"Do you want to come on Sunday to meet these guys who do that jumping stuff?"

"Do you want to come on Sunday to meet these guys who do that jumping stuff?" That is what got me into Parkour. No fancy video. No impressive photography just a good friend saying lets go and try this stuff out. I have much to thank T for. We went along and met some of the best traceurs and generally nice guys I know. Friv Sam, PyschicMoney, stuart, Superspiderman and the other Winchester guys. It was raining but still went together as a group around Southampton. I was shown how to Gate vault and did a 270 to cat. It opened my eyes to a whole new group of people and friendship that can come.

After that day, T, myself and Andy went out nearly everyday to do things we thought were Parkour. The more we did it the more we saw that we were different. T was more of a free runner, I was more trying to understand how it all fitted together and Andy was just enjoying pushing himself.

Roll on to Jan 2005

The MONSTER JAMS, LOTS OF PEOPLE 60+ I think (well done PyschicMoney) . We ended splitting into many groups because of the massive size. Friv Sam asked me to take one group to castle house while he took another to East Street. This was kind of a turning point for me. It showed that I could get some respect here by just doing something I enjoyed and not going out there trying to win people over. The jam went well and opened my eyes to a lot more things.

Feb 2005.
The next slightly smaller monster Jam. I helped pyschicmonkey take some beginners to Castle House. We were scared by what we found. We found kids who were prepared to jump from stupid heights in the name of PARKOUR. We tried to explain what they were doing was stupid but they were not prepared to listen. This scared me and made me almost give up on PK cause of the image it could have been give.

Now I did some form of PK nearly everyday, but took it more as a chilling out session. Evenings with Friv Sam, random 14hour sessions with Sym. I was happy; I had found my equals that supported me through this. Not many people understood why I did PK, especially me.

I wanted to start a website for Parkour in Southampton. Discussed this with Pyschic Monkey, we saw SCPK as a website for Portsmouth. After talking to Friv Sam he said don’t bother just get us to join SCPK. So I became a more committed member to SCPK.

During this time I did my ankle in. It hurt like hell, couldn't walk on it for a day. I assumed this was the end of my PK but my mind wouldn’t let me. I had made too many friends to throw it all away. PK is partially the reason why I messed up my second year of exams at university. I gave more into PK then I did into my university. BIG MISTAKE.

I felt myself getting continually worse and worse because of my injury. I started more of looking into what Parkour was. The big picture. How in someway it had changed me. For GOOD and BAD.

I got more involved with teaching, more involved with meeting. Then I disappeared from the south. I went home to my parents in the midlands. Two months, I couldn’t find any local PK groups and my ankle was tough.

If it wasn’t for the bond I had formed between, Kalum (Spartan), Sym and Stuz I am pretty sure I would not be doing PK now. Keeping their friendship was important and that kept me doing PK.

Life continued as normal until September. Stuz and I fell out. Though it was my own fault and it is better now it was a very big thing. This drove me away from everyone. Not just Sym and Kalum but for what happened. It set me on a downward spiral that I have only just now really started to sort out.

My interest in PK faded again over the next few months. I came back with real interest when I was at home over the Xmas break. Still embarrassed about how I had acted but wanting to get back into everything. Still not seeing this past the local level. I decided I needed to spread the word of SCPK more. I went to all the local areas that I could in the first few weeks of January. (OK I missed Portsmouth I have a very good reason to but can be seen as a very bad reason as well).

I met more people. I rekindled my interest. This time with more devotion. More passion. I really started looking at the bigger picture.

theButton got me involved with some of the stuff happening on the parkour.net. mainly he showed me the UK assoc. I thought this was a wonderful Idea. but as time went on I started to feel disgusted by various people and their attitudes and how the ASSOC could easily follow these fears I have in my head. I can not go into details here.

---

Today I am minion. I am a guy who has been around his own personal head with Parkour many times. I have used it to get me through lots of stuff. With out you guys here GOD alone knows where I would be. I try to put a lot into this community, I don’t care about PK as a job or the national scene really or getting my name out there. I do this as a past time, a way to reflect on my life, a freedom of expression. I don’t question anyone unless something isn’t safe or leading people the wrong way about what Parkour is.

I have made some amazing friends through this art/sport/discipline/thing to do on a dry weekend

So Thank You,

So what have i gained from PK? Friends, commitment, something to beleive in and a cuddly highland cow called Rhubarb Jr.

What more could a man want?

My only fear is that the freedom to do what I do will be taken away from me.

---

Update (19/06/2006)

As I hit the 18month mark, and realize that I have now been injured for around 15months I wondered what more there is for me to do.

I have hit a wall with what I can do with SCPK now. I wonder if it is time to move on. I think I have reached the time when most people who train stop with the forums and go out there with a new seriousness. I can’t do that. The reasons I did parkour, the friends the community its great but it is no longer enough for me. I don’t feel I can leave the scene but I don’t feel I can progress anymore without getting out there and doing something. Something I cannot do.

I can barely run this last weekend after playing volleyball for 10mins. I have always been an active person and this last year has killed me. I am now waiting for a surgeon to assess my ankle to see if I need surgery or not. If this is the case it rules me out for 1-2 years then recovery time with the physio which will probable be another 12 months. 3years of watching what I have seen in the last year. I don’t know if I can do it. Though I have done a fair amount with SCPK it’s not as much as people think. I didn’t start this place; I seem to be telling someone this nearly every week. I am sick of falling into the stereotypical free runner type, i.e. someone who spends more time on the internet then training.

I can see how parkour has changed my perspective about certain things. Without parkour being a big part of me I would not be how I am now. It has helped me with many things. I wouldn’t have made me who how I am.

I am not saying I am leaving. I just don’t know if I want to stay. I am just feeling such a hypercritical fool when I tell people to go out on train. I don’t think I will ever have the time to progress the physical side of parkour after regaining fitness and everything. Even if I magically heal up today I just have things I would rather be doing. Also despite my best efforts, I no longer find what i am doing rewarding.

I would like to say thanks to many of you. Sym/Sparky/Mitch/Ash/Button/Timmers and of course Blueprint for starting this place



I am not leaving you guys…..Yet