Topic: Advent of WorldWideParkour

[Matthew Lee Willis]

Hey guys.  I posted some questions on the UF site but they deleted it instantly.  Kinda retarded.  At any rate.  I know that EZ has created now a new meaning of what once was called FRPK.  They are obviously going back to their own roots they say.  I was asking you here on this site what is this going to be.  EZ wont talk until the U$F V2 comes out...he says it explains things.  Although, why the switch over so early before the release? 

Also, there has to be some internal things going on here between these practitioners.  There are people dropping left and right off of the team and now they are giving at another name.  With the same moves? with the same style? Or are they going to step down from that and try to accomplish what was intended and follow back in David shoes?  I know a lot of you guys can not answer the questions but its just nice to ask them sometimes.  Why so early as well...they could have waited to change their name to WORLDWIDE FLOW.  It just doesn't make sense.

I was interested in what APK would say about all of this.

[klaymen]

wait, they're going to start practising parkour? sorry, i am a little confused. what makes you say they are changing their ideas?

[Rice]

Well..I can't say I know what EZ is planning on doing at this time.  I think I saw some of your posts on there...yeah, they are gone now.  I wonder what they have to hide.  I don't understand why everything with them has to be so top secret and elusive. 

Of course, I think all of this, then I say..."so what?"  In the meantime, I'll be out there practicing for myself and my improvement.

I never would have thought a year ago when I first started doing Parkour, that all of this crap and arguments could derive from something that is supposed to be about being free and moving about in your own way.

But what can I do?  I'm just a dirty pirate hooker who in the eyes of the masses, knows nothing.   

[Skipper]

EZ will not change the style of the team. they will continue doing exactly what they are doing, but now they will just go back to calling that parkour.

Ez wrote: Without going into too much detail just yet, Stephane made us realise that we were on the right path all along. It'll be as clear as day when U$F V3 comes out.

The Freestyle aspect still comes into play when performing but from a personal perspective when practising and through promotion, we are going back to the old skool. Doesn't mean that we aren't open minded because things have evolved over the last few years, no matter what anyone says.

[Mark Toorock]

Well Matthew, to answer your question, APK doesn't really have  a say.

I hope that UF decides to make a clear distinction between Parkour and other things, and educate people from that standpoint.

Whether they do or they don't doesn't change APK's mission one bit, and that is to educate people on what Parkour is without being closed minded to other activities that many people who practice parkour also seem to enjoy, whether it's tricking, free running, acrobatics, or whatever. We will continue to provide quality information on training and to act as a hub for practitioners in the US, and nobody else's actions have any bearing on that.

[Rice]

who practice parkour also seem to enjoy, whether it's tricking, free running, acrobatics, or whatever

Now M2, if anyone can explain this to me...I'm sure you could in a respectable manner, and I don't mean to "hijack" this thread, but what exactly is the difference between "Parkour" and "Freerunning".  You see, I was always under the assumption that these two words were meaning the same thing, but that "freerunning" was more or less the Americanization of the word "Parkour".

So, if you can explain, or point me in the direction to where I may gain such knowledge, I would appreciate it. 

[klaymen]

free running started out as being the english-ized version of the word parkour, but coincidentally, as the word changed when it moved out of france, so did the movements. thus, "free running" has becom synonymous with "FRPK", and parkour is reserved only to those movements that would be helpful in an emergency (as it was created to be)

[Rice]

Oooh.  That kinda sucks, because my team still uses the word "freerunning" in the definition of doing Parkour, instead of frpk.  I guess we are old school  haha.  Well...thanks for clearing it up anyway.   

[Skipper]

ya i was stuck into that little rut as well. It is a shame, but we had a HUGE thread about it and we all came to an agreement about the word "freerunning"

[Ryan Ford]

gear wrote a good explanation about freerunning in the lexicon forum.

Orignally coined by Channel 4 in the documentary "Jump London", freerunning was intended to be a more easily accepted term for Parkour for English-speaking viewers. Over time, the term freerunning came to stand for the merging of Parkour and acrobatics within certain circles. Others chose to continue to use Parkour and freerunning interchangebly.

that pretty much sums it up.

[Mark Toorock]

I find it unfortunate that the word came to mean Parkour + Acrobatics and is now used with negative connotation by some. I think it should have been a perfectly acceptable and credible "English transliteration" for Parkour. I do believe that this is the spirit the word was created with by Sebastien Foucan.

[Ando]

We'll see how U$F vol 2 and 3 are.  A lot of times, things don't always turn out the way you want them to. I wasn't expecting the laid back feel of vol 1. everyone will keep looking at UF, but we've got to realize they are an ocean inbetween us and that is plenty of room for us to do what we want here.

[Flippusmn]

Even though U$F TV VOL.1 featured the workshops and stuff it was kinda boring as was JB compared to JL you know. Less talk more Parkour. I think APK has a better perspective over what we want in a video with Dispersion and all, which I loved a lot. As for the name changing and all that jazz, it seems a little worthless and I think they should not change anything at all, Parkour is Parkour unless you fall down some stairs, then they call it FRPK on UF . We just have to wait for Vol. 2 to come out right, as you all said.

[Leon Mederos]

Yeah it really doesnt matter to us here at APK what UF decides to do. Like M2 pointed out, we just want to be a centralized location for anyone practicing their parkour!

I havent seen UF Vol.1; Maybe I should. But whatever they have up their sleeves, I respect them. I mean, they are the ones responsible for bringing me so close to parkour. It really doesnt matter what they do now. I'd like to compare it to our very own basketball legend MJ. He was a great player, brought many people into basketball, but now what's he doing? Who knows. The thing that counts is what he did in the past 

Now... if they want to get further... and do good in the future... I would recommend trying to please their community. The problem their is that many of us live overseas so we're pretty much detached from things like jamming with them and all. I think they should just be a hub for the UK, if anything, worldwidejam.tv should be the worldwide hub!

[Skipper]

and even that is centralized in the UK.....

hopefully M2 will have us very involved in the WWJ scene!

[Mark Toorock]

Yes, APK will be one of the primary "spokes" for the hub and spoke model of WWJ. This means APK will be a very direct link, as we hope some of the other major country site around the world will be, and WWJ will be the hub that ties it all together.

APK then hopes to have spokes out to all of the US sites, after all, a community is only a collection of members, so it is each and every member of APK that make it what it is.

Speaking of which, why haven't you made a photo gallery yet? Every member is entitled to create a gallery and add their pictures!!

[Skipper]

Im on it boss!

i dont think i have many though 

[Mark Toorock]

I was talking to *everyone*

[LockDown]

I find it unfortunate that the word came to mean Parkour + Acrobatics and is now used with negative connotation by some. I think it should have been a perfectly acceptable and credible "English transliteration" for Parkour. I do believe that this is the spirit the word was created with by Sebastien Foucan.

I am curious. What would you have preferred be a term for Parkour + acrobatics? because I believe this was Sebastien's motive as well. But I use free running to mean PK+ acrobatics because it has come to mean that now.

[Mark Toorock]

Well, I think there should be a term for it.

I don't know what a suitable term is.

I do think that this is what Freerun has come to mean, so I guess it's as suitable as any.

I don't know why people think that Sebastien wanted to add acrobatics, where does this information come from anyway? Pawa? They weren't an organized group when this came about!