Parkour

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Parkour

A traceur performing a speed vault

Also known as

PK[1][2][3]

The Art of Movement[4][5][6]

Focus

Obstacle passing

Country of origin

France

Creator

David Belle

Famous practitioners
Sbastien Foucan

Daniel Ilabaca

Ryan Doyle

Tim Shieff

Descendant arts

Parkour (French

Freerunning

pronunciation: [paku]) is a training discipline using movement that developed from military obstacle course training.

[7][8][9]

Practitioners aim to get from

one point to another in a complex environment, without assistive equipment and in the fastest and most efficient way possible. Parkour
includes running, climbing, swinging, vaulting, jumping, rolling, quadrupedal movement, and other movements as deemed most suitable for the situation. [10][11][12] Parkour's
development from military training gives it some aspects of a non-combative martial art.
Parkour is an activity that can be practiced alone or with others, and is usuallybut not exclusivelycarried out in urban spaces. [13][14] Parkour involves seeing one's environment
in a new way, and imagining the potentialities for navigating it by movement around, across, through, over and under its features. [15][16]
Parkour was developed in France, primarily by Raymond Belle, and further by his son David Belle and his group of friends, the self-styled Yamakasi, during the late 1980s.[17]
[18]

The discipline was popularized in the late 1990s and 2000s through films, documentaries, and advertisements featuring the Yamakasi. [7]
Contents
[hide]

1 Etymology

2 History

2.1 Georges Hbert

2.2 Raymond and David Belle

2.3 Yamakasi

3 Philosophy and theories

4 Movement

5 Risks

5.1 Trespassing

5.2 Injuries and deaths

6 Equipment

7 Popular culture

8 Military training

9 International spread

10 Derivative terminologies and disciplines

11 See also

12 References

13 Sources

14 External links

Etymology[edit]
The term derives from "parcours du combattant", the classic obstacle-course method of military training proposed by Georges Hbert.[19][20][21] Raymond Belle used the term "le
parcours" to encompass all of his training including climbing, jumping, running, balancing, and the other methods he undertook in his personal athletic advancement. [22] His son
David developed his father's methods and achieved success as a stuntman, and one day on a film set showed his 'Speed Air Man' video to Hubert Kound. Kound suggested
he change the "c" of "parcours" to a "k" because it was stronger and more dynamic, and to remove the silent "s" for the same reason, forming "parkour".[citation needed]

A practitioner of parkour is often called a traceur, with the feminine form being traceuse.[10] They are nouns derived from the French verb tracer, which normally means "to trace",
as in "tracing a path", in reference to drawing.[23] The verb tracer used familiarly means: "to buck up".[24] The term traceur was originally the name of a parkour group headed by
David Belle which included Sbastien Foucan and Stephane Vigroux.[25]
A jam refers to a meeting of traceurs, involving training lasting anywhere from hours to several days, often with people from different cities. The first parkour jam was organized
in July 2002 by Romain Drouet, with a dozen people including Sbastien Foucan and Stephane Vigroux.

History[edit]
Georges Hbert[edit]
In Western Europe, a forerunner of parkour was French naval officer Georges Hbert, who before World War I promoted athletic skill based on the models of indigenous tribes
he had met in Africa.[26] He noted, "their bodies were splendid, flexible, nimble, skillful, enduring, and resistant but yet they had no other tutor in gymnastics but their lives in
nature."[26] His rescue efforts during the 1902 eruption of Mount Pele on Saint-Pierre, Martinique, reinforced his belief that athletic skill must be combined with courage and
altruism.[26] Hbert became a physical education tutor at the college of Reims in France. Hbert set up a "mthode naturelle" (natural method) session consisting of ten
fundamental groups: walking, running, jumping, quadrupedal movement, climbing, balancing, throwing, lifting, self-defense, swimming. These were intended to develop "the
three main forces": energetic (willpower, courage, coolness, and firmness), moral (benevolence, assistance, honor, and honesty) and physical (muscles and breath). [27] During
World War I and World War II teaching continued to expand, becoming the standard system of French military education and training. Inspired by Hbert, a Swiss architect
developed a "parcours du combattant"[28]military obstacle coursethe first of the courses that are now standard in military training and which led to the development of
civilian fitness trails and confidence courses.[26]

Raymond and David Belle[edit]