Archive |
News from March 2010
We are pleased to announce the addition of a new team member in Naomi Honey, one of the longest practising women in the UK and a great representative of the discipline all round. Naomi can often be found training out and about in London and is ever-present at our regular Women's Jams on the second Sunday of each month. Welcome on board! Wednesday 31st of March 2010 
For the first time you can now see Julie Angel's classic documentary, Le Singe est de Retour (The Monkey's Back), an in-depth look into the life and training of one Stephane Vigroux, remastered and on YouTube. One of the most well-loved and respected parkour documentaries in the history of the art, it's well worth a watch if you haven't seen it to get an insight into the history and the mindset of the original practitioners. Oh, and Steph jumps about a bit here and there too.. ;) Click the link above to watch. Wednesday 31st of March 2010 
The next open 1st4Sport ADAPT Instructor Qualification Course will be held in london, running from April 13-16th. This is a Level One Assistant Course administered by the NGB Parkour UK, and the course has just opened up a couple of extra places - anyone wishing to be considered for the ADAPT qualification should contact Parkour UK at the above link as soon as possible to secure one of these berths! We have already had veteran practitioners such as Sebastien Foucan and Sticky go through the new qualification, and demand for places is on the rise. If you think you have what it takes to become an instructor in the discipline, get in touch. Tuesday 30th of March 2010 
New: Parkour Training Equipment Due to the ever-increasing demand for teaching in various settings, this year has seen the launch of two unique parkour training equipment concepts. Designed by Parkour Generations in partnership with the leading companies in their respective fields, Highline Extreme and ESP, there is now on the market the Mobile Parkour Park as well as fixed equipment created specificially for schools known as Free D. The Mobile Park has been used and tested at a number of workshop events we have run, including the first ADAPT Qualification Course by Parkour UK, and the Free D equipment is already in place in several schools across the country. For more information hit the links above, or visit the respective partner websites. Tuesday 30th of March 2010 
If you haven't read it already, check out the new blog post HERE about parkour 'Freedom' from Forrest. Makes for a great read and has been translated in both English and French. If you like it, don't forget to submit to your favorite social media website by using the buttons at the bottom of the post! Monday 29th of March 2010 
The South-East London Parkour Academy, the latest addition to our regular classes, is really taking off now. Under Blane's guidance, the class runs from 7.30-9.00pm every Monday at the new Optimal Life Fitness Training Centre in Hither Green. The location of the centre is 174-176 Hither Green Lane, Hither Green SE13 6QB, with the entrance just off Lanier Road and via the loading bay. All are welcome! Monday 29th of March 2010 
A big thanks to everyone who came out for the Off the Wall Jam on Sunday at Vauxhall - was a great day, and a lot of fun for all and we look forward to seeing you all at next month's... ;) Monday 29th of March 2010 
Just a quick reminder to everyone that the clocks go forward tomorrow so don't be late for the Weekend Wakeup class from 11am or the Off-The-Wall Jam at 12.30pm in Vauxhall! Saturday 27th of March 2010 
Spiked Parkour Magazine – May issue update The May edition of the Spiked Parkour Magazine is shaping up nicely. We have a huge 40-50 pages of Parkour coverage, as the magazine moves towards becoming a dedicated parkour publication, with contributions from the leading practitioners in the world. The partnership between Spiked and Parkour Generations is firmly committed to promoting the true ethos and practice of Parkour and is opening up opportunities to the global Parkour network, enabling representation of all communities around the world. In the next edition we have some fantastic coverage by the Parkour Generations team with advice on warm ups, stretching and techniques, exclusive interviews with Sebastien Foucan, one of the founders of the discipline, and Mike Christie, the director of Jump London and Jump Britain, where we go behind the scenes of a recent media shoot in Turkey, as well a focus on 2 more international communities: Try n Trace in Switzerland and Parkour Horizons in the USA. Plus loads more on training your mind and body and a new readers section where we showcase some stunning Parkour photography from all over the world, and pieces on exceptional athletes, role models and recommended cross-training centres. Next edition out in May, more info coming shortly. Order via our homepage or hit the link above. Saturday 27th of March 2010 
We are happy to have been invited again to teach at the national gathering in Rome, Italy, known as Ecce Parkour. The event this year runs from May 21-23, and all details can be found on the event website by clicking the above link. This year we are sending out seven instructors, and we are looking forward to once more teaching alongside our good friends and partners, the Yamakasi founders from Majestic Force. The locations, organisation and atmosphere at Ecce Parkour are always fantastic, so if you are near Italy on those dates we strongly encourage you to sign up and join in! Friday 26th of March 2010 
Last week we provided performance and choreography on an action shoot for an in-house promotional video for financial giants KPMG. Unfortunately, as the video is for internal use only, it's one of those that will never get to see the light of day... which is a shame as Annty provided some great movement! To see the video, click...erm...nowhere. Sorry! Thursday 25th of March 2010 
