Media and Articles - Bay Area Parkour
2024-03-29T09:23:01Z
http://baparkour.ning.com/forum/categories/2070047:Category:15923/listForCategory?categoryId=2070047%3ACategory%3A15923&feed=yes&xn_auth=no
NYTimes: How times has Derek Jeter swung a bat?
tag:baparkour.ning.com,2014-09-17:2070047:Topic:119819
2014-09-17T22:35:43.608Z
Seng
http://baparkour.ning.com/profile/msgr33
<p><span>Next time you walk away from something because you don't get it the first time (or first ten or fifty) consider this and remember that even with a well-above-average .310 batting average, he's missing most of the time.</span></p>
<p><span>------</span></p>
<h1 class="story-heading"><span class="font-size-3">Derek Jeter Has 2,734 Games Played and 3,450 Hits. Swings? Here’s a Ballpark Guess.…</span></h1>
<div class="story-meta-footer"><p class="byline-dateline"></p>
</div>
<p><span>Next time you walk away from something because you don't get it the first time (or first ten or fifty) consider this and remember that even with a well-above-average .310 batting average, he's missing most of the time.</span></p>
<p><span>------</span></p>
<h1 class="story-heading"><span class="font-size-3">Derek Jeter Has 2,734 Games Played and 3,450 Hits. Swings? Here’s a Ballpark Guess.</span></h1>
<div class="story-meta-footer"><p class="byline-dateline"><span class="byline">By <span class="byline-author">DAVID WALDSTEIN</span></span></p>
<p class="byline-dateline">SEPT. 14, 2014</p>
</div>
<p><br/> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/15/sports/baseball/derek-jeter-has-2734-games-and-3450-hits-swings-heres-a-ballpark-guess.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/15/sports/baseball/derek-jeter-has-2734-games-and-3450-hits-swings-heres-a-ballpark-guess.html</a></p>
<p class="story-body-text story-content" id="story-continues-1">Several <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/baseball/majorleague/newyorkyankees/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="Recent news and scores about the New York Yankees." class="meta-org">Yankees</a> players were in the batting cages at spring training when one of them wondered how many swings <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/j/derek_jeter/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Derek Jeter." class="meta-per">Derek Jeter</a> had taken in his professional career — not only in regular major league games, but also during spring training games, All-Star Games, minor league games, off-season training and during his thousands of batting practices.</p>
<p class="story-body-text story-content">His teammates might as well have been calculating how many beers were sold at Yankee Stadium during his career, given that Jeter, who will retire after this season, is in his 20th as a major leaguer.</p>
<p class="story-body-text story-content">Baseball is driven by statistics. Before Sunday night’s game against the Baltimore Orioles, Jeter had played in 2,734 games and had 3,450 regular-season hits, sixth most in history. He had also hit into 287 double plays, struck out 29 times against Pedro Martinez and never reached base on catcher’s interference.</p>
<p class="story-body-text story-content">But just swinging the bat, including practice? Even in the statistics-happy world of baseball, there is no record of that.</p>
<p class="story-body-text story-content" id="story-continues-2">The conversation among his teammates piqued Jeter’s curiosity, so he agreed to help come up with a grand total for career swings.</p>
<p class="story-body-text story-content" id="story-continues-3">“Good luck,” he said. “There is no way to know for sure. You could spend hours trying to calculate it and still be off by 10,000, or more.”</p>
<p class="story-body-text story-content">The task required a look at Jeter’s routines. Jeter is dedicated to his practice swings, though not fanatical. He takes time off to rest his body, usually in November and December. And there is no batting cage at his house in Florida.</p>
<p class="story-body-text story-content">“You would have a hard time finding a baseball at my house besides one that’s got writing on it,” he said. “I’ve got no cages. I don’t swing at home.”</p>
<p class="story-body-text story-content">Each January and early February, Jeter said, he goes to the Yankees’ facility in Tampa, Fla., where he typically takes 30 light swings for his first four days of workouts. That is 120 swings, multiplied by 22 Januarys and Februarys (he was drafted in June 1992), for a total of 2,640 swings. The next four days in January, he increases to roughly 50 swings a day, so that is another 4,400. Then, for about two and a half weeks through early February, he takes about 65 swings a day, or roughly 24,310.</p>
<p class="story-body-text story-content" id="story-continues-4">Then he cools down to 45 swings for the last two days, adding another 1,980. That puts him at 33,330 swings over 22 years before the start of spring training.</p>
<p></p>
<p class="story-body-text story-content">Jeter added that he never sneaked off to the Tampa complex, a few miles from his home, to hit; no midnight trips to the cage to fix a kink in his swing.</p>
<p class="story-body-text story-content">“When you leave the stadium, you’ve got to get away, because it’s a game of failure,” he said. “I have to have other things to think about other than baseball. I don’t understand how guys go back and watch their game again and then they watch other games. I don’t understand that. For me, I have to have an outlet.”</p>
