Topic: So We Wanna Know...What Made You Start Doing Parkour/Freerunning?

[James Mellen]

I started parkour the day i was born, i have always loved running and jumping and everything in between. although just recently (2 years ago) i found that what i've always done had a name and even more surprising, it had a deeper path and philosophy that went with it. i found this out because one day i was on youtube looking for harder obsticle courses. i ended up finding something on Damien walters and that got me interested. then i spent thousands of hours looking for all manner of tutorials, workouts, guidance. i started the real discipline of it only after i discovered Parkour Generations, i can say that this website is awsome! and i think that without it (and without the many youtube videos) it would've been really hard to understand the philosophy. then i looked up everything on the founders (David Belle, Seb. foucan, the Yamakasi ) what i think realy helped me get to understand it and therefor practice it truely was the yamakasi and there Q&A vid's.

[Jaden Fennec]

Well, personally, I was watching the summer olypics 2012, 6 months ago, and the brodcaster said " if you are a teen in the US, some popular extreme sports are BMX skateboarding and parkour", i didn't know what that was so i looked it up and it was epic. I am only 14 but im the best in my school and my team, Fennec Freeruning.

[Sabrina]

When I started high school the group I got friendly with ended up being into parkour and I already knew what it was but then I actually tried it with them and was instantly hooked, I wanted to do it all the time and I would get more determined by the day. Then, I ran away and hitch hiked by myself across the nation in each state, even to the border of Mexico. For over a week I saw e everything and it inspired me and motivated me to do more parkour and freerunning and travel at the same time when I get older because I wanted to parkour on all the buildings and mountains and other things I saw on the way. I'm home now and working harder than ever and saving up to road trip and do that but when I'm older legally.

[zhan]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSELni9859E
sochi 2014 parkour and freerunning

[Jared Cantilina]

this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voB6WiP83NU

and Assassins creed II

[Jeremiah Townsend]

okay guys get ready for the lame of all lames. i was putzing with my friend one day when we went downstairs to play xbox. i stumbled on his assassins creed 2 game. i wondered what that was so i played it. i beat the first fight then got into the very first race of the game, took me 18 trys to beat it, then said "i could do that, thats easy". so i started running and jumping for a while. about a year into it and i still didnt know there was a term for what i was doing when one day my friend goes "I'm better at Parkour than you" and in my head i go "wtf?" i looked it up, found this site, and got serious about it. so there you go...another traceur inspired by videogames. i have noticed that people who actually practice for parkour are better in assassins creed than those who don't, usually finding the most efficient path and getting the kills

[Houston McArthur]

Well, I got bored.

No, really. I'd been interested in the concept of parkour for a while, but I never really saw myself doing it. I realized recently that I'm already in a rut in my life. Between work and school, I didn't really have any excitement in my life. So I decided to change that, and I'm really glad I did.

[Carlos]

What made me start doing parkour... Or at least try >_< is the fact that i can relax and have a time where its just focusing in one goal and that is completing or getting over an obstacle.

[David Swenson]

I was playing indoor kickball in my 9th grade P.E. class. I was running to a base when somebody threw the ball at me to try and get me out. I did a tack off the wall, tucked my feet in (barely missing the ball), and promptly landed on the base. That's when I knew I wanted to start doing parkour.

[source]

I read all 22 pages. Hi everyone.

I've just recently started. It's out of my comfort zone. It's not something that I'll get use to without daily training, so I'm practicing to feel more confident about my abilities. So far, parkour is a life-changing experience for me. I changed the way I ate, and I'm exercising with motivation to keep parkouring.

This is awesome.

[Lonnel]

Wow all these stories seems so cool. Mine isn't as epic but here goes..

I used play tag with my friends alot and in the park that we played in was small and cluttered with obstacles. Since i was always tagged first because i would always try to go around something, I would try to figure out how to get over or through it. I stopped in middle school because no one did that type of stuff anymore. My parents always tried to make me do sports but I never liked any of them and was always disinterested, even with martial arts. Around the 8th grade my friends and I still played tag in the same park, I started doing the same stuff again. During that time my friend kyle told me "that was awsome parkour dude." and I'm just like "Par-wha?" After that I went to youtube and from there I was pretty much hooked. I now do Parkour/Freerunning.

[Cameron Lute]

I was watching Ninja Warrior and Parkour and Free Running Videos on You Tube, and my friends came up and say you want to get faster and stronger? Then i say yes I want to do parkour and Free Running to get faster and stronger. I started Parkour and Free Running on March 31,2013 and I really like it. 

[Erik Thornton]

To be honest I was 9 when I started parkour because I had watched my neighbor do it. 4 years later I started a group & I do it everyday. 

[Christopher De Bow]

4 years ago, I decided that I was tired of people telling me that I was weak and couldn't do anything physical with my life. I was picked on relentlessly, and while my martial arts background helped in some cases, I still wasn't conditioned enough to actually protect myself. Parkour gave me the strength and determination necessary to jumpstart my life.