Off the Wall - Vauxhall, Sun 28th This month's Off the Wall Jam will be taking place at Vauxhall Walls from 12.30pm. For those who haven't been to one of our monthly get-togethers, it's open to any practitioner of any ability and is completely free. It's a great way to meet other traceurs and traceuses in the community to share training tips and ideas. Parkour Generations team members will be on hand for any advice or development for your training. For location details click here for google maps. Wednesday 24th of March 2010 
We are happy to announce that we are returning to the USA in May this year for an open seminar in Columbus, Ohio. 2008's Memorial Weekend Expo there was such a huge success we just had to go back.. and this time we are pleased to be bringing some of the Yamakasi founders along with us. This collaborative event is hosted by Parkour Horizons of Columbus, and this American Rendezvous will mark the first time the Yamakasi founders have taught publicly in the United States and will also be the first time since 2008 that Parkour Generations has taught stateside. The first day of training, Friday (May 28), will be held in Hocking Hills State Park, with Saturday and Sunday (May 29 and 30) taking place at Battelle Riverfront Park in downtown Columbus. For more info visit the dedicated website HERE. Wednesday 24th of March 2010 
The website has just been updated to include six new communities: PKTD (Brazil), TS (Colombia), StreetMovement (Denmark), DFT (Greece), Anomaly (Russia) and Parkour Academy (Sweden). If you wish to add your group onto the global community programme, see the webpage here for more information. The video section has also been updated to include both old and new clips from the Ohio Seminar, the Morzine Camp 2008 & 2009, as well as the training in Sarcelles with Majestic Force. To watch the videos head over to the webpages here. Monday 22nd of March 2010 
Travelling team member, Thomas, has just posted a new article on the parkour generations blog about his experiences and thoughts on the concept of learning. Check it out and have a read Here. Sunday 21st of March 2010 
We are pleased to announce that our new Free D in-schools parkour training facility now has the official endorsement of afPE. Designed and produced in conjunction with leading playground equipment specialists, Education and Special Projects (ESP), Free D is a fixed, outdoor training facility that allows for the development of movement skills and techniques within a safe environment. For more details on the facility and our partner ESP, click here. Sunday 21st of March 2010 
We are now collecting the content for the next issue of the Spiked Parkour Magazine, and will be continuing to have a Readers' Gallery section which is an opportunity for any budding photographers to get their work seen in print in the world's first ever parkour magazine. Our standards for the mag are fairly high of course, but we know there are some great photographers of parkour out there - so anyone who wants to have a crack at seeing their work included, please send all submissions to us here via contact(at)parkourgenerations.com with 'Photo Submission' in the subject title of the email. Also, for anyone wanting to give ideas on future articles/features etc, please let us know via our Forum topic. Wednesday 17th of March 2010 
Sport Relief! Sunday March 21st This Sunday we will be hosting parkour demos and workshops at the London Sport Relief event, running from 10am-4pm at Embankment, Temple Place, beneath Waterloo Bridge. The event is happening across 16 UK cities simultaneously, and we have coordinated several parkour communities to represent the discipline acorss the cities in conjunction with Sport Relief. It's a great cause, and should be a great day - everyone is welcome to come down and get involved, help out, maybe even run the Sport Relief Mile itself. All those Londoners who want to help out, be at Temple Place (near Temple tube station) for 10am this Sunday.. and don't forget the red nose ;) Wednesday 17th of March 2010 
Women's Classes on BBC Radio 4 Tomorrow morning at 10am team member Agota will be on the BBC Radio 4 Women's Hour show talking about her experiences and opinions within the Parkour community and life as a traceuse, alongside coverage of the BBC attending our Women's Classes. The show will also be announcing the details of how we will be participating in the Sport Relief campaign on Sunday. Be sure to listen to the show by either tuning in via Freeview, visiting the BBC website HERE or using a good old fashioned radio. Tuesday 16th of March 2010 
The recently initiated Affiliate Coaches Scheme continues to grow, with Scott Houston and Will Tomlinson being the latest to join. The scheme now has 10 ADAPT qualified coaches in place around the country and will be expanding as more practitioners qualify to become coaches recognised by the National Governing Body, Parkour UK. With the demand for qualified instructors booming at present, we are very happy to see more and more dedicated and skilled practitioners stepping up to give back to the community in this way. Sunday 14th of March 2010 
For the next couple of weeks 21 monks from the Shaolin Temple in China are in London to perform their stunning live show, Sutra, at Sadlers Wells. The monks got in touch with us upon arrival and expressed a real interest in parkour, leading to some of them attending one of our outdoor classes earlier in the week. We met up with them again today, and they are keen to participate in more training while here. The skills and physical attributes they display are quite incredible, and we are very happy to be forging a relationship with them and the UK Temple. If you get a chance we strongly recommend you to go see the show - click the link above for details. Saturday 13th of March 2010 
