American Parkour

Oh my goodness! I just did a search for local chapters of Girls Inc. and found one in neighboring Holyoke, MA! I just about jumped out of my seat with excitement because it's been a dream of mine to do a parkour program in Holyoke similar to the one featured in Jump Westminster. With Girls Inc., I think I've just found my "in"...

Muse, I'd love to touch base with you to learn more about how you presented your proposal to the directors, and to share notes on training programs and workshops.

Brilliant work! I'm so happy that things are going well for you over in Madison.

Love this idea, Muse!

*APK username/forum name: HaiWolfe

*Location: Massachusetts

*Requesting a mentor or Volunteering to be a mentor? Volunteering to be a mentor.

*I would prefer it if my mentor/mentoree would contact me via: E-mail

*Practicing parkour since: ~2006

*Other athletic/physical experience: Running, climbing, some kickboxing.

*(Mentors) Please list any specific expertise, knowledge, or experience that you have (parkour related or otherwise) that may be of benefit/interest to a mentoree: I run a parkour club on campus and have a lot of experience teaching the basics of parkour to newcomers, e.g. beginning conditioning, breaking down specific techniques, progression in baby steps.

*Do you have a specific mentor/mentoree that you would prefer to be paired with? No.

Our primary goal for the parkour organization here at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst is to raise sufficient funds to deck out a padded gym room with equipment suitable for training parkour. I'd really appreciate some input two things: fundraising and types of equipment.

Fundraising
Several years ago, UMass disbanded the gymnastics team and sold all their equipment, so we essentially have to start from scratch. Gymnastics equipment isn't cheap! Since new RSOs (Registered Student Organizations) get very little funding from the student government, we're on our own in terms of scraping together the money needed.

Some ideas:
- Bake sale, car wash, dance party, raffle, etc.
- Sponsorship from Dick's Sporting Goods, who have a couple locations in our area
- Donations from other local businesses

Any other ideas? Those of you who have managed to land a sponsorship, care to share how you did it?

Equipment
I came up with the following list based on equipment seen in various parkour training videos, most notably sections of Jump Westminster and the gym training in Lisses 2007. We aim to acquire, in prioritized order:

1) Mats
2) Trapezoid foam vaulting boxes
3) Balance beams (low)
4) Balance beams (high)
5) Stall bars
6) Uneven bars

For those of you who train in gyms, what other equipment do you frequently use to further your parkour training?

There is a jam somewhere in Boston every Sunday, and sometimes during the week too. Specific dates/times/places are usually posted a few days to a week in advance.

We have a jam coming up this Sunday:
http://www.neparkour.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1183631351

And here is the board where all jams are posted:
http://www.neparkour.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?board=newenglandjams

First possibility that comes to mind is shin splints.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/shin-splints/DS00271

http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/front/lowerleg/shinsplints.htm

Hey all. I practice parkour in MA, around Amherst during the school year (student at UMass) and Boston over the summer.

Hello, I hate to ressurect old threads, especially as a new person. I have recently begun studying the PK world and have found a dearth of video and pictures about female traceaurs. I am working on a documentary and would love to know where the best female practitioners of this art are located and if there is video available. I am very interested in finding out more about any females in this mostly male art.

Here are some videos of female practitioners that I've seen around the 'net:

http://www.parkour-videos.com/videos/Liv-Rowlands-demo-2006_Sin-Clan.Co.Uk_Parkour.NET.wmv

http://parkourfiles.com/mcp-ladypk.wmv

http://videos.tepookatoys.com/media/lady-pk2.0.wmv

http://www.pkgym.co.uk/Emily/Emily.mov

Enjoy!