Parkour+Commercialization

[Kirill]

Parkour+Commercialization will lead to Competition. Many of the traceurs of the parkour community attempt to gain money from practicing parkour. Many even envision (the possibility) that parkour will be in the x-games. This frustrates me 3 times. 1- Parkour is not PRO competition. 2- It is NOT an extreme sport. 3- commerce.

The ultimate sate of commercialism is competition. Why>?
Simply because it is the EASIEST way of getting the public to "buy parkour". It is the easiest, because, first of all- the whole event. I cant even imagine how many people would watch parkour in the x-games. Second, a bunch of people could easily be attracted to this "opportunity". Third, Parkour is an ever growing discipline. some kids will sell their motherland in order to see "pro" parkour.

Many of us, start thinking. "Well, what about the initial philosophy of parkour?"
well, the initial philosophy goes into the bin once the money starts pumping. Our "Philosophy" and mentality is pretty insignificant to the person who wants to make money. The people who see the $$$ in Parkour, dont really care about its philosophy. They just want to fill their ever ending greed. (Same thing- why cant a person stop in the casino). Even if they are getting some money out of it already, 5.10.....etc. Urban free flow... they wont stop.

Most of this is common sense.

I have no idea what Parkour will be in the future, but certainly hope it will NEVER be in the x-games.

Feel free just to post anything either Pro or against commercialism.

I have no idea why i wrote that, but it read on the the people's biography on the 5.10 sponsor list, and it made me sick.

[SafeNSure]

Thanks K..
Attached above, this image:

As you may have noticed we display that very logo on our main page among BApk endorsed communities, since we consider the traceurs not-in-favor-of-competition a worldwide movement.

In particular please refer to this page for BApk founders and organizers precise stand on this heartfelt issue.

[hillexallen]

How about we actually DO SOMETHING to keep parkour non-commercial.

I don't mind sponsorship, I don't mind Ninja Warrior, I don't mind 5.10 selling parkour shoes.
I can't stand organized competitions and the selling of "ADAPT" teaching licenses. Companies do not own parkour, we do.

So, I started the "let's do something" thread to start doing something about this, but people said "I don't care." How about we try again, maybe more people will be interested.

I have started going to every parkour video I see and posting something anti-competition. I will continue to do so.

So let's get organized and do something. Let's face it: BAPK is anti-competition, but it's not actually doing anything to prevent competition.

[lethalbeef]

ADAPT is a competition? I thought it was just a certification for instructors.

[orem]

no, he was mentioning he couldn't stand them as well as competition

[Seng]

It sounds like the tough part about the ADAPT certification is that it was brought on by forces outside of parkour (ie organizations for gymnastics and other related disciplines) who were going to co-opt parkour because it is, in the eyes of capitalist market forces, unclaimed territory so whoever set up a certification program fastest basically owned it. The question is then, who better to be officially recognized (and by official, I mean government and business, not the people who really matter, ie current and future practitioners), folks from inside or outside the community?

[pyz.particle]

Really, the certification thing is just a concession to allow parkour to expand faster. Schools and organizations which have the choice of implementing parkour need to find teachers who are qualified to teach safely and effectively. In addition to that, there are liability issues and parent concerns which add to the trouble of including parkour. Thus it is much more convenient and expedient that a certification process be in place for parkour instructors.

[hillexallen]

Well, do we really need schools and organizations to teach parkour?

I think it's better if practitioners just teach each other and learn from themselves.

[pyz.particle]

So you don't want people to learn parkour? Most people don't participate in parkour not because they don't want to, but because they are uncomfortable about it, don't know about it, or don't know where to start it. One way to drastically speed the process of allowing people to experience parkour, and actually allowing them the choice to "live parkour", is to teach it in schools and organizations. The only significant way of getting schools and organizations to teach parkour, is to make it favorable for them to do so, thus making it imperative that there is a stable organization.

[Fyrel]

The difference is that learning parkour and finding your own way is part of what parkour is. It's not something that is set in stone; there is no set way to get over any particular obstacle. Something one person finds efficient may not be for others. Sure basics can be taught, but a rigid curriculum inhibits the creativity of what one can do with his/her surroundings. Suppose we did have widespread classes; how would we not end up with just a bunch of hooligans who can kong vault over a table?

Don't know if I'm making any sense, I'm pretty tired atm.

[hillexallen]

Yeah, I'm saying that if schools start to teach parkour, the kids will miss out on their opportunity to "find their own way". and, do we really want EVERYBODY to learn parkour, even the ones who want it to be commercialized and competitive.

[pyz.particle]

You miss my point, I'm not advocating for schools to teach parkour from the very basic levels to the very advanced. They should only teach very basic and almost standard stuff. Which for someone who really wanted to do parkour or would do parkour given the fact that they knew about it, the school/organization would be a good stepping stone. If they really want to "live parkour" after learning the basics they would pursue parkour on their own. Otherwise, they were part of some class, had some fun, and forgot about it.
The big advantage of parkour classes, and certified instructors, is that more people can know parkour and start it in a controlled environment. I don't know about you but I don't think most people are comfortable with starting something like parkour by trawling through forums and then heading out to some strange place to meet a bunch of strangers. Hell, thats prolly half the reason why a bunch of new people don't come...

[hillexallen]

I'm just not sure we want to get all students practicing parkour. It would cause more liability concerns and more commercialization and competition, as kids love to compete.