Topic: Urban Climbing Mag #15

[SCOP3S]

Hey guys,

I'm an avid rock climbing and must say it is my number one passion in life. (Top three being rock climbing, mountain biking, pk) But anyways, even though these sports are outdoors/recreational/etc, I've never really encountered any overlap in one discussion about the other (in the media that is). Until now. I was reading my favorite mag in the world: Urban Climber, and was surprised to see a thing on pk in there.

I was rather disappointed. Not only do they put it with the likes of skateboarding but this is what is said:

"At that moment, the whole world became a skate park; everything could be ridden. The same could be said for the rapid rise of Parkour, another freestyle sport that utilizes the cityscape as its canvas and playing field. The ability to fly and defy all of nature's laws is inspired by unnatural things; manmade structures of concrete and steel paint perfect portraits of fluidity and motion."

I hate the sport reference and the unnatural focus...I mean some of my best runs were in the woods.

So currently I'm in the process of emailing the mag to tell them what pk really is about to give them better information, they're good about making corrections in later issues.

PS they have pics of EZ, Seb, Blue Devil, Sticky, and Team Traceur (doing flips...i know haha right...) and I'm thinking, if they let their pic be put in there with such a flawed article on pk...what message are we sending?

[Sat Santokh]

I just hope that this isn't coming as a surprise to you that people misrepresent it...however as easy as it would be to blame urbanfreeflow and team traceur for this I think it is a product of there being no standards in the media.  Thats why you can tell if you get a good journalist or not by whether or not they send it to you to proof-read.

[Nik "Nik" Horvat]

I don't think that its bad journalists that put out these stories most of the time.  Just misinformed ones.  They may have made an effort to learn what parkour is and just ended up at a couple sites that give bad info.  It would probably be more productive to try to correct webmasters/site owners on the ere of their ways than to try to contact reporters.  You'd reach a much larger base by contacting the former.

[Josh Maciel]

Well no matter how hard we try to stop parkour from becoming an actual sport it is inevitable. It is what happened with skateboarding. The orginal skateboarders had just thought of a new way to move around until some people came and they just wanted to make money off it and then it became a sport. Parkour will eventually become this, sadly. But just because it does, it doesnt mean we have to stop the traditional views of parkour. We just go on how we always have been.

[Sat Santokh]

I don't think that its bad journalists that put out these stories most of the time.  Just misinformed ones.  They may have made an effort to learn what parkour is and just ended up at a couple sites that give bad info.  It would probably be more productive to try to correct webmasters/site owners on the ere of their ways than to try to contact reporters.  You'd reach a much larger base by contacting the former.

No I'm pretty sure that they're just lazy and don't get paid enough to get the whole story because they make the same amount if its mediocre as if its good.  COPK worked with a very good reporter from a very prestigious magazine and he always did his research and got the whole story.

[Andy Animus Tran]

Other than the unnatural thing, I don't see what was so wrong about it.  Parkour and skateboarding DO share some of the same roots.  But of course, no one remembers the skateboarding of the 70s and 80s.  Parkour utilizes the environment in new and different ways, to reclaim what was lost in human movement when urbanization occurred.  The original skateboarding culture did this, as well.  I, personally, think that the skateboarding comparisons aren't as bad as everyone else seems to think, so long as the comparisons are made to what skateboarding was, not what it is now.

[Gearsighted]

I have to agree with Animus. It sounds great to me, and I really don't mind the sport reference. Keep in mind, this is URBAN climbing mag....not rural woodland climbing in the Gunks mag

[Sat Santokh]

I have to disagree with the whole skateboard thing.  Skateboarding was kind of a rebellious thing from the beginning.  Watch the documentary Dogtown and the Z boys.  They used to break into peoples backyards and if other people came into their area they would hurt them.

[Andy Animus Tran]

I have to disagree with the whole skateboard thing.  Skateboarding was kind of a rebellious thing from the beginning.  Watch the documentary Dogtown and the Z boys.  They used to break into peoples backyards and if other people came into their area they would hurt them.

I think Parkour is a rebellious thing as way.  We claim to be more "natural" in our movements, that this is the way people were always SUPPOSED to move.  We are rebelling against the conventions of what "normal" movement is.  Skateboarding culture wasn't perfect and yeah, maybe they broke the law a few times, but it's not like we don't trespass, either.  Our "official" position is that we don't condone it, but seriously... how many times have you KNOWN that you were on private property and still trained there regardless?  Ninety percent of "public space" is private.  And that's another thing we're rebelling against... the line between where public space ends and private space begins.  In Toronto, the police chief said, "People have the false notion that they are allowed to loiter in a public space."  This is a huge problem all over the world and it is something that we have made a statement about: public space is PUBLIC, and people should be permitted to use it however they see fit so long as it is not destructive.

For many of us, the notion that even non-destructive uses of public space are not allowed is simply ridiculous.  Parkour IS a rebellious movement.