 Andy Keyes writes...
"Thought I would throw this out for any PE teacher
out there who may be considering teaching a Parkour unit to their classes. I
just finished a unit with 8th graders and it was very well received. The
students had never done anything like it before-not like traditional teams
sports or games-and they were all actively involved (and if you know middle
school students that aint' easy to do)." Read more to see the rest of Andy's article!
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!
I myself have been actively practicing for about 2
years now. I am currently 41. I got the idea for the unit last year and wanted
to try and teach it in the spring but never got enough time. (With state testing
and the annul D.C. trip I never got a long enough block of time.) So that meant
that this fall would be the first time to try it out. Now for those who are
wondering I did get permission from my administrators before doing this unit
just in case there would be any questions later on. To my surprise my
administrator had heard of Parkour and Free Running and was all for it. I
started the unit with a few video clips from You Tube and that was all it
took. They were all excited and ready to go. The bad news was that a perfectly
good outdoor unit had to moved indoor due to unexpectedly cool and wet weather,
central Ohio-what are you going to do?
The plan was to introduce something new every day.
We started off by having them do rolls and landings. Then progressed to
precision jumps and balance work. We eventually got into vaulting and wall runs.
Before every class they had to do strength building exercises and stretching and
went over safety. And the most important thing stressed each and every class was
that they never had to do anything. They only did what they felt comfortable
doing. I personally think that was the most important thing for the students
because there was no pressure to "perform" to anyones standards. They each could
progress and their own rate and try new moves when they felt comfortable doing
so. No flips were allowed at any time for insurance reasons but that did not
really ever come up anyway. They had enough to learn about the basics
anyway.
This cost me nothing equipment wise either. I used
only what was available to me-bleachers, 4x4s for balance beams, plyometric
platforms for precision jumps, lines on the gym floor, cones, a wall or two and
folding mats (for rolls, safety and even vaulting). If we could have gotten
outside more often I could have used benches, picnic tables, retaining walls,
boulders, rails, etc. The possibilities were endless and definitely warrant
doing this unit again next year and hope for better weather.
The last day of the unit (which ended up lasting 3
weeks with no complaints from the students) we watched more video clips and
had a discussion about safety (never attempting anything without properly
checking the object first), respecting the environment (leave it as you found
it) and how to deal with parents and police asking questions about what they are
doing. I can honestly say that this went much better than expected and could not
have been more happy with the outcome. I think I introduced a whole bunch of
people to the benefits of Parkour and hopefully will see them practicing around
the city for years to come. I also have a group of young men who are going to
make their own Parkour film for tech class too.
If anyone is interested in the unit plan or
specific lessons just drop me a line. This unit works and works with kids of all
abilities. Of course I only did this with 8th graders and it would definitely
work for high school. Could you go with younger students, sure, but that would
be an experiment for another time. Thanks Parkour and all those who have
contributed to this unit without evening knowing it.
Andy "Tattoo" Keyes
Columbus, Ohio
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