APK-Motion Inc. Deal

[hillexallen]

http://www.americanparkour.com/content/view/4380/373/

"The primary objective of the deal is to grow the sport into a global entertainment franchise and league competition through live events, a television platform and brand extension opportunities across sponsorship, consumer products, new media and gaming."

It's too bad that the primary objective is not to improve oneself any longer.

I've lost hope for "saving" parkour from corporate control.

The best we can do now is continue to practice well, and get as many people as we can to join us.

I'm not going to debate on this thread, or about this issue.

[Seng]

Wow, that is depressing. It's hard to see how any good can come of this, perhaps only despite it. I'm not losing hope in rebuking corporate control of parkour (just like I don't lose hope for the same in other interests in my life), but do agree that we need to continue to practice and promote correct mindfulness, not just spectacular moves. The two aspects aren't mutually exclusive; they need to be presented as two parts of one thing and if people do become attracted to parkour because of this venture, we need to be prepared to receive more practitioners and help them in the right direction (which I think BApk is doing well, just may need to be prepared to do it for more people).

[hillexallen]

YES

[SafeNSure]

Thanks Alex, for being always on the watchtower about these issues!
Contrary to what a lot of other 'reputable PK voices' told you (or about you), you -or anybody your age, for what matters- are neither too young, nor too inexperienced to understand what's going on; and the world really doesn't need more people saying "it's all good", and just sit back and relax...

Having said that, this was obviously somehow predictable, and of course in the works for years:
Beginning with UFF (Urban Free Flow) and their Redbull Art of Motion first, and the Barclaycard Championships then, and arriving at the upcoming debut on MTV of WFPF's Ultimate Parkour Challenge, it was only a matter of time and opportunity for The Tribe, the professional organization behind APK, to get a piece of the cake...

Now, what is really important to understand is that 'the cake' is not us... it's the viewers-at-home-community... not the PK folks.
Thus, even with all this competition among media/entertainment companies popping up, the communities and their members will not be able to steer, even partially, the way these events are going to be produced; only the program ratings will, based on targeted audience liking and/or following...

So, "yes" what mesSENGer33 said: doing more and better to grow and foster the base, but also being ready, after the partial meltdown of the national community network (PKNA), to jump on board of eventual upcoming initiatives, seriously aimed at involving practitioners for the sake of the progress and expansion of Parkour practice, reputation and philosophy... not to turn a quick media-buck.

Ha! Very important: all trademarks mentioned are property of their respective copyright holders... LOL!
;)

[Bay Area Parkour]

One factual aspect of this is that, due to the involvement of such a reputable name like FremantleMedia, Reuters picked up the news and crystallized the following statement:

Parkour is defined as "getting somewhere quickly and efficiently using the human body," while freerunning is defined as "moving through your environment however you want, moving your way and following your own path."; which would probably see the majority of nowadays practitioners agreeing with.

The problem is: how are the two branches of the discipline gonna be displayed, and how explicit will this separation -pretty straightforward on paper, but fuzzy in real life- remain.

Also, this description still misses out on Parkour safety and longevity criteria, intrinsic to its emergency/utilitarian use.