Introduction to Parkour, Myself, and Thoughts

Hi, welcome to this "blog" of sorts. I figured I would start one of these things just to put my ideas down onto paper and maybe someone can come across it and understand a little more where we in the Parkour and Free Running world come from.

First and foremost, an introduction. I am Mike and am currently the president of the Iowa State Parkour club. I started the club with a friend back in the summer of 2007 as a means to expose people to the disciplines, but to also provide them with a safe learning environment for them. We generated a lot of excitement from the Clubfests and over the months, a handful of people still remained and VERY VERY passionate about Parkour and Free Running.

One of our highlights was gaining the acceptance of Jay and Mary Ronayne. Jay is the head coach of the University's gymnastics team, and his wife Mary is the director of gymnastics operations. Jay and Mary also "own" (is that the right word?) the gymnastics center at one of our physical education halls where the university team practices. Turns out Jay and Mary are fans of Parkour and let us use their facilities.

This was the highlight of most of the members' weeks as we got to use the facilities one night per week for the whole school year. It turned people apathetic about gymnastics into fans, but more importantly gave them an outlet to practice their skills in a lower risk environment (much lower than outdoors). It was some of the most fun I've had in a very very very long time, and every week I looked forward to Wednesdays.

Of course, there were miscommunications with some of the university and police. Many police expressed that they did not care if we were doing it as long as we weren't climbing up buildings and not severely hurting any property. Some university officials also expressed they did not mind, while some did. We are trying to work out everything though.

Oh yeah, I forgot to say what Parkour is. In short, it is a discipline using your own body and surroundings to get from point A to point B as efficiently as possible. Free running is similar, except the need to get around as efficiently as possible is not there. Instead, free running is more centered on aesthetic movement such as flips and twists.

In short though, this blog is to provide a little more understanding of what exactly we do and why. Many people cannot understand much of what we do and I hope this blog can make a little bridge of understanding.