** This thread discusses the Content article: APK In Partnership to Create Parkour / Freerunning League **

Public Release of information pertaining to American Parkour's involvment with (FME).

"August 27, 2009: FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) has signed an exclusive equity partnership deal with Motion Inc., a leading specialist Parkour and Freerunning company in the United States, it was announced today by Keith Hindle, CEO Americas for FME.  The primary objective of the deal is to grow the sport into a global entertainment franchise and league competition through live events, a television platform and brand extension opportunities across sponsorship, consumer products, new media and gaming. "  VIEW THE FULL ARTICLE HERE


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TEXAS PARKOUR


AMERICAN PARKOUR
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APK Forum

i think that this is going to be a great thing and it is going to help spread a positive word about parkour and freerunning

I really don't know how I feel about this... I mean, it would be cool, a great way to spread parkour. But, the competion part of it is what's getting to me...

I think we all know how we feel about this. I think we also know, that at the end of the day, we're not the first to come up with this idea. I think our best bet is to be proactive about this and do it our way. With this under our control, we can take it and make it work in our favor. As traceurs, we have a certain responsibility to make this happen in a manner that still represents Parkour and traceurs in a positive light. As long as we're the ones doing it, we've got a chance to keep it from getting out of control.

How do you purpose that we have control over it Desmund? How would you say we can make it work in our favor?

this is what I said on APK:

the philosophy of parkour is deeply personal. many of us may have common ideas about what that entails, but there will be some of us with different opinions. from those varying opinions will come various "branches" of parkour. competition is one of these.

but, as said, parkour is a personal choice. even if at its core, parkour was never meant to be competitive, so long as there's someone out there that thinks otherwise, it will become competitive on some level. it's that fundamental variance of opinion that created different religions, different music genres, different political parties, different types of computers, different everything. that is what makes the world so beautifully diverse.

now, I will continue to practice parkour non-competitively. I don't believe it should be a competitive sport, either. but, that's my decision, and I respect and embrace the inevitable. some traceurs and traceuses are going to compete. that's their choice, not mine. I cannot and will not force my opinions on them, and I will not think any less of them for choosing a slightly different path than mine or the founding fathers.

it's not really about whether or not parkour should be a competitive sport. as long as there are some people who think it should be - even if the majority does not - it already has a competitive side to it. it's illogical to fight that. the bigger question is, how are we going to go about spreading the word of the original philosophy of parkour in what will likely be the shadow of competitive parkour, when parkour as a competitive sport happens to be far more marketable? how will we keep the founding principles from being lost?

to me, this is simple. it boils down to getting on a more personal level with fellow traceurs and traceuses. that's something the mass media won't have for some time, and it's something we've already built here.

parkour as we know it may live side-by-side to this new philosophy, but I don't feel like that detracts from parkour in the slightest. let the media and the competition bring in the people interested in parkour, and we can show them that there's more than one way to practice parkour. let them decide what's right for them.

matthewleewillis wrote:
How do you purpose that we have control over it Desmund? How would you say we can make it work in our favor?

All good questions. Also questions to which I have no answers. That devil's advocate thing didn't pan out so well. I spit out just about all the pros I could about this. Anyone else got anything?

We all want more people to know about parkour and see what it is, with these developments a wider audience will recognize the movements and might get into it, could even ask anyone of us for help with the movements when they see us training, and that's a good time when we can shed light on them on what parkour, non-competitive push yourself, parkour, really is... Just my opinion on it with more thinking than my first comment..

Again, Parkour is not a sport...

I am for it, just I would ensure caution.

Parkour is a sport. Pick a definition. That is what APK did.

