Parkour

Parkour, Art du Deplacement, Free Running

Indescribable →

Published September 13, 2015  ·  All posts on Sep 13  ·  , ,

This entry is part 31 of 72 in the series My Journey

I spent Saturday in Philadelphia training with a relatively small group of people.

Honestly, I was pretty beaten up, broken down, and tired before we even started. Brutally honestly, I need a break; I have simply been doing way too much for way too many weeks in a row for these old bones. So right out of the gate on Saturday, I could tell I was going to be dragging my a** all day.

And then the entire day unfolded in so many ways I could never have imagined.

I’d have to write a small book to tell all the stories; The people, the names, beautiful smiles, sketchy Philadelphia parks, smiling strangers, wall runs, jumps, cats-to-climb-ups, people who have grown and changed so TREMENDOUSLY since I’ve last seen them, old friends, new friends, people with broken hearts who are an inspiration in the way they continue to crush challenges, people ahead of me laughing and playing and urging me on by simply “being”, people behind me yelping approval that I can’t comprehend, and dinner and milkshakes and conversations and shared thoughts with people I expect I will never forget.

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Wet training →

Published September 2, 2015  ·  All posts on Sep 2  ·  ,

Class turned into a delightfully refreshing set of challenges from Vincent. AWESOME!

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Somewhere in Québec →

Published September 2, 2015  ·  All posts on Sep 2  ·  ,

Short bus ride (you can interpret that as you wish) to some sort of community center… a kids’ playground, and then I noticed this area. “Advancé” class tonight with Academie ADD du Québecois! Is it really only Wednesday? pre- pre- warmup before this weekend’s event.

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Swag →

Published August 31, 2015  ·  All posts on Aug 31  ·  ,

Great day training with everyone yesterday at the Toronto Community day. (But it’s really about the swag. ;) Off to the Royal Ontario Museum today.

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Not acting her age →

Published August 18, 2015  ·  All posts on Aug 18  ·  

I snuck a photo of Tracy vaulting a rail!

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RDV X →

Published August 16, 2015  ·  All posts on Aug 16  ·  ,

In. The. Bag.

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Chainstore →

Published August 13, 2015  ·  All posts on Aug 13  ·  ,

View fronm the upper area post class. Day two is done!

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Long journey →

Published August 12, 2015  ·  All posts on Aug 12  ·  ,

Several years and many miles…

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Good coaches →

Published August 5, 2015  ·  All posts on Aug 5  ·  

In contrast, a transformational coach realizes the power of the coaching platform to inspire, motivate, and produce positive change in his or her followers. He or she is acutely mindful of the moral, social, emotional, and psychological needs of young people. Transformational coaches offer individual support and encouragement to each player and have a clear vision for the desired impact on their players’ lives. And not surprisingly, a transformational coach, even in organized athletics, allows and encourages young people to simply play.

~ Joe Ehrmann from, InSideOut Coaching

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Shut up and train: Self-directed advice →

Published August 3, 2015  ·  All posts on Aug 3  ·  , ,

This entry is part 29 of 72 in the series My Journey

Nature has given us two ears, two eyes, and but one tongue – to the end that we should hear and see more than we speak.

~ Socrates

slip:4a100.

I think that “shutting up” has been the most difficult aspect of my Parkour journey.

In my youngling days — let’s define that as sub-30-years-old — I was always the clown: obnoxious; rude, crude and ill-mannered; smart ass. When you have a big ego and low self-esteem, you seek attention to try to make those ends meet. That’s probably a good benchmark definition of dysfunctional. Worse, I had no idea such was the case. Over the next ten years, (or so,) I started to realize that such behavior was dysfunctional and pathetic. That decade was finally followed by my beginning to try to change about 40 years of ingrained behavior.

It was at this point — just as I was trying to change the course of a very large ship with a very small rudder — that I started Parkour. At the time, I simply jumped into Parkour being my usual self. But two pushups into my first class I was stripped of my delusions of grandeur. Two minutes in, and I figured out that I was an out-of-shape pile of bacon. After two hours of trying to do something, anything, and failing and sweating and flailing and sweating more… Well, shit got real.

That first class was followed by a solid year of me having an argument with myself, in real-time, at every class. Every time I’d exhibit some variation of my dysfunctional behavior I’d mentally berate myself; Shut up. Train. After each class, I’d think back on all the cringe-worthy moments and think: Next time, shut up more. Train more.

Somewhere around two years in, my ship’s course had shifted far enough that the dysfunctional behavior was noticeably tailing off. Certainly, the behaviors I disliked were still frequent enough to bother me, but they WERE tailing off.

Now, three years in and going stronger than ever, I’ve made a lot of progress in terms of fixing myself mentally and physically. I can now say, with an air of experience: Everything has changed. And nothing has changed.

Shut up more. Train more.

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