<p class="story-body-text story-content">The calculation for six weeks of spring training over 22 years is approximately 61,490 spring swings, putting the running total at 94,820. (Jeter suggested that swings in the on-deck circle and swings without a ball not be counted.)</p>
<p class="story-body-text story-content" id="story-continues-5">The bulk of Jeter’s swings have come on game days. Typically, he takes about 30 in a batting cage, then 30 more during on-field batting practice. To the 2,734 games in which he had played through Saturday, add 200 games when he did not play but still took batting practice, or when he swung in Tampa while rehabilitating an injury, and that brings the total to 176,040.</p>
<p class="story-body-text story-content">“It’s peaceful when you’re feeling good,” he said about batting practice. “When that happens, most of the time it’s just a matter of getting loose. When you’re not going well, the cage is usually where you work on things.</p>
<p></p>
<p class="story-body-text story-content">Running total: 270,860.</p>
<p class="story-body-text story-content" id="story-continues-6">All that practice has led to one of the more recognizable and repeated swings in baseball. Jeter, who bats right-handed, steps into the batter’s box with his right foot and digs in ever so slightly, as if snuffing out a cigarette butt. He brings the left foot forward and reaches out to the plate with his bat in his left hand, adjusts any padding he may have on his arm, fiddles with the brim of his helmet, then holds up his right hand behind him — part signal to the umpire to wait, part idiosyncratic routine.</p>
<p class="story-body-text story-content">With both hands gripping the bat, he takes a downward pendulum swing, then brings the bat back and above his head. He rocks slightly to and fro from the hips, swaying his shoulders and arms with the bat up high to gather his rhythm and timing. As the ball approaches, he taps his left foot once and then steps toward the pitcher, uncoiling his torso, his bat ending up behind his left shoulder as he looks out — often to right field — to see where the ball has landed.</p>
<p class="story-body-text story-content">Of course, swinging the bat is not Jeter’s only job. Over his career as a shortstop, he has fielded untold ground balls in practice and in games and made thousands more throws while playing catch. According to a similar estimate based on Jeter’s work habits, he has fielded 141,135 grounders and made 221,935 throws.</p>
<p class="story-body-text story-content">In French, the word jeter means “to throw.” “It would be better if it meant, ‘Get a hit,’ ” he said.He has plenty of those. In games, Jeter has swung at least 3,450 times — his hit total. He guesses, though, that he has taken about two swings per plate appearance, and that is almost exactly right. The website Baseball Reference reveals that Jeter has swung at 47.6 percent of the 46,618 pitches he has seen, which is 22,190 swings in regular-season games, through the end of the week.</p>
<p class="story-body-text story-content">Now the total is 293,050.</p>
<p class="story-body-text story-content">Jeter has also played 158 postseason games, with 200 hits. That is another 9,480 practice swings and about 1,299 swings in games, totaling 10,779. He is up to 303,829.</p>
<p class="story-body-text story-content">He has 29 plate appearances (13 hits) in the All-Star Game for roughly 51 swings, plus another 780 in All-Star Game batting practices, for about 831, bringing the total to 304,660. Jeter also played in 463 minor league games, so add 31,484.</p>
<p class="story-body-text story-content">Total so far: 336,144.</p>
<p class="story-body-text story-content">And with Jeter, there are always extra swings — days when he was not feeling right in spring training, or when he wanted to impress the coaching staff in the minors. Call it 5,000, fewer than one extra swing per day over his career, a conservative estimate.</p>
<p class="story-body-text story-content">That takes the total to 341,144, or 98.9 swings per hit, comprising all the hits and misses and foul balls in games, all the practice sessions in batting cages in Tampa over 22 Januarys and 22 spring trainings, all the games in Greensboro, N.C., and Columbus, Ohio, and thousands of batting practices in New York, Boston, Toronto and beyond.</p>
<p class="story-body-text story-content">“So, you’re saying it’s not that easy to get a hit?” he said when told the grand total. “Thank you. I appreciate that.”</p>
<p class="story-body-text story-content">By the end of the season, Jeter will have taken approximately 341,960 swings.</p>
<p class="story-body-text story-content">Assuming each swing takes a second from the time he lifts up his foot that equals 5,685.7 minutes, or 94.8 hours — nearly four days of nonstop swinging.</p>
<p class="story-body-text story-content">“I’m a guy who believes players swing too much,” said Joe Maddon, the manager of the Tampa Bay Rays. “But obviously it has worked for him. He has honed that swing that has become so familiar to all of us, to the point that it never changes. He has incredible muscle memory. I’ve never seen him in a slump that lasted very long, because he is able to get back to that swing.”</p>
Local SF video producer seeking experienced Parkour practitioners, male and female, for video production
