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| World Freerunning and Parkour Federation | ||
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| SafeNSure |
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 | I would like to share with all PKNA members the information that the Bay Area Parkour's council has published for their local members: Dear BApk members, We would like to inform you about an upcoming event that may shape the public perception of our discipline. This may affect current practitioners in their daily conversations about parkour, but more importantly it will affect the mindsets of would-be practitioners, general public, media and authorities. If you have been with us for a while or have read through our documents, you already have a good idea how we feel about this. However, rather than preach to you we thought it best to give you the details so that you can make an informed judgment. This month production begins on a MTV television series called "The Ultimate Chase" that will attempt to portray parkour and freerunning. As the title describes, the series will set well known practitioners (Danny Illabaca, Ryan Doyle, Oleg Vorslav) as well as lesser known practitioners (Brian Orosco) against each other on an obstacle course. "The Ultimate Chase" which will be introduced by a one hour special will feature both man vs. man and man vs. course events. The show is the brainchild of a few entertainment professionals who formed the "World Freerunning and Parkour Federation" (WFPF) by signing athletes from around the world who were trying to break into the entertainment industry. Televised obstacle courses have been around for some time, but this rebranding for English audiences will take advantage of the popularity of the disciplines of parkour and freerunning. The WFPF claims their competition remains true to the philosophies of both parkour and freerunning which were founded and defined as non-competitive disciplines. While their audience will consist largely of non-practitioners, the WFPF has worked closely with practitioners to form a palatable marketing strategy for the existing community. It is their position that competition is the inevitable future of a discipline which is practiced by tens of thousands world wide in a non-competitive fashion. While this may seem illogical, their position comes into focus when considering the money involved. It is virtually impossible to make money off of parkour in its current non-competitive format. It cannot be argued that a competitive format is more lucrative. This 'inevitability' stance has been trumpeted for the past several years only by those interested in profiting off the community (i.e.: Mark Toorock of APK, and Paul Corkery of UFF), but was shot down by a global movement which popularized such slogans as "Pro Parkour, Against Competition" and "Competition is not inevitable, it is just another obstacle!" To further satisfy the non-competitive community the WFPF claims all competitors will strive together in a communal fashion. However, they diverge from the community theme when they claim on their website to be a "Federation for the teams". The global parkour scene is not made up of teams, which are generally viewed as a means to further careers in the entertainment industry, but rather all-inclusive communities that foster the utilitarian parkour philosophy. While the WFPF has taken a direct page out of the APK/UFF playbook, they are not collaborating with the two organizations since initial discussions turned sour. Both APK/UFF and WFPF camps claim the opposition is taking advantage of their athletes. Although some WFPF signees are rumored to be unhappy with their contracts, for those willing to partake in a competition labeled as parkour the partnership with WFPF seems like a step in the right direction in terms of safety. The industry professionals will be using the UFF Barclaycard competition as an example of what not to do. At the aforementioned event there was only one medic on site when an athlete was seriously injured, and required emergency treatment. The entire event had to be put on hold until the medic returned to a jeering crowd and uneasy participants. Here is the first press release from the WFPF. Hopefully you feel we gave you some intelligent insight on this upcoming event, and can make more informed decisions about it. Yours Truly, Bay Area Parkour council [edit:corrected website link] [ Edited Mar 07 '09, 03:33AM ] "Volonté, persévérance et humilité" - David Belle | ||
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| Raqessarr |
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  | hmmm... "taking advantage of their athletes". When business is involved... DUH. my opinion is..... although this will bring in people who are fond of parkour not only for the athleticism but more for the philosophy, commercialization like this is about to bring a bunch of bro dudes in... but yah, this will be fun to watch, no doubt. [ Edited Mar 04 '09, 08:51AM ] pura vida | ||
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| Animus |
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 | If you disagree with it, why watch it? | ||
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| Adam Kuebler |
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 | I forget who originally made the point or where, but parkour's future seems like it will be a lot like surfing. There are a few elite athlete's who compete and earn a living while the majority of practitioners simply go out and do it for the fun, philosophy , and community. I think this is a lot better future than some of our worst fears (skateboarding). Regardless what happens at the top the culture will remain in place. And yes, we have developed a traceur culture. That is what will provide for the positive future direction of the discipline regardless of what the people at the top are doing.  | ||
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| Ace |
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| | Do NOT watch it if you don't agree with it! RATINGS are how a show stays on the air. They are pitching a first season here. The less people watch and support, the more of a chance it won't get picked up for a second season. "For any person that says Parkour is what YOU want it to be, God kills a kitten"-Ruzkin | ||
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| Andi |
