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JUMPING THAT GAPParkour Generations
BY DONNIE RUST
72 | Endeavour Magazine
Parkour is a philosophy and a training discipline based on learning to move effectively and well over any terrain and this mentality is directly applicable to overcoming any obstacle one encounters in life.”
Parkour, a movement about movement that has humans
transversing the concrete jungle as speedily and as
gracefully as monkeys through trees. Represented in
numerous films, this lifestyle/sport/art brings with it a high level
of intensity and energy as the contours and details of ordinary
buildings become a jungle gym landscape.
As people’s hunger to see parkour taken to the next level
grows and with television and the internet competing to make
this happen, the real development can be seen within the
operations and the people who are fighting not only for parkour’s
legitimacy but for the safety of its participants. I caught up with
the founder of Parkour Generations Dan Edwardes who, since
2006, has injected his unique vision and passion into creating a
school for parkour and free runners.
“Our focus has always been to integrate natural, functional
movement into people’s lives and to open their eyes to
the opportunities for movement and health in their own
environment,” Dan says, “Parkour is a philosophy and a training
discipline based on learning to move effectively and well over any
terrain and this mentality is directly applicable to overcoming
any obstacle one encounters in life.”
Starting off with teaching and performance work through
stunt work, movies and TV commercials, Dan and his team
have brought parkour into a whole range of new markets
including training facility design, coaching certifications,
clothing, theatrical work and recently applying the benefits of
urban acrobatics to tactical personnel within the military and
emergency services.
The founder of Parkour Generations, Dan has been training
in parkour since 2002 and has been lucky enough to train with
the French Founders and pioneers since 2004, “I began Parkour
Generations with two of these same individuals and we have
partnered with other founders to create a truly global collective.”
Dan’s journey began at the age of eight when he began training
in the martial arts and fighting disciplines, an obsession that took
him to Japan where he lived for five years following graduation
from Cambridge. There he studied ancient Japanese warrior arts
that could only be studied in Japan and has intensively studied
Aikido, Karate, MMA, Jujutsu, Boxing and Katori Shinto Ryu.
“
Endeavour Magazine | 73
“I’ve delved deeply into a range of movement disciplines
and physical arts, with the aim of achieving overall physical and
mental capability,” he adds.
Parkour GenerationsParkour Generations have become the go-to resource for
parkour / freerunning related activities (freerunning being a non-
literal translation of the French word parkour, itself a renaming
of the original term art du deplacement), and Dan and his team
are certified to consult, display and teach the art anywhere in the
world.
“We offer coaching workshops, classes and international
training events; education with coaching, teaching and fitness
qualifications; performance training for the provision of
stuntwork for film and television and live action performances,”
he relates, “Facility design is also a major part and includes the
creation of bespoke parkour training structures, facilities and
portable equipment that is safe and applicable.”
Dan’s TeamSince the global explosion of parkour there has been a lot
of development and to raise the standards even higher Dan
surrounds himself with the
very best he can find and
internationally works with
a team of sixty professional
parkour coaches.
“Each of our coaches
has to pass the rigorous
ADAPT parkour coaching
certifications,” he mandates,
“As well as demonstrating
great personal skills, the
ability to gel well in a team
and the highest level of
professionalism.”
Ongoing coaching is
provided to keep all of the
coaches up to date with
the latest information and
methods, including regular
Team Training sessions where
everyone can meet, train and
share information, “We also
have a Developing Athlete
74 | Endeavour Magazine
Programme for under twenty ones looking to gain experience in
the field and a develop a professional career with us.”
Standards mean everything and to make sure that everyone is
leading from the front the individual development of each Dan’s
staff is measured thoroughly via constant peer appraisal, “We
also insist that all our coaches repeat the ADAPT Level 2 physical
components every year to make sure they are still operating at
the highest level and can thus be role models for the rest of the
community.”
Dan is very firm about the quality of his coaches because he
knows that as a team they are responsible for the quality of the
next generation of athletes. With this in mind the coaching is
approached in a systematic method:
“We always begin with giving them a good grounding in the
fundamental aspects of functional movement,” he explains,
“Reinforcing those healthy patterns and developing applicable
strength before progressing onto more complex movement
patterns. “
He goes on to explain that there is a very broad and deep
syllabus which the coaching team can draw on, but as movement
is very individual a good coach of parkour has to look at the
individual learner and identify exactly what he or she needs to
improve on.
“Parkour is a principally non-competitive discipline,
focussing on self-improvement and self-mastery,” he reveals,
“So we encourage competition in the original meaning of the
word, that is to work or seek together (Con-Petire in the Latin) to
achieve excellence and overcome any challenge.”
With the growing interest in parkour not only as an enjoyable
pastime, and esoteric movement, but also has a legitimate
fitness model more and more schools and academies have
been established in recent years and for the most part Parkour
Generations can be credited for their coaching groups and their
ADAPT Certification Programme which ensures that coaches
are qualified, “It is our Coaching Development Programme
that keeps our team ahead of the game, plus our commitment
to excellence, hard work and staying true to the original, core
principles and values of parkour.”
Reaching New Heights Parkour Generations have just opened the UK’s first
dedicated parkour and functional fitness centre, The Chainstore,
in London.
“It’s one of a kind,” Dan says proudly, “Bringing the outdoor
Endeavour Magazine | 75
experience indoors and it’s made a huge noise in the UK and
international media already. It’s a special place and we’re
looking to make it the first of many across the country and
eventually expand the centres internationally as well.”
They’ve also recently launched a new groundbreaking
certification programme for personal trainers and fitness
professionals, called Parkour Fitness Specialist, which is
fully accredited by bodies such as ACE, CYQ and FIT. This
takes the incredible functional mobility, strength and fitness
elements of parkour and introduces them to a fitness training
paradigm, enabling everyone to benefit from the amazing
discoveries made by the parkour community. It restores
natural movement to any practitioner, enabling him or her
to access previously unknown levels of physical and mental
capability. This certification has been launched in the USA,
Asia and the UK and has been phenomenally well received.
“Thirdly, we are expanding to several new countries this
year to build on operations we have in the UK, USA, Korea,
Thailand, Taiwan, Brasil and Spain,” Dan tells us, “We’re very
keen to see parkour in its proper form made accessible to
every community that wants it and opening new regional
branches is a huge step in that direction. “
These steps, and some other big projects that are
being initiated this year, will hugely expand the Parkour
Generations reach and community, bringing the benefits of
parkour to tens of thousands of new practitioners.
For Dan and his team it’s all about the movement and
about making this knowledge accessible to all and they
believe that it is unethical to charge huge amounts of money
for knowledge that could and should be available to everyone
and they always look for ways to make that happen while
maintaining the highest quality and standards in everything
they do.
For an example, the making of the Chainstore: a building
that went from scratch to a fully-equipped parkour academy
in just nine weeks was a result of a team of about ten to
twelve committed individuals using their skills, experience
and ingenuity.
The primary investment into these crucial developments
has been a combination of blood, sweat and passion from
their international team, “We don’t have deep pockets,” Dan
relates, “And are always looking for good partners to assist
the growth of these concepts, but with a dedicated group
of individuals focussed on a task you can change the world.
That’s what we aim to do.”
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