tag:baparkour.ning.com,2013-08-07:2070047:Topic:111575
2013-08-07T18:42:57.756Z
Bay Area Parkour
http://baparkour.ning.com/profile/BayAreaParkour
<p class="p1"><span style="font-size: 13px;">A local video producer is seeking experienced Parkour practitioners, male and female, for video production of Parkour to be done at several San Francisco locations. </span></p>
<p class="p1">The intention is to showcase Parkour, and the San Francisco environment, as an expression of challenge, risk [management], accomplishment, and grace. </p>
<p><span style="font-size: 13px;">They will be shooting in the next couple of weeks, and schedule is…</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span style="font-size: 13px;">A local video producer is seeking experienced Parkour practitioners, male and female, for video production of Parkour to be done at several San Francisco locations. </span></p>
<p class="p1">The intention is to showcase Parkour, and the San Francisco environment, as an expression of challenge, risk [management], accomplishment, and grace. </p>
<p><span style="font-size: 13px;">They will be shooting in the next couple of weeks, and schedule is somewhat flexible. L</span><span style="font-size: 13px;">ocations will be around GG Bridge, and other near in SF locations.</span></p>
<p class="p1">The videos will be used to illustrate orientation videos for the San Francisco campus of an international graduate business school. </p>
<p class="p1">This is a paid engagement. <strong><a href="http://baparkour.ning.com/profile/Gino" target="_self">Please contact <em>Gino</em> directly for details.</a><br/></strong></p>
<p class="p1">Please include info about your experience, or links to existing videos that you're in. </p>
Job: Bay Area assistant for film installation project needed
tag:baparkour.ning.com,2013-06-06:2070047:Topic:110359
2013-06-06T15:53:22.855Z
Christopher
http://baparkour.ning.com/profile/Christopher479
Filmming in Bay Area for an ongoing non-comercial expanded cinema art project about traceurs training, community, lifestyle and philosophy. It started in 2008 in Argentina and has expanded across Europe and the states.<br />
<br />
I'll be in SF from June 21-25, 2013 and need an assistant. :)<br />
<br />
Assistant:<br />
<br />
Familiar with many traceurs<br />
Have a car<br />
Able to carry and hold cameras and film stock<br />
Expert at directions and location throughout Bay Area<br />
Great communication skills with traceurs<br />
Organize and schedule…
Filmming in Bay Area for an ongoing non-comercial expanded cinema art project about traceurs training, community, lifestyle and philosophy. It started in 2008 in Argentina and has expanded across Europe and the states.<br />
<br />
I'll be in SF from June 21-25, 2013 and need an assistant. :)<br />
<br />
Assistant:<br />
<br />
Familiar with many traceurs<br />
Have a car<br />
Able to carry and hold cameras and film stock<br />
Expert at directions and location throughout Bay Area<br />
Great communication skills with traceurs<br />
Organize and schedule traceurs to participate in the film shoots<br />
Provide transportation to/from airport to/from hotel to/from shoots.<br />
Flexible and free from 11pm on the 21th till 5pm on the 25th.<br />
<br />
Pay: $250-$400, depending on qualifications<br />
<br />
Please send an email with qualifications, BayArea Parkour profile link and other links such as videos or Facebook to film@experimentalcinema.org. Thank you so much.<br />
<br />
--<br />
Quotes about FILM (Parkour)<br />
<br />
“... folky but experimental tinge, paid off well - both images and sound, projector and instrument shared a rawness that matched perfectly and gave the personalities onscreen an added layer of meaning which at times was warm, funny, odd, contrasting, insightful...”<br />
-Sam Natch, Buenos Aires, Argentina<br />
<br />
"We know that this is the first time in history that this type of Parkour material makes it into film; and this project does an incredible job at highlighting the deepest values that move our lives, leaving behind all superficiality."<br />
-Walter Bongard, founder PKA, Asociación Argentina de Le Parkour<br />
<br />
"Triumphant!...capturing traceurs in their element, playing and human, rather than objects of advertisement ....a slight undercurrent of sensuous intimacy.. the lens found and lingered on the traceurs' genuine smiles, the tip of the ear or the playfulness in both movement and pause."<br />
- Michelle Duer, writer
Parkour turns Sunnyvale into a playground (Mercury News)
tag:baparkour.ning.com,2012-08-04:2070047:Topic:104605
2012-08-04T22:30:38.573Z
Bay Area Parkour
http://baparkour.ning.com/profile/BayAreaParkour
<p>Great coverage of the <strong><a href="http://baparkour.ning.com/group/southbay" target="_self">South Bay group</a></strong> <a href="http://baparkour.ning.com/xn/detail/2070047:Event:76876" target="_self">Saturday session</a> and of the works done by its organizers: <a href="http://baparkour.ning.com/profile/Fyrel" target="_self">Tom</a>, <a href="http://baparkour.ning.com/profile/KeenanManely" target="_self">Keenan</a>,…</p>
