Hey everyone
What is
parkour? Wikipedia says: "Parkour is a utilitarian discipline based upon the direct, successful, swift traversing of one's surrounding environment via the practical application of techniques, based around the concept of self-preservation." ...that's great, Wikipedia, way to bore people. I've heard it called "urban gymnastics". Some people like to think they are practicing running away from evil (or good!) people, like in James Bond. I prefer to think of it as turning the world into my own personal playground!
I've
booked an instructor from Parkour Visions to come and give a lesson. My hope is to facilitate a
safe and supportive environment for anyone who has an interest in this activity! Even if you have no experience with parkour, or if you aren't very active, you are welcome to come! Last year a friend of mine came and his only recent activity was chasing his 3 year old around a playground - he took it slow, but had a great time
.
We'll meet at
Freeway Park (
Google Maps) at
1pm on Thursday, August 25th.
You should bring:
- Comfortable sports clothing. You may want long pants/shirts to protect from concrete abrasion. (I tend not to - to warm!)
- Shoes that are flexible and low to the ground (hugely padded sneakers are not the best idea).
- Plenty of liquid!
- A snack
- Sunscreen
Lets do it! If you have any questions, toss them my way
.
A few important
caveats/disclaimers/etc:
- You are responsible for your own comfort level and safety. I don't know first-aid, but I do know the number for 911. Act accordingly.
- If you're from a foreign country, look into medical insurance! BC travel insurance will cost $18 if you ignore all of the extras, and I think it's worth the peace-of-mind at the very least.
- Please print off the Parkour Visions waiver and bring it with you. They will have extras should you forget.
- Bringing in an instructor costs money. I don't mind fronting the cost, or even paying for most of it - I'm organizing this for my love of self-propelled motion. However, if you want to slip me a donation when you see me I wouldn't complain .
Posts
Find me on twitter- @pink_4ssass1n
and twitch- twitch.tv/pink_4ssass1n
Thanks Pink - I'd just feel a lot better knowing someone was around who could deal with any potential issues. Had a minor mishap last week where we had a few good people with this knowledge and it was good that we did.
I'm in contact with Eric Jusino of Parkour Visions and he thinks he and I will be able to organize either a formal teaching session for a little bit, and/or organize a couple apprentice/volunteer instructors.
If you are interested in a formal teaching session please write here and let me know. If I was going to do this, I would need to have a good idea of numbers. If you don't care, I'll just organize something more informal (you can let me know that as well, but I'll assume it if I don't hear from people :P).
Flight: [X]
Lodging: [X]
Passes: [X]
Excitement: [10/10]
I'm hoping that with someone with some knowledge along, we can make this a safe and wicked awesome event to start our PAX weekend with .
I don't think I'd be able to make a post-PAX event - tend to head back to Vancouver pretty quick once the redbull runs out :P
I've got someone from Parkour Visions coming down at 1pm on the Thursday to give a lesson! Super stoked .
I'll be editing the OP with some changes shortly, but wanted to put a quick note out for those reading the last topic. This means that we'll have first aid covered, and anyone who is new to parkour, or wants to get better can have a safe and supportive place to do that.
A small matter - doing this costs some money. I don't mind fronting it, or even paying most of the cost, so long as people show up and have fun. But at the same time, if you want to slide me a donation to help defray the cost, I wouldn't say no .
I agree. I'm ready to pay to help rythos out. I mean this is helping all us and I don't want him to pay for all of it.
I don't want to tell you the exact number, in case it scares people off ("how much of a donation does he want anyway?!"). But if 10 people gave me $10, I'd be happy. If 30 people gave me $10, I'd tell a couple people to keep their cash and enjoy the afternoon. (you may now proceed to do simple math :P).
The important part - if you can't afford anything, show up and enjoy. If you can afford $5, that's cool. If you try to give me $20, I probably won't accept it.
(because if I started trying to cost-recover, my nerd OCD would kick in and then I'd have spreadsheets and...oooh...spreadsheets...mmm...)
This talk of money is off-topic. I don't want to talk about it anymore - the information is there.
Where is everyone from? Anyone from far out of town? Whats your parkour experience, if at all? (it's ok to say "watched Damien Walters video") (seriously, everyone go YouTube that guy, he's ridiculous). What are you most looking forward to about PAX?
For myself, I'm busing down from Vancouver, Canada for the weekend. I was doing parkour for about 6 months, 3-4 times a week before I realized that my knees weren't happy with the schedule, so I swapped it up for focusing on other things (somehow "aggressive inline" and "trampoline" are easier on the knees...go figure).
I don't know what I'm most looking forward to, but for some reason "the drive home" comes to mind. Because on the drive home, I'm exhausted and I've had a fantastic time and I'm filled with the knowledge that I've squeezed every last drop out of the weekend
-Halo CE Remake
-Battlefield 3
-Halo 4
-Wii U
-AC Revelations
-Cosplayers
-Halo Fest
That's about all I can think of for now. The list would be a lot longer if I actually thought about what I wanted to see.
Also I would love to go to the concerts one of the nights.
I'm Coming from Japan, Was born in the states, but moved here a few years ago to teach. So should be a great time getting to speak English more then typing it rarely on forums. Not spoken it in...4-5 years now ^_^
I think I like Damian because he started as a gymnast, and has sort of...combined a bit of pk with a bit of trampoline, which are two activities that I love. I'll check out David Belle though!
If you're interested in parkour, show up Thursday, 1pm at Freeway Park near the Urban Canyon!
I haven't done a lot of parkour recently...I go running every two eeks and mix a little bit in when I see a cool terrain feature. Makes me like running more (I can't stand running...). My main activity these days is trampoline - working on perfecting my front tuck and corkscrew .
Our instructors name is Tyson (photo). I'm hoping to be there around 12:30 myself. I don't have a non-Facebook photo of myself, but I've got glasses, and I'll probably be wearing gray man-capris and my Vibram FiveFingers shoes - you can't miss the toe shoes!
Can't wait for the parkour on thursday! Hope to see you all there. Oh and just to give a little info on how I look, I'm indian. I'm pretty sure that sums it up.
Tomorrow is the day! We start our PAX extravaganza with climbing and jumping so that we can have horrible eating habits and sit around until 4am playing games all day for the rest of the weekend! :P (I'm heading to the pre-PAX boardgames Thursday night in the Sheraton lobby after a shower )
There's room for 30 participants for some awesome parkouring (am I allowed to verb that?), a number which we are no where near, so if anyone is lurking and wants to show up on a whim you are welcome to do so! No experience necessary, and a very bare minimum of physical stamina and strength required!