--en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sport
Sport is an activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively. Sports commonly refer to activities where the physical capabilities of the competitor are the sole or primary determinant of the outcome (winning or losing), but the term is also used to include activities such as mind sports (a common name for some card games and board games with little to no element of chance) and motor sports where mental acuity or equipment quality are major factors. Sport is commonly defined as an organized, competitive and skillful physical activity requiring commitment and fair play. Some view sports as differing from games based on the fact that there are usually higher levels of organization and profit (not always monetary) involved in sports. Accurate records are kept and updated for most sports at the highest levels, while failures and accomplishments are widely announced in sport news.
--dictionary.reference.com/browse/sport
1. an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc.
2. a particular form of this, esp. in the out of doors.
3. diversion; recreation; pleasant pastime.
4. jest; fun; mirth; pleasantry: What he said in sport was taken seriously.
5. mockery; ridicule; derision: They made sport of him.
6. an object of derision; laughingstock.
7. something treated lightly or tossed about like a plaything.
8. something or someone subject to the whims or vicissitudes of fate, circumstances, etc.
9. a sportsman.
--www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sport
1 a : a source of diversion : recreation b : sexual play c (1) : physical activity engaged in for pleasure (2) : a particular activity (as an athletic game) so engaged in
2 a : pleasantry, jest b : often mean-spirited jesting : mockery, derision
3 a : something tossed or driven about in or as if in play b : laughingstock
4 a : sportsman b : a person considered with respect to living up to the ideals of sportsmanship <a good sport> <a poor sport> c : a companionable person
5 : an individual exhibiting a sudden deviation from type beyond the normal limits of individual variation usually as a result of mutation especially of somatic tissue
EUROPEAN DEFINITION OF SPORT 74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:SZT5ZhA_m3...amp;client=firefox-a

You can pick anyone you like

No thanks.

Didn't realize we were in agreement with APK either...
Aren't they considered a "for profit" organization? i.e. possibly publicly traded on the stock market, benefiting ultimately (and primarily) the board of directors and stock holders...

I thought we chose to do it differently due to our philosophical disagreements with them.

I see Parkour as a discipline, perhaps an art form, but not a sport, and certainly not a competitive sport.

Jonathan...Look at our front page...how is that in agreement

nope we're not, so why should I even recognize APK's definition?

I was simply stating that Sport is a word that can be defined different ways. Texas Parkour obviously does not agree with competition.

matthewleewillis wrote:
I was simply stating that Sport is a word that can be defined different ways. Texas Parkour obviously does not agree with competition.

You mean that many of us don't agree with competition. I know I certainly don't support competition for my path, but many people find that competition drives them to excel. It doesn't work for me, but it works for some others. One can certainly use competitive urges in a way that doesn't tear down your fellows. In the end, it's a very individual discipline, and what works for me might not work for someone else.

I'd be hard-pressed to say that Texas Parkour as an entity doesn't, if we in fact represent as diverse a base of practitioners as we claim. In the end, we are made up of our individuals, and must strive to serve them all as much as we can.

matthewleewillis wrote:
Texas Parkour Inc.'s statement toward competition.

Guess that must have come up in that meeting you never held.

Wow, I must be a really bad guy to get heckled like this on the forums. I wonder what I did to deserve the disrespect? When affiliations and official statements are released they are agreed by the majority of the board as set forth by the bylaws.

Iceucold wrote:
I think we all know how we feel about this. I think we also know, that at the end of the day, we're not the first to come up with this idea. I think our best bet is to be proactive about this and do it our way. With this under our control, we can take it and make it work in our favor. As traceurs, we have a certain responsibility to make this happen in a manner that still represents Parkour and traceurs in a positive light. As long as we're the ones doing it, we've got a chance to keep it from getting out of control.

Doubt that we will ever have any real control or say in this...

As traceurs, we have a certain responsibility to make this happen in a manner that still represents Parkour and traceurs in a positive light

Well how do you define Parkour? Many people have very different views on the Parkour. As you can see from Matthew's and Jonathan's little feud. If we are to send Parkour to a global audience we have to agree on which message do we want to send. However who are we to say ones views is better than another's and one opinion is more "positive".

I just feel we should let Parkour, Free-running, L'art du deplacement, or whatever naturally evolve. There is no denying that Parkour and Free-running will grow in a sense that we will no longer need to be asked what we are doing during training sessions. With more global knowledge of the sport or art more practitioners will come but with more practitioners comes even more misconceptions and issues with how Parkour "should be" done.

I believe that the way APK is trying to promote the sport/art is absolutely amazing but I think that our community ( by community I mean everyone that considers themselves a practitioner of Parkour, Free-running, L'art du deplacement. ) is to premature. We have yet to find true understanding of pk, fr, a.d.d. that everyone can agree on. We have too many unawnsered questions and too many disagreements in methods of training etc.

I mean there is no way we can stop the growth of this sport/art but the way apk is planning on promoting it will speed growth greatly. And I feel apk will be displaying their views and not the views of others. The viewer will only get the Parkour that APK thinks is correct.