<p>Great coverage of the <strong><a href="http://baparkour.ning.com/group/southbay" target="_self">South Bay group</a></strong> <a href="http://baparkour.ning.com/xn/detail/2070047:Event:76876" target="_self">Saturday session</a> and of the works done by its organizers: <a href="http://baparkour.ning.com/profile/Fyrel" target="_self">Tom</a>, <a href="http://baparkour.ning.com/profile/KeenanManely" target="_self">Keenan</a>, <a href="http://baparkour.ning.com/profile/Grave" target="_self">Thomas</a> among others:</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>"I was out of shape. I couldn't do a pushup," Zheng admitted. At first he practiced with his brother, but then found Bay Area Parkour, a virtual space for traucers and trausers</em> [sic!] <em>(female) to connect.</em></p>
<p><em>At a session, they warm up with exercises, such as quadrupedal movement--on both hands and feet--to prevent injuries. During this time, participants' physical condition and body awareness is evaluated by the leaders. <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/93644977?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/93644977?profile=original" width="400" class="align-full"/></a></em></p>
<p><em>After that, the leader follows a lesson plan and explains a movement and its purpose. Then, he performs a demo and teaches the students in incremental steps.</em></p>
<p><em>For instance, "get students to understand the dynamics behind landing and demonstrate and teach back proper landing form," Zheng said.</em></p>
<p><em>"It's about progression," Manely adds.</em></p>
<p><em>For example, a student might do the safety tap if she is not yet confident doing a move or if her speed is too low to clear an obstacle.<a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/93645114?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/93645114?profile=original" width="200" class="align-right"/></a></em></p>
<p><em>"By tapping your feet down, you help realign your center of gravity," Zheng says.</em></p>
<p><em> </em></p>
<p>Great job guys!</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/sunnyvale/ci_21169611/sunnyvale-parkour-turns-city-into-playground" target="_blank">Read more on the Mercury News >></a></strong></p>
Searching for interviews for Research at California State University Chico
tag:baparkour.ning.com,2012-04-05:2070047:Topic:101841
2012-04-05T19:31:03.648Z
Francisco Nava
http://baparkour.ning.com/profile/FranciscoNava
Hello, my name is Francisco Nava currently a student at California State University Chico. I am working on a research paper about the athletes of Parkour. I believe parkour has become a sub-culture in America and I need more information about the sport and about the athletes themselves . I want to conduct an interview with several athletes via Skype (if possible). Questions will vary but all will be about yourself and parkour. I need about 3 interviewees to finish my task. If interested please…
Hello, my name is Francisco Nava currently a student at California State University Chico. I am working on a research paper about the athletes of Parkour. I believe parkour has become a sub-culture in America and I need more information about the sport and about the athletes themselves . I want to conduct an interview with several athletes via Skype (if possible). Questions will vary but all will be about yourself and parkour. I need about 3 interviewees to finish my task. If interested please reply to the post or my phone number is listed as well. I don't mind text so you can text me at anytime so we can get in contact. You have to be have a background in the sport.<br />
Please send me the following:<br />
Full name<br />
Age<br />
Where you are from<br />
Time doing parkour ( months, years ect.)<br />
What does parkour mean to you.<br />
How do you utilize the philosophy in daily life<br />
<br />
This can be in simple sentences the more the better.<br />
I will select you if I see potential and you could be coming out on an upcoming research at the California State University Chico. Good luck<br />
<br />
<br />
Francisco Nava<br />
California State University, Chico<br />
Cell: 661702421<br />
Email: fnava@mail.csuchico.edu
Parkour and the Human Body (PKGen)
tag:baparkour.ning.com,2012-03-27:2070047:Topic:101445
2012-03-27T04:52:04.694Z
Seng
http://baparkour.ning.com/profile/msgr33
<p>copied from <a href="http://www.parkourgenerations.com/article/parkour-and-human-body">http://www.parkourgenerations.com/article/parkour-and-human-body</a></p>
<p></p>
<p><strong><span class="font-size-4">Parkour and the Human Body</span></strong></p>
<p>by Dan Edwardes</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>It is a fact that up to this point in the short history of parkour (in its modern guise) there has been no way to know, with absolute certainty, what effects the long-term practise of the discipline has…</p>
<p>copied from <a href="http://www.parkourgenerations.com/article/parkour-and-human-body">http://www.parkourgenerations.com/article/parkour-and-human-body</a></p>
<p></p>
<p><strong><span class="font-size-4">Parkour and the Human Body</span></strong></p>
<p>by Dan Edwardes</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>It is a fact that up to this point in the short history of parkour (in its modern guise) there has been no way to know, with absolute certainty, what effects the long-term practise of the discipline has upon the human body. There just isn’t a precedent yet. Even the longest practising individuals are still fairly young, in the prime of health even, and – accidents aside – going strong.</p>