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| | Okay. wrote ... The WFPF claims their competition remains true to the philosophies of both parkour and freerunning This is interesting. Because I really respect and like Danny and Oleg as friends (dunno much about the other kids tbh), and I would like to see how this thing turns out, before judging it toally negative. Looking at it from the point of view of another "craze" that came up in the past few years, got popular, got its own MTV show where the community didnt like it in the first place, but then it turned out not to be that bad actually, and just brought a lot lot more people into it.. i can see that this is possibly a neutral or even good thing. It doesnt have to be bad. What we as a community can do, is prepare. If this is going on air, and if it (not saying it will, we will see) portrays PK and/or FR as competitive, its our responsibility as a community to 'catch' the people that are trying to get into it after seeing the show, and educate them. A project to deal with this has already been started. More infos on that, soon. My shout out is, dont go too crazy, dont be too negative. A) it doesnt change anything, B) it just fucks up the Karma. Im in the scene for almost a decade now, and ive seen a lot of things happen. And one thing I learnt (those that are around for longer, know how much I participated in anti-campaigns, politics, etc ) is that negativity, fear and hate, dont help ANYONE. We cant stop it, we dont even know if there is a need to. Lets be positive but prepared, and make the best of it we can. Lets be a community. Andi. | ||
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| Animus |
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| | Wow, Andi, that's the msot sensible thing I've heard from you in a long time. Agree 100%. [ Edited Mar 04 '09, 02:23PM ] | ||
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| SKY |
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  | After reading through the original post and the press release I think the best I can say is, "Maybe." Here's how I view it. If the show is more about the obstacle course, conquering it, and the brotherhood that develops amongst the contestants, then it will be a good thing. It's essentially a repackaged Ninja Warrior. I'm sure most people here have seen or know about Ninja Warrior and can agree that, initially anyway, the show is as much about who wins as how well everyone does and the journey getting there. Most of the fun in that show is cheering every contestant onward, and watching as they come together. They provide support, they help each other train, they even travel to other guy's houses and build their own equipment. Honestly, isn't that a lot like the Parkour/Freerun community? If Oleg and Danny and Ryan and everyone else acts the way the 'Ninja All-Stars' do I think it'll be a huge boost for the perception of parkour, as less of a fringe, extreme sport and more of a well-meaning, helping community. However, if it becomes a glorified X-Games, I agree with Andi: we call them out on it. We make sure the word is out there that we are not pleased. P.S. I like the analogy of surfing. I've often used rock climbing in examples of where PK/FR might go but surfing seems to work a bit better. | ||
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| Pkdanno |
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| | Good post Andi... I agree with it. Negativity and paranoia don't help with anything. Work 100% harder than they do, not 100% negatively against. | ||
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| Rafe |
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 | Hear hear for andi. Funny to see how things have changed but to good see you around the forums again Andi. [ Edited Mar 05 '09, 01:47AM ] The tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao The name that can be named is not the eternal Name. The unnamable is the eternally real. Naming is the origin of all particular things. Lao Tzu  Link | ||
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| Res |
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| | Wow, I'm really impressed this thread didn't drag out in to a lot of useless talk about nothing that would help. Either no one checks this forum anymore, or we actually got smarter. :O everything is everything | ||
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| Andi |
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| | Its years man, we all get older, smarter, more clever. We learn from our mistakes, we make it better the next time. We.. Progress! Thats what Parkour is about :-) peace | ||
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| hillexallen |
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| | Simply do not watch their show, do not support any of this in any way. I'm a soldier. I'm a soldier who does not fight to destroy. I'm a soldier that fights to improve himself. TADLOS | ||
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| Dutch |
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| | No matter what we do there will always be people wanting to take advantage of Parkour. Concentrate on your training and don't worry about what other people are doing. Not to say that you shouldn't have an opinion. Just don't get so caught up in trying to stop people from taking advantage of Parkour that you stray from your own training and lose focus on your goals. You're not forced to watch this program and it doesn't sound like a show that would last anyway. | ||
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| Andi |
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| | do not watch their show, do not support any of this in any way Again, too much negativity is not the appropriate attitude here. Lets wait and see what happens, before we go all negative. Sky, dont get me wrong. My main concern was not to 'let them know we are not pleased', because if we're being honest to ourselfs, they wont care. What I was talking about, is prepare a message, information, material for the interested people (those that have watched this programme, googled and found their way here (or to any other community)). A message that shouldn't look like "Hey Guys, if you came here from the MTV Show XYZ, read this. Its all wrong, those mo*fu*ers are just raping PK and its not about that and all youve seen is wrong and if you like it you should leave right now bye" But more like , "Hey guys, if you have found us after watching the MTV show XYZ, we have some basic information for you. You are in the right place to learn about Parkour, the art of movement, and are very welcome here. A little misconception that might arise from the show is, that there is competition in Parkour. That was just a competition for the TV aspect of it and is not really involved in Parkour. Parkour is more about ... blablabal.. and give them good information" If we make it a big deal, people will think lots about it. If we just give a small "btw, there is no competition in Parkour" and go ahead with all the informations a beginner could seek for, then we will transport the right signals for them to be able to understand things and not be distracted by thinking about competition. Ill come again soon with some news about the stuff we are preparing. Sooner, if Mr. LA (yes Ace thats you) would be online one day :-P Andi. [ Edited Mar 11 '09, 06:42PM ] | ||
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