American Parkour

Meditate. Empty your mind. There is a reason why you are stressed. Find the problem and establish an answer. Find someone else to talk this through.

Write down everything that makes you happy. Look at old photos or watch old videos of something you did that was awesome. Call up an old friend and ask how they are doing.

Sleep. Don't drink any caffeine or take other stimulants for the time being.

Build something. Go volunteer.

^ I'm definitely aware of problems like that in other industries. Hopefully we can avoid them within the parkour community. People who have been involved for a while might not fall for it, but you never know with traceurs/traceuces just joining the community. Especially with mothers inspecting programs and facilities for their little ones...

Mark:


Talking with the administration at Santa Clara University, a tier-type ranking system seems like it would be helpful. The interest of the school was not just that it said the instructor was capable of X level training, but it also allowed them to specify that they only want to allow X level of training on campus. It can give them a level that they'd like to restrict intensity (danger/risk) to.


Hope this helps. This was communicated from the head of risk management here at SCU, and he does communicate regularly with many other colleges across the country so I'm sure it would help in many other places.


I anticipate clubs being able to petition their schools to increase the levels they are allowed train at if things run smoothly for long enough.

You can't speak on behalf of everybody, only yourself, and that just seems to be the way it would be.

I have yet to see anybody "lording" over anybody. As I said, I know a number of people with certs and dealing & developing certs and this is not the case. In fact, the purpose of certification goes nowhere near that. Certification is a tool, not a status.


Anyway rereading the OP, the answer is this: certs do exist in the US. For the most part, they are still spreading and being tested, but they do exist. As far as ADAPT certs being available in the US? I think they've already done one in Ohio last year or something. I'm not sure if they're doing more (their site http://www.adaptqualifications.com/courses-dates/ doesn't seem to indicate that they are). However, they do list several places that are "capable of delivering the ADAPT Qualification without supervision from ADAPT Qualifications Ltd." Maybe you could be one of the people to help make one here

A -national- governing body isn't quite our style, nor the United States', but multiple organizations essentially have -a- governing body in the works already.

I have no qualms with it. It's really nothing but certs and paperwork with an air of authority. Without hard work and effective practice it won't amount to anything anyway. The poor quality certs will get weeded out (since the community will criticize the crap out of it) and the good certs will become prevalent enough to become the standard.

You're not just looking at thickness. You're also looking at heel-rise, which is slightly different. Zero-rise shoes are the target, where there is no difference in thickness between the forefoot and heel.

First:
- Be barefoot around the house
- Run barefoot when the opportunity arises (e.g. grass, sand. Not pavement, gravel, glass, etc)

With normal wear, I'm not sure how much damage you'll be doing with "traditionalist" shoes. For training however, I'd strongly advise against it since you're doing so much more. When you start looking at shoes, there is a big difference between thin and fairly thin. Feiyues are thin. Vibrams are thin. There are tons of other shoes, and they are good shoes. I've even got some of my non-parkour friends stuck on Feiyues.

I'd get something that protects your foot... not augments it or stands between its abilities and the ground.

And obviously https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkq1X9IuXps


^ Rafe, I remember seeing a video, I'm not sure if it was from you guys? There was a guy who demonstrated jumping on the sides of his feet to show that that could be trained and strengthened. I can't find the video...

I can't find any corroboration for the authenticity of the document mentioned "Reaching the Pinnnacle of Humnanity" that the above blog attributes to Mr. Overeem. 

If it is, Overeem would seem to be quite the eloquent man...

Too much heel-rise in both, IMO. If I were you, I'd find myself some good barefoot shoes like Feiyues.

I don't think humans have a word for the feeling you get when doing parkour.

We kinda used the concept of "flow," but I don't think I've heard/seen that word used for a while, unless I've been looking in the wrong place. Flow is where everything is just right. You're synchronous with the environment you're moving through--a part of it, connected.

Yeah, at this point everyone kinda just does their own thing and calls it Parkour.

Well there's nothing saying "You must do ____," so until there is, this is going to be the case. While parkour is -not- anything, you are free to exercise your creativity and ability. While there are things that parkour is -not-, that does not mean that you will be outcast if you do them.

Really, most of us are just happy to find another person to share the journey with, who loves to explore movement and does not do it in a way that is dangerous to themselves or others.