<p>But will this always be the case? From the collected experience of the parkour community it has become clear that certain injuries and degenerate conditions are becoming commonplace, due without doubt to overzealous starts that demand too much of the unprepared practitioner’s body and to incomplete, dangerous training methodologies, or indeed to a combination of the two. Parkour is an immensely physical art, one which places great stresses and exacting forces regularly upon the body – sudden flexions, powerful impacts, deep muscle contractions – all of which can accumulate over long periods (and often without our knowing, until it is too late) to cause lasting damage to joints, tendons, ligaments, and even bones.</p>
<p>The burning question remains: is this what lies in store for us all ?</p>
<p>One thing is for sure: our bodies were <i>not</i> designed to drop, run, and generally bounce around on concrete. Our technology, and therefore our living environment too, has changed radically in the past few hundred years while our bodies themselves remain largely as they have been for the past tens of thousands of years. We are ancient anatomies inhabiting a digital age, and the results include some major incompatibilities.</p>
<p>For example much, if not most, of our modern, urban environment has no give in it whatsoever and even to run (especially to run poorly) on these manufactured surfaces brings jarring shocks to our musculoskeletal structure that, over time, can result in permanent injuries to the knees, hips and back. Throw some ten-foot drops into the mix and this process of attrition can be hugely accelerated.</p>
<p>Does this mean we should all hang up our painstakingly-chosen footwear and quit while we’re ahead so that we can at least walk – and not be wheeled – into our old age..? Of course not: but this assured answer doesn’t come without qualification. The qualification is that your training must be <i>sustainable</i>. And, quite simply, in order for parkour practise to be truly sustainable it must not detract from your overall physical health in any way. Is this possible? The good news is YES, it is – in fact, good parkour training should actually <i>enhance</i> your vitality and <i>strengthen</i> your anatomy all round. How is this possible? Through having a complete, holistic approach to your practise that both <b>prepares</b> and <b>maintains</b> your body for the duration of your training career.</p>
<h2><span class="font-size-3"><strong style="font-size: 19px;"><br/></strong></span></h2>
<h2><span class="font-size-3"><strong style="font-size: 19px;">Preparation</strong></span></h2>
<p>Good preparation includes, of course, a thorough warm-up and warm-down framing every training session. Warm-up methods vary greatly, so do your research and choose what works best for you: raise your body temperature slightly with a good ‘global’, rotate the major joints thoroughly, etc… the important point is that you <i>ease into</i> your training session, and don’t go from 0 to 60 in an instant. A proper warm-down ensures that your body returns to its less-active state correctly and safely, and reduces the likelihood of suffering after-effects the next day or the next time out. Do both, and make them part of your routine.</p>
<p>In the wider context, however, preparation means the correct and comprehensive development of the physical attributes necessary for parkour. All too often beginners, and even some more experienced individuals, will attempt actions that their bodies simply are not capable of performing safely and without incurring damage. The young especially are prone to ignoring these warnings, confident that because they feel no immediate pain or signal from their body that they are doing no harm. Unfortunately you can be accumulating plenty of anatomical damage without even being aware you are doing so, until one day something gives and the result is an ambulance rushing in and someone’s unrealised potential disappearing just as swiftly.</p>
<p>The way to avoid this danger is to build up to each challenge incrementally and gradually. Regular practise of bodyweight, weighted resistance and biomechanical exercises, such as those we utilise at the Parkour Academy, will help the body develop the strength, flexibility, and endurance necessary to keep you safe as your parkour ability improves. Strength training is important, and it's important that you approach it gradually and develop a good base of strength before you begin transferring that to extreme plyometric movements. Regular, safe drilling of the core principles of parkour – balance, precision, sensitivity of touch, fluidity, stealth, etc – will significantly decrease the likelihood of receiving injury or accumulating damage, and will also evolve into the process through which you can overcome those more advanced challenges that can at times seem well beyond your reach.</p>
<p>Lincoln was right – it’s all about good preparation.</p>
<h2><span class="font-size-3"><strong><br/></strong></span></h2>
<h2><span class="font-size-3"><strong>Maintenance</strong></span></h2>
<p>Understand that in order to be able to train safely for many years to come, what you need is <i>regular, continuous</i> preparation. This is a state of mind as much as anything else – the realisation that to be able to maintain your optimum level of performance, you must resist the urge to sit on your laurels and rely on what you have achieved thus far. Your personal training must be complete and it must revolve around progression: it must involve physical conditioning as an integrated aspect of your parkour, and it must be carried out regularly and diligently. Your body is your only tool in parkour (other than those all-important shoes, of course!), so keep it sharp.</p>