Our partners in France, Majestic Force, have just seen their ADD Academy project win a prestigious award, that of best initiative in the “Sport, culture and creativity” category at The Global Sports Forum in Barcelona. On March 9th Yann Hnautra (Yamakasi founder) and Bruno Girard will receive the award in the name of the whole Team from the Jury at a ceremony attended by guests from all over the World. This award will allow Majestic Force to continue to promote the sporting and cultural activities that the ADD Academy offers. The pedagogic programme will be supported for one year on the Global Sports Forum partnership network until the next round, where they will present the results of the year's programme. Well done guys! Wednesday 10th of March 2010 
This Thursday we will be running a day of workshops at the Lewis Pengam School in Wales, just outside Cardiff. The workshop is being supported by Caerphilly County Borough Council. There is a swelling of interest in the discipline in Wales at the moment, which is great to see, and we are very happy to be able to encourage it and help it maintain momentum with the schools and local authorities. Tuesday 09th of March 2010 
FREE D: School Training Facilities The new Free D training facilities, designed in conjunction with our partners - UK-based company ESP Ltd - and endorsed by both afPE and Parkour UK, have now been installed in 4 schools in northern England. The official launch took place at St. Leonard’s Primary School in Padiham which is a current case study for the Trust Schools Strategy. It was an outstanding success with support from Burnley Football players Clarke Carlisle and Chris Eagles who were there to back the concept. The community-based project has already had a huge impact in the Burnley area, with the resource currently being used by our team in conjunction with the local police force to train young people to take the ADAPT Level 1 Certificate in Coaching Parkour. Having a permanent outdoor facility like this in schools is perfect for young people to learn the fundamentals of movement upon, and we look forward to seeing it in use across the country soon. Tuesday 09th of March 2010 
Gymbox Partnership: Outdoor Classes Starting in April we will be providing weekly outdoor parkour classes in central London for health and fitness group, Gymbox. The initial classes will run out of the Covent Garden location, HERE, where we will meet the class and then head out to a local outdoor training hotspot. The classes will be 1.5 hours in length and full of the usual fun and frolics one would expect from any of our Academy Classes.. Moreover, these new Gymbox classe are also open to the general public - you don't have to be a Gymbox member to join the class, just meet our instructor at the Covent Garden Gymbox centre for 6.30pm on Tuesday April 6th and join in! Monday 08th of March 2010 
Parkour Generations and Carbon Media have entered into a collaboration that unites two of the most experienced companies in the world of parkour to create a singular source of talent and production services for TV, film, advertising and events: The Parkour Partnership. The award winning production company Carbon Media is home of director Mike Christie and producer Mike Smith who made the seminal Channel 4 documentaries Jump London and Jump Britain in the early noughties which brought the discipline to a truly global audience. Our two companies have worked closely together since 2006 and are now able to offer a complete and professional ‘one stop shop’ for production and talent needs to advertisers, agencies and producers. The Partnership has already worked on the action sequences for UK hit movie 'St Trinians 2: the Legend of Fritton's Gold' and a unique POV television commercial for Alpella. Details of the Partnership and contact information can be found on the Parkour Partnership Website, and we are very happy to have Carbon Media as an official partner. Thursday 04th of March 2010 
Walt Disney Studios has premiered the new trailer for producer Jerry Bruckheimer's parkour-influenced Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, opening in theatres on May 28. Directed by Mike Newell, the video game adaptation stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Ben Kingsley, Gemma Arterton, Alfred Molina and Toby Kebbell. The movie had parkour's own David Belle providing the action sequence stunt-doubling and from this trailer it's clear that the film will involve a lot of the trademark parkour sequences from the original console game. Click the link above to watch the new trailer. Wednesday 03rd of March 2010 
16th March this year will again see us providing a day of workshops for the National Junior Indoor Rowing Competition, taking place in Battersea Evolution, Battersea Park, London. NJIRC is the world's largest indoor rowing championships, organised annually in London by London Youth Rowing, and is always a high-energy and highly popular day. We will be there all day, from 9.30am-5.00pm delivering workshops for the thousands of people who attend the event. Come on down if you can! Wednesday 03rd of March 2010 
South East London Academy Opens Today The first class of the new South East London Academy begins tonight at the Optimal Life Fitness Training Centre in Hither Green (South East London), a few minutes by train from London Bridge. It's a classic training space, filled with kettle-bells, free weights, mixed martial arts and a purpose-built scaffolding for us to boot... Blane will be running the class from 7.30pm-9.00pm and it is open to anyone from complete beginners to veteran practitioners. The first class is totally free, so come along and try it out. Monday 01st of March 2010 |
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