I realized that there are a lot of people interested in parkour in these areas... they just don't know where to go.

That's when I came up with my New York State Area Reps program. This program has two functions:

1. It designates a specific "Go-To" person, essentially an official community leader, for each city. This gives newcomers an official person to contact. If for some reason the two parties can't meet up, the Rep might know other people in the area that they can connect with.

2. It provides a network of support for all the area reps. The reps can give each other suggestions and advice, and learn from each others' successes and mistakes. It will be easier to plan cross-city events and implement a "traveling traceur" program.

That's what I've been keeping busy with here in New York while I'm at school. However, the school year is coming to a close, and then I'll be back in Maryland for the summer.

I've already been contacted by a traceur from Baltimore and a traceur from my hometown. They're both looking to legitimize their communities a bit more - hold Beginner's Workshops and more structured training sessions. I'm going to be spending a lot of time working with them and really building up their communities.

I realized that a few days ago that I've become the Johnny Appleseed of Parkour communities. Coming into a new city, planting the seeds of structure and leadership and community, and then moving on when they become self-sustaining.

Not a bad way to pass the time...