This is amazing... I got on a proxy at school so I could check out YouTube and I noticed today that Parkour covered EVERY SINGLE spot of "Featured Videos" and "What is Parkour?" was one of the top-four at the top.

I am positive that it's because of the episode of Home Makeover that occured the other day that is causing this explosion of Parkour.  That's what this art needed-a real public display.  I've seen some people dissing on the kid in Home Makeover and some of their views on it... but so what?  This has opened the gateway for so many new and potential traceurs to be introduced to something that they could have missed.

So what if some people didn't like the people on the show?  It's publicity and so more people now know of the sport.  And even those that don't watch tv (like me) will now know what it is because of YouTube, or somebody who watched Home Makeover or something on YouTube.

I've been doing Parkour for 4 years and I've tried explaining to my friends what the sport is... so many people were like "What? Why?" and I've only met a handful of people that even knew what it is.

Now, today in class, I heard people talking about it... one kid specifically asked me what it said on the back of my car (it says "Le Parkour" in old english letters) and when I started explaining to him what is said, he interrupted "Oh, freerunning?"  I was like, "Yeah."

People at school actually know what freerunning and parkour are now (though they don't know about the slight differences-which actually don't matter).  Knowledge is power.  Awareness will bring more people to start practicing.

Parkour is exploding, people!  This is sooooooo amazingly cool!

YouTube has been working with Parkour Generations on this project for a few months now. Either way, you're right, parkour is really getting big! Its an exciting time to be a traceur in the US.

I learned a long time ago that words don't really matter much.

It is what it is; that's all that matters.  The discussion gets rehashed and rehashed, but in the end, I don't think anyone can come up with what can be called a definitive answer.