Comunicating The Positive Values That Parkour Strives To Uphold--Parkour Meets Public Judgement!

Communicating the positive values that Parkour strives to uphold—Parkour meets public judgement!

I decided to write this short piece on what, in my opinion, is the easiest way to train in public in South Africa. I believe that it is each and every one of ours responsibility as Traceurs to ensure that we do not bring any bad publicity to PK in the country. It takes one bad incident to shut down an entire training facility, which often has a knock on effect with other public places. Since Parkour is still relatively new in South Africa, I think that we should all learn from past mistakes and help strive to create a positive and pleasant national (and international) view in the minds of others, on what Parkour is all about.

Training in public is where PK meets the world and stands before countless eyes for judgement, whether we like it or not. Since the PK spirit, or the essence of Parkour is a pure and completely Utilitarian one (some may chose to disagree), it is important that we allow this to be known to the public through our actions and interactions with them and our environments we use to train. A human being can see the difference between a noble act and an act of vandalism, and no good person will willingly prevent a group or community from expressing themselves when the only thing that they have to offer to the community is health, respect, love, and voluntary work. Unfortunately these aspects of Parkour are often not seen by public authorities and only the scuff marks and broken bones are associated with the “new craze called Parkour”.
Here I would like to throw some ideas around that have really worked well with me, on how to communicate the positive attributes to the public during training sessions.

Respect:
Although we may not understand how it is disrespectful to run up a wall that may even be durable, old and dirty, to someone else you may just look like a drunken man walking the streets at night with his friends, bored and looking for some excitement. Even explaining to a security guard, that you are a Freerunner or Traceur will not work because your explanation will just confirm his original thoughts.

When we bear this in mind, it becomes clear that when a security guard or an owner of a building approaches you in an aggressive or distressed manor, it is because this person generally is distressed or feels as though he needs to be aggressive to make his point clear. I found that the best thing to do here is to communicate what you are doing to this person by showing him. I normally just say “sorry, we are only exercising and trying to stay fit”. Then stop whatever it was that pissed the dude off so much and tell him that you won’t do it again. Then right away replace it with an exercise that this person can recognize and relate to as exercise instead of mischievousness. Push ups or squats would be a good idea.

You get to squeeze in some extra conditioning and you also get to show the person that what you are doing is actually only positive. After you have made your physical point say thanks to him for understanding and tell the dude to enjoy his night shift and move onto the next spot. The next time you bump into that guard on duty, at least you respected his wishes and at the same time educated him as to what you and your friends are about. He will probably be left with such an “arb” memory of the night he bumped into those weird dudes that can’t afford gym contracts that the next time he sees you it will be a much more positive meeting.

As long as you have respected his authority and communicated in his language what you are doing (exercise in case you don’t know), then you have laid the foundation for a good relationship. The guy can’t call management because a few people are doing push ups on public property.

Damaging property is definitely not cool—Honesty and responsibility
Plainly said if you damage the property then it’s as good as banning yourself, and not only yourself but the entire PK community. This being said, it is important that you inspect your surfaces and rails to ensure that they can hold your weight. The idea is to LEAVE NO TRACE! Not caring about whether something breaks is not only disrespectful to the owners or management, but is disrespectful to the PK community as it is our training facility that is being damaged.

If something is ever broken (and it happens all the time) then the right thing to do is to take responsibility for it and pay for it to be fixed. This act will impress who ever it is that is in charge and again the Utilitarian aspect of PK is communicated in this action. It might cost money but money is money and that’s all it will be. I even would go as far as staying off clearly visible, plastered walls. These types of walls that stand out clearly will definitely attract attention if there are scuff marks on it. Just like all our other human actions, our PK actions towards our environment need to be sustainable! If they are not then there is imbalance which has no place in a Traceurs vocabulary.

Keep your playground clean—Willingness to give back thanklessly and contribute positively
If I am a security guard or the managing agent of a shopping mall, and I see a whole bunch of young men and woman cleaning up bits of litter as they train and improve themselves physically, I am definitely going to have a brighter outlook on the youth of today! Even if you get banned from a shopping complex, go back to keep it clean it regularly. The world could do with more people helping out when they are not asked or not benefiting in anyway. Karma a bitch they say, but only if you are saying it! A group of people giving back to their communities will be acknowledged and who knows, you may be rewarded with your playground again.

Even if you are allowed to train in a certain area, clean it up! It won’t cost you a thing and these actions are the kinds of actions that the world needs more of. Take pride in the state of this planet, it is your playground after all!

Turn the other cheek—Politeness
I would completely avoid showing any aggressive behaviour, any type of defence, any vulgar language, or any physical abuse (yes, punches and kicks to the head), towards any authority when being confronted. All you are doing is training and if they don’t like it then just say sorry and leave with a smile. It’s better to make a friend then an enemy, especially when the friend can potentially unlock a new training ground! There are too many arguments and wars based on misunderstanding.

Enlightening this person through your actions will be the only way that you can help him understand what it is that we are doing. Beating or abusing this knowledge into him simply doesn’t work. It just attacks his ego which is a sure way to make an enemy, and not just for you, but for the entire international PK community.

Stay in the shadows—Be humble
I know that at this one shopping centre that we sometimes train at, the guards said that we can train there as long as we don’t attract a crowd. So stay in the shadows and train in small groups. Try and make it as easy as possible for the security guards to pretend that you are not there! Remember that these guards have superiors to answer to. If they feel as thought they will get into trouble the next morning because of something that you did that they failed to stop, then they are not only going to stop your training, but in all fairness to them, they HAVE to stop your training. Make is easy for them to leave you alone.

Conclusion
This may seem all obvious or all airy fairy stuff, but seriously, these are the only interactions that Traceurs have with figures of authority. The better the impression you leave them with, the higher we hold the community up. If we can avoid all the negative connotations such as scuff marks and instead replace them in the minds of onlookers with the virtues such as love, respect, health, willingness to give, willingness to teach, willingness to help, honesty and many more, then we as a Parkour community can help them to help us do so much more for the world!