<p>A telling measure of the true effectiveness of any discipline – and of its practitioners – is its, and also their, sustainability. Can it be practised for as long as you want, with little or no adverse effects? Are its advocates reduced to shambling mounds of injuries after years of training? If a training method enables you to perform some amazing feats for a short period and then results in premature physical degeneration, it is probably not being done right or done well, or both! As sole guardians of our own health and quality of life, we need to be able to assess our own training methods and ensure they are as safe, effective, and productive as possible.</p>
<p>In order to maintain the highest levels of skill – and, thereby, one’s own safety – it is absolutely vital that you aim to improve constantly, as well as to keep working the basics <i>and</i> keep up with the strength and conditioning exercises. Only such a complete regimen will lead towards constant growth and advancement, while also serving to keep you safe and healthy for the long haul. And longevity is not to be neglected lightly.</p>
<p>Machines need regular maintenance to continue operating at peak performance, and the human body is no different. You only get one, so learn to look after it.</p>
<h2><span class="font-size-4"><strong><br/></strong></span></h2>
<h2><span class="font-size-3"><strong>Performance</strong></span></h2>
<p>The purpose driving our continued efforts, of course, is personal performance: to be able to kong-vault that little bit further or faster; to make that cat-leap that has intimidated us for so long; to scale that unconquered wall with a perfectly smooth double-tap. Performance is what we strive for, no matter what brought us to the pitch in the first place.</p>
<p>And it’s really quite simple. A solid foundation of thorough preparation then maintained by a comprehensive training method will lead, inexorably, to good performance: and to performance that continues to improve as long as this holistic approach is sustained. But this takes work, it takes self-control and real discipline – in fact, it takes something approaching self-mastery. Is that beyond you though? Chances are, if you have chosen parkour as your vehicle you are the sort who likes to aim high anyway. Why not aim for the top?</p>
<p>We want you to be pursuing this incredible activity for as long as you possibly can, safely and healthily, and for you to be physically <i>better</i> for having done so: stronger, faster, more robust, more <i>alive</i>. And with just a little thought, with only a little investment into learning good preparation and maintenance methods, parkour can bring enormous physical and mental benefits to everyone who walks its steep pathways.</p>
<p>Of course, ultimately it is everyone’s individual choice as to how much of a priority they wish to make their long-term health and training needs. Some may wish to live fast and die young, saying that the brightest candle burns quickest – but I would ask, why be a candle? Why not instead nurture and develop the flame until it grows into a powerful and enduring blaze? Why not plan to burn as bright and as long as you can, rather than to resign your body to a meteoric rise and fall? Seems to be an obvious choice to me.</p>
<p></p>
<div class="articleCopyright"><span class="font-size-2"><strong>2012 © <a href="http://www.parkourgenerations.com" target="_blank">Parkour Generations</a></strong></span></div>
"Brick Mansions", by Luc Besson, will feature David Belle
tag:baparkour.ning.com,2011-10-30:2070047:Topic:94764
2011-10-30T06:35:30.760Z
Bay Area Parkour
http://baparkour.ning.com/profile/BayAreaParkour
<p>...and probably Paul Walker ("The Fast and the Furious") in an Hollywood remake of the Paris-set Banlieue 13.</p>
<p>Walker should play the role that was Raffaelli's, while Besson would not make the movie unless Belle would play his role again.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.deadline.com/2011/10/paul-walker-in-talks-for-luc-bessons-district-b-13-redo-brick-mansions" target="_blank">http://www.deadline.com/2011/10/paul-walker-in-talks-for-luc-bessons-district-b-13-redo-brick-mansions</a></p>
<p>...and probably Paul Walker ("The Fast and the Furious") in an Hollywood remake of the Paris-set Banlieue 13.</p>
<p>Walker should play the role that was Raffaelli's, while Besson would not make the movie unless Belle would play his role again.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.deadline.com/2011/10/paul-walker-in-talks-for-luc-bessons-district-b-13-redo-brick-mansions" target="_blank">http://www.deadline.com/2011/10/paul-walker-in-talks-for-luc-bessons-district-b-13-redo-brick-mansions</a></p>
BAPK featured in not so good article
tag:baparkour.ning.com,2011-10-24:2070047:Topic:94053
2011-10-24T07:53:38.201Z
Ryan Fulmer
http://baparkour.ning.com/profile/RyanFulmer
<a href="http://elestoque.org/2011/10/17/entertainment/parkour-life-edge/">http://elestoque.org/2011/10/17/entertainment/parkour-life-edge/</a>
<a href="http://elestoque.org/2011/10/17/entertainment/parkour-life-edge/">http://elestoque.org/2011/10/17/entertainment/parkour-life-edge/</a>
NYTimes: Can a Playground Be Too Safe?
