My Parkour Journey

Parkour has taught me so much about life and about myself. Training parkour opened my eyes to view the world in a different way, almost like I could be a superhero. Overcoming all these physical obstacles and challenges has made me realize how much more I can do, and it has given me a lot of confidence. I feel like this has come out in my personality and changed me for the better. To do parkour successfully, you must maximize every moment to achieve your goals without focusing on what might happen ahead. Because of this, training in parkour has also taught me how to live in the moment and follow through with my actions in the immediate, without procrastinating or worrying what can go wrong in the future. Don't think of it as naivete; we certainly are aware of what can go wrong if we are not using safe movements, but if we pay too much attention to the what-ifs, then we won't be in the proper mindframe of completing a given challenge. This laser focus has helped me develop into the athlete, coach, and business person that I am today.

Is Parkour Safe?

Many people view parkour as a dangerous sport, and to the untrained eye it can certainly look this way. But the main tenets of training in parkour are avoiding injuries and limiting impact-- in other words, playing it safely. The way we train parkour is by taking a simple obstacle and finding ways to make the challenge more difficult. This is so that when we face a more challenging obstacle, it becomes easier for us as we already trained in difficult versions of smaller obstacles. The goal of parkour is to be able to successfully complete your challenge. As a parkour athlete, if I can't do something successfully every time, then that means I need to lower the difficulty or challenge. Again, safety first. It's about finding that limitation line and trying to push just a little bit more each time to increase our skill. Parkour is about learning how to use your body to its maximum potential in a safe way. I personally feel this is something that should be taught in schools. Sports are often played and taught in the education system, but how often are injury avoidal and impact limitation discussed? These are crucial elements of parkour, and should be those of physical education as well.

My Favorite Aspects

The best thing about parkour is there are so many ways to train it. You can focus on just the Flow, Power, Speed, Balance, Control, Strength, Difficulty, Creativity, or a mixture . The way you train will give you a different style of movement. My personal style is more about Flow, Creativity, and Power.  

But most of all, my favorite thing about training in parkour is that  the only competition you have is within yourself.

Benefits of Training Parkour

• Learning what you are capable of

• Gaining Control over Fears

• Safety : We train how to save ourselves so that when things don’t go well we know how to fall safely to avoid injuries.

• A Physical form of Meditation- Parkour is a battle within yourself. You vs you.  The mind and body must be in sync to maximize your potential

• Surpassing limitations and reaching new goals:  Once all the basic skills are learned, the next level is increasing the distance of the obstacles.  Nothing feels better than being able to do something that you never could before

• It’s a full body workout in disguise -  it may be playful and fun but it’s a hardcore workout without feeling like it.

• Boost of Confidence: When you are in control of your mind & Body you will carry that throughout your life.

• Increases your sense of awareness and reaction timing

• Living in the moment:

• Increases agility and physical abilities that can benefit you in any other physical  activity.

• Balance- Balance is essential in parkour.  Everything in parkour is related to balance.

• Creativity- once you have the “ Parkour Vision “ you will see the world around you in different ways . When others might see an impossible  obstacle-- both physically and metaphorically-- the parkour mind will see a puzzle to solve.  There's always a way to get through.

Why JLeagues?

JLeagues is all about giving our clientele the best possible experience. To do so, we hold our coaches to the highest standards. We ensure they are professionally trained, talented, dedicated to their craft, and able to connect with individuals in order to help our students reach their goals. At JLeagues, we are a family. We invest in our coaches with workshops and job embedded professional development to constantly help them build skills and refine techniques so they feel valued and can impart these new skills and knowledge on the clients with whom they work. And when our coaches feel valued, they mirror that positive attitude and encouragement with everyone who walks through our door. Why JLeagues? Hands down, you will be honored and valued as an individual by everyone you encounter, from scheduling your session to meeting your goals. Plus, our coaches really are the best!

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