Parkour
Parkour is the art of moving. Parkour enthusiasts practice the art by maneuvering their way over, around, and through obstacles in the most efficient way possible. The sport requires no special equipment or playing surface. It typically is played in cities, which by their nature provide a suitable series of obstacles.
Parkour originated in France in the late 20th century and retains the original French terminology for many of the moves. The object of Parkour is to move in such a way as you would in an emergency, when every second counts. Practitioners, called “traceurs” for reasons that I don’t know, run as if trying to catch or escape from someone else moving at peak efficiency.
The originators of Parkour resist the idea of Parkour as a competitive sport, instead considering it to be a self-development activity. Predictably, Americans generally don’t view it that way. Here, we consider any physical activity worth doing is worth doing competitively, and competitive Parkour tournaments are making their rounds in cities across the country.
In America, Parkour has evolved/melded into Free Running. The primary difference between the two is that while true Parkour places the highest emphasis on efficient movement, Free Running values creative movement above all else. Parkour features a few predetermined moves, including vaults, drops and rolls. Free Running is constantly generating new and increasingly spectacular movements, which generally don’t have names and often cannot be duplicated.
In the Rowe family, European Parkour, American Free Running, and an episode of “The Office” have merged into something else altogether. Rokour, which is the official name for our own particular brand of the sport, involves my two sons running through the park, going out of their way to jump on and over every obstacle within sight, and yelling “Parkour!” at maximum volume upon encountering each obstacle.
There is no particular scoring in Rokour. There are no winners or losers, per se. The game usually ends when the little one falls down and starts to cry. The game resumes again when he realizes it didn’t really hurt that bad and his big brother is getting away. I highly recommend Rokour for your next family outing. Just be sure to bring the video camera… and the first aid kit.