tag:baparkour.ning.com,2011-07-20:2070047:Topic:83753
2011-07-20T08:38:38.456Z
Seng
http://baparkour.ning.com/profile/msgr33
<p>I think we all know the answer to this one.</p>
<p>----</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/19/science/19tierney.html?_r=1">http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/19/science/19tierney.html?_r=1</a></p>
<h1 class="articleHeadline">Can a Playground Be Too Safe?</h1>
<h6 class="byline">By <a class="meta-per" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/t/john_tierney/index.html?inline=nyt-per" rel="author" title="More Articles by John Tierney">JOHN TIERNEY…</a></h6>
<p>I think we all know the answer to this one.</p>
<p>----</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/19/science/19tierney.html?_r=1">http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/19/science/19tierney.html?_r=1</a></p>
<h1 class="articleHeadline">Can a Playground Be Too Safe?</h1>
<h6 class="byline">By <a rel="author" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/t/john_tierney/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More Articles by John Tierney" class="meta-per">JOHN TIERNEY</a></h6>
<h6 class="dateline">Published: July 18, 2011</h6>
<div class="articleInline runaroundLeft"><div class="inlineImage module"><p class="caption"><strong>LIVE AND LEARN</strong> A bad fall may mean a child is less likely to have a fear of heights later in life.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="readerscomment" class="inlineLeft"></div>
<p>“I grew up on the monkey bars in Fort Tryon Park, and I never forgot how good it felt to get to the top of them,” Mr. Stern said. “I didn’t want to see that playground bowdlerized. I said that as long as I was parks commissioner, those monkey bars were going to stay.”</p>
<p>His philosophy seemed reactionary at the time, but today it’s shared by some researchers who question the value of safety-first playgrounds. Even if children do suffer fewer physical injuries — and the evidence for that is debatable — the critics say that these playgrounds may stunt emotional development, leaving children with anxieties and fears that are ultimately worse than a <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/injury/broken-bone/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Broken bone." class="meta-classifier">broken bone</a>.</p>
<p>“Children need to encounter risks and overcome fears on the playground,” said Ellen Sandseter, a professor of <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/psychology_and_psychologists/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="Recent and archival health news about psychology." class="meta-classifier">psychology</a> at Queen Maud University in Norway. “I think monkey bars and tall slides are great. As playgrounds become more and more boring, these are some of the few features that still can give children thrilling experiences with heights and high speed.”</p>
<p>After observing children on playgrounds in Norway, England and Australia, <a title="EECER Journal article" href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13502930701321733">Dr. Sandseter identified six categories of risky play</a>: exploring heights, experiencing high speed, handling dangerous tools, being near dangerous elements (like water or fire), rough-and-tumble play (like wrestling), and wandering alone away from adult supervision. The most common is climbing heights.</p>
<p>“Climbing equipment needs to be high enough, or else it will be too boring in the long run,” Dr. Sandseter said. “Children approach thrills and risks in a progressive manner, and very few children would try to climb to the highest point for the first time they climb. The best thing is to let children encounter these challenges from an early age, and they will then progressively learn to master them through their play over the years.”</p>
<p>Sometimes, of course, their mastery fails, and falls are the common form of playground injury. But these rarely cause permanent damage, either physically or emotionally. While some <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/psychology_and_psychologists/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="Recent and archival health news about psychologists." class="meta-classifier">psychologists</a> — and many parents — have worried that a child who suffered a bad fall would develop a fear of heights, studies have shown the opposite pattern: A child who’s hurt in a fall before the age of 9 is less likely as a teenager to have a fear of heights.</p>
<p>By gradually exposing themselves to more and more dangers on the playground, children are using the same habituation techniques developed by therapists to help adults conquer <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/phobia-simplespecific/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Phobia - simple/specific." class="meta-classifier">phobias</a>, according to Dr. Sandseter and a fellow psychologist, Leif Kennair, of the Norwegian University for Science and Technology.</p>
<p>“Risky play mirrors effective cognitive behavioral therapy of anxiety,” <a href="http://www.epjournal.net/filestore/EP092572842.pdf">they write in the journal Evolutionary Psychology</a>, concluding that this “anti-phobic effect” helps explain the evolution of children’s fondness for thrill-seeking. While a youthful zest for exploring heights might not seem adaptive — why would natural selection favor children who risk death before they have a chance to reproduce? — the dangers seemed to be outweighed by the benefits of conquering fear and developing a sense of mastery.</p>
<p>“Paradoxically,” the psychologists write, “we posit that our fear of children being harmed by mostly harmless injuries may result in more fearful children and increased levels of psychopathology.”</p>
<p>The old tall jungle gyms and slides disappeared from most American playgrounds across the country in recent decades because of parental concerns, federal guidelines, new safety standards set by manufacturers and — the most frequently cited factor — fear of lawsuits.</p>
<p>Shorter equipment with enclosed platforms was introduced, and the old pavement was replaced with rubber, wood chips or other materials designed for softer landings. These innovations undoubtedly prevented some injuries, but <a title="David Ball, " href="http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/4990/">some experts question their overall value.</a></p>
