Freerunning

Freerunning
Famous practitioners Sebastien Foucan, Daniel Ilabaca, Ryan Doyle, Tim Shieff, Damien Walters
Ancestor arts Parkour
Olympic sport Not currently; IOC discussions underway[1]

Freerunning is a way of expression by interacting with various obstacles and environment. Freerunning may include flipping and spinning. These movements are usually adopted from other sports, such as gymnastics, tricking or breakdancing. Freerunners can create their own moves, flows and lines in different landscapes. It is all about becoming creative in an objective environment. Practitioners of Freerunning usually do Parkour as well. Freerunning is often associated with Parkour by adding acrobatic and stylish moves, showcasing the art of movement. Freerunning is founded by Sebastien Foucan, who discussed the subject in Jump London in 2003. Foucan developed freerunning as a more inclusive form of Parkour.[2] Parkour's military obstacle course training lends itself to martial art as a means of weapons avoidance and efficiently closing a distance to an opponent.

Etymology

The word "freerunning" was first used in the documentary, Jump London.[3] The name came about because of a suggestion by Sjors Peters, who was working with Knol at the time. The thinking behind the name was, to quote Knol, "'Free' because it's free, and just 'running'."[3] In the documentary, freerunning was defined as an English translation of Parkour.[4]

Philosophy

The central principle of freerunning is that one should express oneself by moving fluidly in one's environment; there are no limitations on the form of this movement.[5] Foucan expands on a number of basic principles of the sport in his book, Freerunning.[5] Other practitioners have suggested other principles. For example, Daniel Ilabaca encourages people to think positively, suggesting that practitioners of freerunning will sometimes fall—largely because they think they might.[6]

History

Origins in Parkour

In Western Europe, the idea of moving past obstacles for personal development or sport originated with Georges Hébert.[7] He observed untrained native tribes in Africa with fantastic athletic ability and created the 'natural method' system to train people using the same ideas. His ideas eventually led to the parcours du combattant ('obstacle course', literally 'assault course'), which is now a standard of military training.[8]

These ideas were picked up by a young Raymond Belle, who used them to practical effect while separated from his family during the First Indochina War. When he moved to France and started a family, he passed on these ideas to his son, David. 30 years later, other young people were attracted to these ideas and a small group formed, the Yamakasi, which included Foucan.[7][9] This group trained together for several years and in 1997, through David Belle's brother, Jean-Francois, they started to attract attention and be invited to perform at events. The Yamakasi eventually split apart, though, because some members sought to find more individual expressions of the discipline.[10][11] Meanwhile, action star Jackie Chan had also been heavily incorporating the same concepts in most of his films ever since the early 1980s from the other side of the globe.[12]

Further development

Foucan wanted to create a discipline that was more personal to the individual than Parkour and more easily adapted to suit each person's individual goals.[5] His idea was similar to that of Bruce Lee's creation of Jeet Kune Do. Foucan wanted to take everything that he had found useful and that he liked from his Parkour experiences and combine it into one sport.[3]

Foucan's early ideas were first spread through the Jump London documentary (2003) and its sequel, Jump Britain (2005). Foucan has appeared in other productions, such as Casino Royale and Madonna's Confessions Tour.[10] With each appearance both the discipline and Foucan himself increased in fame.[5]

International

In 2014, the BBC traveled to Indian administered Kashmir[13] to highlight the youth partaking in freerunning as a form of freedom of expression.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "PARKOUR – A YOUNG SPORT WITH OLYMPIC AMBITIONS". European Olympic Committees.
  2. ↑ "What is Parkour?". World Freerunning Parkour Federation. 2018. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 Knol, Enzo (28 October 2012). "Enzo Knol – Find your way – London Real". London Real (Interview). London. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
  4. ↑ Note: Foucan has since said that the confusion regarding the roots of the term came out of the fact that he was still formulating his ideas at the time of the filming.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Foucan, Sebastien (2008). Freerunning. U.K.: Michael O'Mara Books. p. 8. ISBN 978-1-56975-652-2. ASIN 1843173301.
  6. ↑ Declan Saldana (27 January 2012). "Parkour Legends: Daniel Ilabaca, Tim Shieff and Oleg Vorslov". Archived from the original on 7 August 2013. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
  7. 1 2 Edwardes, Dan (22 August 2014). "Parkour History". ParkourGenerations.com. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  8. ↑ "George Hébert and the Natural Method of Physical Culture". Archived from the original on 23 March 2005. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
  9. ↑ Belle, David (2009). Parkour. Intervista. pp. 31–70. ISBN 978-2-35756-025-3.
  10. 1 2 Angel, Julie (2011). Ciné Parkour. pp. 17–20. ISBN 978-0-9569717-1-5.
  11. ↑ Belle, David (2009). Parkour. Intervista. pp. 71–79. ISBN 978-2-35756-025-3.
  12. ↑ "Jackie Chan's Special Style Of Parkour". Parkour and Freerunning Online: Your source of Parkour and Freerunning videos. November 5, 2015. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04.
  13. ↑ "Kashmir Freerunning Finding Freedom in the Art of Parkour". BBC. 7 December 2014.
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