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Parkour Play
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OFFBEAT After airplane and bungee jumping, it’s the gravity-defying adventure sport ‘parkour’ that’s becoming the rage, says PRIYADARSHINI PAITANDY
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ON TOP OF THE WORLD Parkouring thrills actor Akshay Kumar
People do really try a lot of things to enjoy that rush of adrenaline, don’t they? As if bungee jumping, plane jumping and other adventure sports weren’t enough, we now have another new entrant into this realm — parkour. A gravity d
efying sport, it is the latest for adventure sport enthusiasts, wherein they will have to move from one point to another, through an obstacle course that involves walls, buildings and trees, in the fastest possible time, using nothing but their faculties. The male practitioner of the sport is known as a traceur, and the female, traceuse.
Now, let’s trace the history of this sport. Also known as l’art du deplacement, this physical art of French origin was founded by David Belle. Later, Sebastian Foucan, known as the ‘second generation’ founder of parkour, developed it further.
In Bollywood too
Like all things novel, this sport too has caught the attention of the entertainment industry in a big way. The last Bond flick, “Casino Royale” showed Daniel Craig chasing the sprightly Foucan as he leaped across buildings. When Hollywood does it, can Bollywood be far behind? So we have a few movies and commercials experimenting with this sport. Remember the Thums Up and Parachute commercials where ‘our desi Bond’ Akshay Kumar and cricketer Yuvraj Singh are seen parkouring for their respective products?
Akshay has been trained by a specialist from London and has been parkouring for more than a year now. Known to perform all his stunts himself, prior to the Thums Up ad, he underwent training in Australia for 10 days. “It is a hobby for me; I also got a parkour gym installed at home by a team of German technicians and architects,” says the actor. A die-hard adventure sport lover, he finds parkour thrilling. “It is great for an adrenaline rush, but most important, it’s a complete fitness regimen,” adds the hunky star. We will get to see him display his parkour skills in his upcoming flick “Chandni Chowk to China”.
Abhishek Bachchan too seems to be bitten by the parkour bug. It is reported that Bachchan Jr. will be seen giving this sport a shot in one of his new flicks titled “Drona”, slated for release by mid August.
But the sport isn’t restricted to action heroes alone. It has found young admirers who practise it and have formed groups. It has picked up in cities such as Delhi and Mumbai, while it is slowly gaining recognition in Chennai. Eighteen-year-old Sandesh Jain, a student of MNM Engineering College, Chennai, learnt about it after watching the parkour scene in “Casino Royale”. “After watching it on screen I read about it online and got hooked on to it. So I started practising it on my own after browsing websites,” he says. Though there are sites, like metacafe.com, sebastienfoucan.com and youtube that provide information and self-training videos, it is better to train with a specialist. According to Jain, he practises this sport for around four hours and it helped him overcome his fear of heights.
Neelesh, a member of Team Nuts, Mumbai has been parkouring for quite sometime now with his team. “We practise every Saturday and Sunday from 6 to 11 in the morning at parks and other places where public interference is less,” he says. As beginners, they often ended up fracturing their thumbs and ankles, but now having learnt the skill they impart training to others. Claiming to be the first set of people to parkour in Mumbai, they also have a website parkourmumbai.co.in where people interested can log on, interact and gain some skills.
As parkour doesn’t require any equipment, all one needs to invest in is a good pair of shoes to parkour away to glory, provided he is physically fit and has an alert mind and good reflexes. The only disadvantage being the lack of safety laws and the dangers associated with it. Now that’s something thrill seekers would be game for.
THE BASIC MOVES
Parkour includes a lot of twists, turns, jumps and other such complex movements. Some of the basic Parkour movements are mentioned below:
Landing: When the toes make contact with the ground with the knees bent
Vault: Moving over an obstacle with hands on an object to make the movement easier
Drop: To jump down or drop down from something
Muscle up or climb up: A movement where one moves from hanging position to a position where he s above the obstacle
Gap jump: Jumping from one distant object to another
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