Parkour

Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 25. Chapters: Jump, Jump City: Seattle, Free running, Parkour in popular culture, District 13, Ultimate Parkour Challenge, David Belle, Vault, Worldwide jam, District 13: Ultimatum, Last Ones Standing, Urban Freeflow, Timeline of parkour, Sébastien Foucan, Wallflip, Cyril Raffaelli, Damien Walters, Timothy Shieff, Yamakasi, Raymond Belle, Sanki King, Jump Britain, Jérôme Ben Aoues, Jump London, Jump Westminster. Excerpt: Parkour (sometimes abbreviated PK) is the non-competitive sport originating in France of traversing mainly urban landscapes by running, climbing and jumping. Participants run along a route, attempting to navigate obstacles in the most efficient way possible, using only their bodies. Skills such as vaulting, rolling, swinging and wall scaling are employed. Parkour can be practiced anywhere, but areas dense with obstacles are preferable and it is most commonly practiced in urban areas. A practitioner of parkour is called a "traceur", which is most likely derived from Parisian slang "tracer" which means "to hurry" or "to move quickly". In proper French, traceur is an adjective qualifying something that leaves a trace or a trail behind it. In practice, a traceur may use several different names interchangeably for parkour, including "freerunning" or "l'art du déplacement", even though these terms refer to distinct parts of the discipline. While parkour and l'art du déplacement aim to enable the practitioner to move quickly and creatively past obstacles, freerunning includes the use of tricking moves such as aerial rotations and spins. (see below). A basic parkour moveTwo primary characteristics of parkour are efficiency and speed. Traceurs take the most direct path through an obstacle as rapidly as that route can be traversed safely. Developing one's level of spatial awareness is often used to aid development in these areas. Also, efficiency involves avoiding injuries, both short and long term. This idea embodying parkour's unofficial motto is être et durer ("to be and to last"). Parkour's emphasis on efficiency distinguishes it from the similar practice of free running, which places more emphasis on freedom of movement and creativity. Traceurs say that parkour also influences one's thought processes by enhancing self-confidence and critical-thinking skills that allow one to overcome everyday physical and mental obstacles. A study by Neuropsychiatrie de l'Enfance et de l