American Parkour

hey last year over the summer there were frequent jams every saturday at the nashua library, they'll soon be starting up again once the weather permits, there are a ton of us though, the jams where about 15 people on average, and now we're pushing close to 30 people at gym-ken gymnastics indoor training!

want more info? then facebook me Spencer Soulard Pk

ok well my world geography teacher isn't that too bright lets just say. she's brand new to the school and really has no idea whats going on. well after a couple weeks of my class warming up to her, and she to us, her teaching ways started to frustrate me. now my school has these "core competencies" which basically are these groups that the class is broken down into. ie: homework, analysis, projects, etc. and each class has roughly 3-5 competencies. now the trick about these is, if you fail a competency, you fail the class. now another peice of information, what happens to your grade when you average in a 0 for a missing homework, when you've only had 3-4 homeworks assigned in the class? it drops below the failing grade; you have an F in the competency which results as an F in the whole class. granted if you just do your homework or whatever work it is period you wont get and F. but people make mistakes and forget and what do you do then? also some teachers refuse extra credits because they are "cheap" and "unrealistic." anyways now that you know that, back on subject to my world geo teacher. we had a test, not a quiz, but a test. now since she's new, the stuff she's teaching is very very easy and is actually just a review of previous 7th and 8th grade classes. (i'm a junior). now instead of grading this 15 question test as an overall grade, she broke it down into competencies. now think about it, thats just wrong. kids get questions wrong, and with only 15 questions with 4 competencies, grading is very tough. if you get a question wrong, the grade in your competency dramatically drops because they actually weigh more on tests than just regular assignments. there was one question in the competency 'analysis.'
the question was "If all the volcanoes all over earth erupted, which would our planet most resemble - mars or venus?" now the world geo book does not give information on mars or venus, just earth. the book also states arguments for both mars and venus also. now, instead of answering in just a sentance, i answered in a well written paragraph because i'm a geeking science kid (for the record i refer to myself as a science genius   ) i stated that the correct answer is venus and i also stated how, and why earth would resemble venus if every single volcanoe on earth started to erupt. after i recieved my test back, there was no grade on it (hence the no overall grade part) and just a big 'X' and the word, "mars" crudely inscribed on my paper over the category 'analysis'... after my teacher explained to the class that she grades by competencies i was infuriated. i politely and intellectually argued with her as to why the answer is venus instead of mars, albeit i gave examples as to why both would be acceptable, just that venus is a more appropriate answer. i know have an F in the class because the teacher marked my paper wrong after i justified my answer. i brought this up with the adminstrator of guidance for our school. after class i went to him and we walked to her class and i had the redundant argument with her again, except this time he was present and spectating. this time it was actually funny though, because of every intellectual question i asked, and every peice of factual information i stated, she got nervous, and my guidance admin would cock his head, raise his eyebrow, switch his folded legs, and then started to lean in when she really started stuttering. i won that argument and it was a nice feeling showing a teacher up like that especially in front of the guidance admin who later commended me for acting and expressing myself in an adult manner in front of a superior. he said he would fix it over my vacation, but that is still not untill tuesday we go back to school. now i just want your opinions on this. do you think its wrong to grade that way? i have an F in the class and so do other kids that were on my side for the class argument, what should we do about it? (remember no extra credit) what do you think will happen to the teacher after the admin of guidance was shown how ignorant she really is? if you wish to know more just ask what, i did leave some stuff out of my story here, but i really don't think it was that important, but if you wish to know just ask. but still i'm frustrated when i think about it, an F in the class because of one wrong answer that i proved right... gah!

well after quite a while training with the backflip, i can finally do it almost off anything, anywhere 

also i can i do a 1, 2, and just today, a 3 step wall flip

now to the frontflip forums!!

Since the topic is "Trouble with parkour at school" i guess i'll put up a problem of my own

Some friends and I have been training for almost a full year now, we have seen so much improvement that even today we still boast about how far we have come. Yet we still have so much more to learn. We'd like to start a club a school next year when we become even more experienced, but the problem is that right now at the school, freshman and other kids are trying to imitate us. Personally i haven't seen them but i've heard word that there are kids messing around the school and that they do not know what they are doing. Right now the members in the group are looking for them to try to explain what Parkour and Free Running is, and we might even ask them to train with us. Yet we come across another problem; Teachers have already seen my team training and disapprove, and the members say that it's pointless to try and explain it to these teachers because they just wont understand. I myself would like to talk with the principal about Parkour, explain the philosiphy behind it and then try to get it organized and known throughout the community. But these adults are just so negative that it's almost impossible to try to talk with them. Any advice on what we should do?

i did it!! i just went out and did it!! and i can do it standing on the ground now also! i'm going to keep doing it now until i can't get it wrong!

AIM name is ZOMGSPENCER
me and like 2 other kids do free running in litchfield and sometimes behind Staples near the mall of NH,
we're 16 and we do mainly parkour but we have some free runing skills

i'd have to say kongs over picnic tables 

Eh it kinda depends what your purpose is... if you need to get up high, go for a normal wall run and push off towards the side at the top, basically get your height before going to the side. At least that's what I do and it seems to work really well.

I did what you said, get the height before going to the side, and it works! Just wanted to say thanks, i can easily get 3 steps everytime now and people are finding it amazing lol. Not to change the subject but, i ran up the side of a pillar and got onto my school roof, which a couple people saw and were also utterly amazed. But long story short, the view was nice, and i found a frisbee. Sorry for that random comment but i feel so accomplished

I suppose the answer (for me) is to get the word out about parkour and educate my community about it long before this movie comes out. If the community already knows a lot about parkour, then they'll understand that this movie is misrepresenting it. [If it does. We haven't seen the movie yet, so maybe it won't be too bad...]

I totally agree with you

Alright so i can easily, with much confidence do a standing backflip on a thick, comfortable mat the school owns. I start freaking out when i try to do a backflip anywhere else but this mat, even on a pretty thick mattress! I know i can do it, there is just something in the back of my mind thats telling me "your funeral..." Is there anything i can do to just overcome this fear i have of breaking my neck? Even when i'm motivated, the moment i step up to do it, i have a second thought and back down....