<p>“There is no clear evidence that playground safety measures have lowered the average risk on playgrounds,” said David Ball, a professor of risk management at Middlesex University in London. He noted that the risk of some injuries, like long fractures of the arm, actually increased after the introduction of softer surfaces on playgrounds in Britain and Australia.</p>
<p>“This sounds counterintuitive, but it shouldn’t, because it is a common phenomenon,” Dr. Ball said. “If children and parents believe they are in an environment which is safer than it actually is, they will take more risks. An argument against softer surfacing is that children think it is safe, but because they don’t understand its properties, they overrate its performance.”</p>
<p>Reducing the height of playground equipment may help toddlers, but it can produce unintended consequences among bigger children. “Older children are discouraged from taking healthy <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/specialtopic/physical-activity/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Physical activity." class="meta-classifier">exercise</a> on playgrounds because they have been designed with the safety of the very young in mind,” Dr. Ball said. “Therefore, they may play in more dangerous places, or not at all.”</p>
<p><a title="Douglas Martin, NYT" href="http://www.nytimes.com/1996/04/11/nyregion/that-upside-down-high-will-be-only-a-memory-monkey-bars-fall-to-safety-pressures.html?scp=1&sq=Douglas+Martin+playgrounds+monkey+bars&st=nyt">Fear of litigation led New York City officials</a> to remove seesaws, merry-go-rounds and the ropes that young Tarzans used to swing from one platform to another. Letting children swing on tires became taboo because of fears that the heavy swings could bang into a child.</p>
<p>“What happens in America is defined by tort lawyers, and unfortunately that limits some of the adventure playgrounds,” said <a title="Mr. Benepe’s home page" href="http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_ask_commissioner/ask_the_commissioner.html">Adrian Benepe</a>, the current parks commissioner. But while he misses the Tarzan ropes, he’s glad that the litigation rate has declined, and he’s not nostalgic for asphalt pavement.</p>
<p>“I think safety surfaces are a godsend,” he said. “I suspect that parents who have to deal with <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/concussion/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Concussion." class="meta-classifier">concussions</a> and broken arms wouldn’t agree that playgrounds have become too safe.” The ultra-safe enclosed platforms of the 1980s and 1990s may have been an overreaction, Mr. Benepe said, but lately there have been more creative alternatives.</p>
<p>“The good news is that manufacturers have brought out new versions of the old toys,” he said. “Because of height limitations, no one’s building the old monkey bars anymore, but kids can go up smaller climbing walls and rope nets and artificial rocks.”</p>
<p>Still, sometimes there’s nothing quite like being 10 feet off the ground, as a new generation was discovering the other afternoon at Fort Tryon Park. A soft rubber surface carpeted the pavement, but the jungle gym of Mr. Stern’s youth was still there. It was the prime destination for many children, including those who’d never seen one before, like Nayelis Serrano, a 10-year-old from the South Bronx who was visiting her cousin.</p>
<p>When she got halfway up, at the third level of bars, she paused, as if that was high enough. Then, after a consultation with her mother, she continued to the top, the fifth level, and descended to recount her triumph.</p>
<p>“I was scared at first,” she explained. “But my mother said if you don’t try, you’ll never know if you could do it. So I took a chance and kept going. At the top I felt very proud.” As she headed back for another climb, her mother, Orkidia Rojas, looked on from a bench and considered the pros and cons of this unfamiliar equipment.</p>
<p>“It’s fun,” she said. “I’d like to see it in our playground. Why not? It’s kind of dangerous, I know, but if you just think about danger you’re never going to get ahead in life.”</p>
about the future of Parkour
tag:baparkour.ning.com,2011-06-22:2070047:Topic:81054
2011-06-22T08:59:55.345Z
Bay Area Parkour
http://baparkour.ning.com/profile/BayAreaParkour
<p><em>"<strong>Parkour is changing and will continue to change. Some of the change is in our control and some of it is not. Savvy parkour practitioners will not shy away from these uncertainties. Instead, they will seek to understand the forces that are leading to change. By being aware of these forces, we can better examine our efforts in a larger context, enabling us to make a positive impact on parkour.</strong>"</em></p>
<p><em> …</em></p>
<p></p>
<p><em>"<strong>Parkour is changing and will continue to change. Some of the change is in our control and some of it is not. Savvy parkour practitioners will not shy away from these uncertainties. Instead, they will seek to understand the forces that are leading to change. By being aware of these forces, we can better examine our efforts in a larger context, enabling us to make a positive impact on parkour.</strong>"</em></p>
<p><em> </em></p>
<p><strong><a target="_blank" href="http://parkourhorizons.org/?page_id=5">Parkour Horizon</a>'s Joe Torchia</strong> wrote a nice, clean-cut, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.parkourgenerations.com/blog/shaping-parkour%E2%80%99s-future-0">article about Parkour future for the PKGenerations blog</a>. Among the issues addressed:</p>
<p>- Understanding Change</p>
<p>- Forces for Change</p>
<p>- Forces for Preservation</p>
<p>- Learn and Adapt</p>
<p>Go check it out at: <a href="http://www.parkourgenerations.com/blog/shaping-parkour%E2%80%99s-future-0">http://www.parkourgenerations.com/blog/shaping-parkour%E2%80%99s-future-0</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>"<strong>For now, while parkour remains fairly unknown to the rest of the world. The focus remains on capturing untapped markets but, in the future, the focus will turn towards innovation and marketing.</strong>"</em></p>