falling
Parkour as a discipline is still so new to the public eye.
Mainstream media reports stories of daredevil athletes and
tragic accidents, painting practitioners as high risk-takers who
make reckless leaps off of buildings. Parents worry about
their kids emulating these dangerous feats and getting badly hurt
-- and sometimes, they do.
But what people tend to forget is: we fall every day. And not just practitioners -- EVERYONE WHO WALKS is practicing a controlled forward fall. They just don't think about it because they've been doing it for as long as they can remember. But they had someone to coach them and help them learn, to spot them, to keep an eye out. And guess what? Through progressive training they managed to master the art of falling continuously forward without falling on their face. And I could go on about the incredible way that humans insist on balancing on a comparably small and narrow base while putting our entire mass above that base -- which also puts our center of gravity as far above our base as possible -- IN ADDITION to using this method of continuously pitching ourselves forward and catching that momentum at the right moment with legs and feet... and THAT is universally accepted as normal to the point where EVERYONE is expected to learn it. As a toddler.
WE TEACH OUR BABIES TO FALL. WHY ARE PEOPLE SURPRISED WHEN FREERUNNERS DO IT MORE.
But Leigh, you might say, it's not the fall that people object to, it's the height of the fall. Kids are doing dangerous things because they don't see the progressive training, they see the act an they want to do it themselves. The stigma that we as practitioners try so hard to work against is that we aren't just crazy daredevils, and we do train extensively and safely to improve our skills. Parkour just isn't mainstream enough yet for people to understand what is going on behind the scenes.
My answer to that? "Martial arts." The public knows these words, and they've seen feats of people breaking boards or bricks with their hands, feet, and heads. They've seen the effects of people rash enough to try this without training. And the majority of them are smart enough to not break themselves trying. Heck, the general public even understands the colored belt system that SHOWS HOW MUCH KNOWLEDGE YOU HAVE. (But parkour doesn't have belts! Well, neither does gymnastics, and you don't see mundanes expecting to do an iron cross or take on the uneven bars just because they saw an exhibition.) It's the same idea with freerunning -- just like you wouldn't try to put your hand through a cinder block and expect it to shatter on your first try, you just DON'T go for your first 2-story drop and expect to walk away untouched. That's common sense. And it's not that practitioners don't have enough common sense to keep from jumping off buildings. It's that, like any student of a discipline, they've practiced falling in controlled and incremental ways, until they learned how to handle the drop. Just like learning to walk.
But what people tend to forget is: we fall every day. And not just practitioners -- EVERYONE WHO WALKS is practicing a controlled forward fall. They just don't think about it because they've been doing it for as long as they can remember. But they had someone to coach them and help them learn, to spot them, to keep an eye out. And guess what? Through progressive training they managed to master the art of falling continuously forward without falling on their face. And I could go on about the incredible way that humans insist on balancing on a comparably small and narrow base while putting our entire mass above that base -- which also puts our center of gravity as far above our base as possible -- IN ADDITION to using this method of continuously pitching ourselves forward and catching that momentum at the right moment with legs and feet... and THAT is universally accepted as normal to the point where EVERYONE is expected to learn it. As a toddler.
WE TEACH OUR BABIES TO FALL. WHY ARE PEOPLE SURPRISED WHEN FREERUNNERS DO IT MORE.
But Leigh, you might say, it's not the fall that people object to, it's the height of the fall. Kids are doing dangerous things because they don't see the progressive training, they see the act an they want to do it themselves. The stigma that we as practitioners try so hard to work against is that we aren't just crazy daredevils, and we do train extensively and safely to improve our skills. Parkour just isn't mainstream enough yet for people to understand what is going on behind the scenes.
My answer to that? "Martial arts." The public knows these words, and they've seen feats of people breaking boards or bricks with their hands, feet, and heads. They've seen the effects of people rash enough to try this without training. And the majority of them are smart enough to not break themselves trying. Heck, the general public even understands the colored belt system that SHOWS HOW MUCH KNOWLEDGE YOU HAVE. (But parkour doesn't have belts! Well, neither does gymnastics, and you don't see mundanes expecting to do an iron cross or take on the uneven bars just because they saw an exhibition.) It's the same idea with freerunning -- just like you wouldn't try to put your hand through a cinder block and expect it to shatter on your first try, you just DON'T go for your first 2-story drop and expect to walk away untouched. That's common sense. And it's not that practitioners don't have enough common sense to keep from jumping off buildings. It's that, like any student of a discipline, they've practiced falling in controlled and incremental ways, until they learned how to handle the drop. Just like learning to walk.
5 Comments
Mujahid: Absolutely! Just link it back here for me too, thanks!
So true, I totally agree with you. Parkour/Freerunning is an discipline (martial arts).
But I also have something to say in addition. I think, part of the reason why the media, society, parents, etc.... is saying that Parkour/Freerunning is an dangerous thing is because we are sending out the "wrong image/message" to the world. Soooo many people these days, do risky jumps that they are not capable of doing just for the sake of fame. I met so many people who only cares about big tricks, long jumps, huge drops instead of solid technique and personal development. This is just what I believe and you don't have to agree with me, but I think we need to change how we act as an community if we want to change how the society thinks about us. We need to stop disobeying laws and stop anti-social behaviors. We really need to start sending out the right image to the world if we want a change.
No offense to you. I think you have a very good point.
This is just something to think about as an community.
Simplest way to do that? "Safe training." Let that be your call -- whenever you're out training, at a jam or just with your mates, let people hear you say it to each other, over and over. "Safe training." When you're getting ready to leave, let that be your hail. "Hey guys, awesome job today, thanks for letting me jam with you. Safe training!" If we all do this, if we let people hear it be said, we can start to counteract this stigma of being unhinged daredevils.
That and, actually training safe. Don't get in over your heads, kids. Let's do this thing right.
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