Wageningenparkour
  History & Philosophy
 

The sport about big jumps?
What is Parkour, Freerunning and ADD? Is it the same?
Where does it come from and what are we doing?

Introduction

At first I will answer very short the question if it is the sport of the big jumps.The sport inclueds jumps etc., but the big jumps are a side effect.There are other aspects which are the core and they will be explaned in this article. However there are people starting doing "parkour" etc. just to be cool. That is not what is ment by the founders of the disciplen and not what we are doing in Wageningen.
Some people say it is not the same and say parkour is the shortest and most efficient way from A to B, freerunning is doing tricks on one place and ADD is also something else, but other people say it is the same and it is an art of creative movement.

History

If you have a look at the history of Parkour and Frerunning you will soon find the name David Belle and after some time you will also hear “Yamakasi”, “L'art du déplacement”, “Lisse” and Sébastien Foucan. To understand how this al is connected this part will start at the beginning of the disciplines. The clip "SALTUS - A Brief History of Movement" from JUMP Freerun already gives a nice impression and very basic overview about the different styles and the development.

The foundation / beginning

David Belle and his father Raymond Belle, who was a former Vietnam soldier, are probably the founders of this movement. Raymond Belle teached his son in the forests of North France Méthode Naturelle.  

Méthode Naturelle

Méthode Naturelle, also known as Hébertisme, is a discipline, which already includes a physical and mental training, in the nature. The motto of this discipline was „Être fort pour être utile“ (Be strong to be useful). The other main parts of the training are
  • Resistance
  • Strength
  • Speed ​​and explosiveness
  • Walking, running, jumping, climbing, lifting, throwing, balancing, self-defense, swimming and moving on all fours.
(Wikipedia.de)

With the age of 11 David Belle moved to Lisses in France and practiced with some in the town (not only in the forests). One of his friends was Sebastien Foucan, who later founded Freerunning. Sometime later some of them formed a group and called themselves Yamakasi and there discipline "L'art du déplacement" (ADD) which they developed end of the ’80. David Belle had the feeling that Yamakasi was not crediting his father enough and called the discipline parkour, derivative from the French military discipline parcour.

L'art du dépplacement (ADD)

As the name says it is an art of movement. This means that the movement is an art itself and that there is interaction with others like every other art.
For the Yamakasi there discipline / ADD were a spiritual form of exercise and much more than just a sport. Brotherhood and altruism was very important for them. This also means that everyone is the same (independent of level, body properties etc.) Furthermore they handled the roll that they finisch together what they started together. They also wanted to show themselves in a good way to the public. This was not alone due to movement but also with other art (music etc.) (Parkour Disciplines).  By ADD creativity and experimenting is also very important. Consequently a movement does not need to be useful. Consequently ADD is not so much about being fast between two points during the training, but more about an art and having a flow. Moreover it allows you to train on your own, to develop your own style, find your personal challenges and to find out what your own body can. Always it is important to be one with your body and the obstacle.
However if you are in a nod situation this movements and abilities can be useful. As you don’t know how such a situation looks like. (Daniel van Wissen van THS).

Parkour

People who are doing parkour are called traceur (boy / man) resp. traceuse (girl / woman) and it is manly a displacement of Méthode Naturelle from the forests into the city. The motto and the core remained the same.
To train the body very often bodyweight conditioning is used. A very importand part of parkour is to challeng your selfe and to have no limitations.
This is also shown very well in the following documentaries.

by Darknlight55


by Obsidian1138

Development of Freerunning

Sometime later out of parkour freerunning developed.The reason for this was that David Belle and Sébastien Foucan had different needs. David Belle kept the name parkour and for Sébastien Foucan is a name just a name so that he called it "freerunning". Sébastien Foucan does not have the need to do tricks and flips outside, but to express himself due to movement. He also wanted a more personal movement where he could use his own method, practice and include everything he likes. This can for example be parts from a dance. Furthermore he wanted to expend from overcoming every physical obstacle to every obstacle in life. For him there should not be the question “what if”, but “is it really what I want?” This can be illustrated with a example. Imagine you are standing on top of a building and you are thinking about jumping to another one (you can jump the distance). Then you should not ask yourself what will happen if you fail, but do you really want to get to the other side (with the jump)? If the answer is yes you should go for it (and take the risk). As a main point is to express yourself doe to movement freerunning will probably not so much influence your life than that your life influences freerunning. With other words which to express yourself doe to movement already exists and freerunning will make it possible. On the other hand you learn to overcome every obstacle; not only physical and that will influence your life. Furthermore it will help to make a choice and to stick to it as you learn to take the risk, if you really want to reach the goal. The following documentary gives even more information about freerunning and Sébastien Foucan.
by LondonRealTV

Is ADD, Parkour and Freerunning a lifestyle?

As you have already seen there are lots of similarities within ADD, Parkour and Frerunning. Because of this the question if it is just a sport or even a lifestyle will be discussed for all together and ADD, parkour and freeruning will just be addressed as parkour as it is the discipline out of witch the other developed.

As you already have seen in the documentary “Nature of Challenge” from Northern parkour and parkour 101 by Darknlight55 parkour can have a big impact on the life and can be seen as a lifestyle.
Moreover parkour can improve your self confidence and how you think about things. It is possible to project the “sport” into daily life and to see for example a exam or new working conditions as a challenge and from parkour you know that you can succeed if you try hard enough resp. from freerunning that you should go for it. Furthermore al the disciplines give a feeling of 100% freedom. Some aspacts are also mentioned in the following documentary.


by LearnParkourTV

If it becomes a part of the life of a traceur / traceuse and how he / she sees Parkour is up to the person self, but the chances are high that a serieus traceur / traceuse will include it in some way into daily live.

Summary

As a very short summary it can be said that ADD and parkour are the original names and disciplines coming from Méthode Naturelle. There is a big discussion if the three terms (parkour, freerunning and ADD) are the same or something different. The three terms are very cloth together but perhaps it can be sayed that the origenal parkour does not include flips. However the idea remains the same and non of the disciplines is a comepetitiv sport. It is always about you and wat you want to do with the obsacle. This also means that everyone can do it.
It also means something different for everyone and it can be a live style, but probably everyone agrees on that point that it is 100 % freedom.

If you want to watch and reed more about parkour, ADD and freerunning then have a look at the links.

What Wageningenparkour is doing

What we are doing in Wageningen can't realy be put into one correct term as we include the philosophy from the Yamakasi and the motto and focus from Méthode Naturelle as much as we can. Tracers as well as traceusen who want to express themselvs doe to movement are just as welcome as those who don't. Ofcouse people who want to start are welcome as well.
This means among other that everyone is the same (independent of level, body properties etc.) and we handle the roll that we finish together what they started together. We also use the environment in our own personal creative way and try to find new challenges. Furthermore we want to show ourselves in a good way to the public and our motto is „Être fort pour être utile“ (Be strong to be useful).
 
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