Parkour is a training method developed in France that focuses on efficient movement through obstacles using one's body. Practitioners, called traceurs, learn to vault, roll, run, climb and jump to navigate their environment quickly and directly. While originally called "le parcour", the name was changed to "parkour" to make it more dynamic. Parkour emphasizes efficiency, speed and safety in movement. It can be practiced anywhere but dense urban areas provide many training opportunities to develop spatial awareness and overcome obstacles.

1. My name is Covaci Alin My sc h ool is Colegiul Technic Aurel Vlaicu Romania Data :14.02.2012

2. Parkour (prescurtat PK ) este o disciplină care te ajută să treci peste orice obstacol prin găsirea celui mai eficient și mai rapid mod de a ajunge din punctul A în punctul B folosind doar mijloacele propriului corp. Parkour (abbreviated PK ) is a training method which focuses on rational movement in both the natural and urban environments. The focus is to move around obstacles with speed and efficiency. Developed in France by David Belle , the main purpose of the discipline is to teach participants how to move through their environment by vaulting, rolling, running, climbing and jumping. Parkour practitioners are known as traceurs . They train to be able to identify and utilize alternate, more efficient paths. Parkour can be practiced anywhere, but areas dense with obstacles offer many training opportunities.

3. Overview A pair of parkour techniques: A wall climb to a top out Two 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 , meaning "to be and to last". Traceur Dylan Baker says "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'Adolescence (Neuropsychiatry of Childhood and Adolescence) in France reflects that traceurs seek more excitement and leadership situations than do gymnastic practitioners .

4. Terminology "Le parcour" was the original word passed down to David Belle from his father Raymond Belle. This was the term Raymond used when speaking to David about the training he had done. The term derives from "parcours du combattant", the classic obstacle course method of military training proposed by Georges Hébert , but the term “le parcour” was used by Raymond to encompass all of his training including climbing, jumping, running, balancing, and the other methods he undertook in his personal athletic advancement. One day when David Belle was on a film set he showed his 'Speed Air Man' video to Hubert Koundé who suggested to change the "c" of "parcour" to a "k" because it was more dynamic and stronger. Belle liked the idea and officially changed the name of his discipline to what we call today as "Parkour." (French pronunciation: [paʁˈkuʁ] ) A practitioner of Parkour is called a "Traceur" [tʁasœʁ], with the feminine form being "traceuse" [tʁasøz]. The original term was simply "Tracer" without the 'u' but the word has evolved and now is accepted as having a 'u.' When asked recently David Belle said he prefers not using the 'u' because it is more efficient. This term was the name of a Parkour group headed by David Belle which all included Stephane Vigroux . The word has since been adopted as the word for those that practice Parkour. They are nouns derived from the French verb "tracer", which normally means "trace", or "trail" (as in "he escaped without a trace").

5. Historical precedents In the film Jump London , Sébastien Foucan states that "Le Parkour has always existed, free running has always been there, the thing is that no one gave it a name, we didn't put it in the box. It is an ancient art [...] The Neanderthals, to hunt, or to chase, or to move around, they had to practice the free run." Hollywood stars and stuntmen such as Douglas Fairbanks , Sr., John Ciampa and Buster Keaton captured parkour-like moves on film as early as the 1920–40s. The latter was also an inspiration for the famous on-foot chase scenes of Hong Kong stuntman, martial artist and actor Jackie Chan . [10] In Eastern martial arts such as Ninjutsu and Qing Gong , movements similar to those of Parkour have been taught for centuries and with a similar aim. In Jump London , Foucan does acknowledge the influence of martial arts movies on the development of Parkour: "We also climbed onto the roof of our school. We pretended we were Ninja warriors"

6. Philosophy and theories According to Williams Belle, the philosophies and theories behind parkour are an integral aspect of the art, one that many non-practitioners have never been exposed to. Belle trains people because he wants "it to be alive" and for "people to use it". Châu Belle explains it is a "type of freedom" or "kind of expression"; that parkour is "only a state of mind" rather than a set of actions, and that it is about overcoming and adapting to mental and emotional obstacles as well as physical barriers. A newer convention of parkour philosophy has been the idea of "human reclamation". Andy (Animus of Parkour North America) clarifies it as "a means of reclaiming what it means to be a human being. It teaches us to move using the natural methods that we should have learned from infancy. It teaches us to touch the world and interact with it, instead of being sheltered by it. It is as much as a part of truly learning the physical art as well as being able to master the movements, it gives you the ability to overcome your fears and pains and reapply this to life as you must be able to control your mind in order to master the art of parkour." A point has been made about the similarities between the martial arts philosophy of Bruce Lee and Parkour. In an interview with The New Yorker , David Belle acknowledges the influence of Lee's thinking: "There's a quote by Bruce Lee that's my motto: 'There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. A man must constantly exceed his level.' If you're not better than you were the day before, then what are you doing—what's the point?".

7. Non-rivalry A campaign was started on 1 May 2007 by Parkour.NET portal to preserve parkour's philosophy against sport competition and rivalry. In the words of Erwan LeCorre: "Competition pushes people to fight against others for the satisfaction of a crowd and/or the benefits of a few business people by changing its mindset. Parkour is unique and cannot be a competitive sport unless it ignores its altruistic core of self development. If parkour becomes a sport, it will be hard to seriously teach and spread parkour as a non-competitive activity. And a new sport will be spread that may be called parkour, but that won't hold its philosophical essence anymore." According to LeCorre, those who truly practice Parkour have the same mind aspect of each other, therefore it brings people to work together rather than compete, it allows them to be united internationally and forget the social and economical problems which separated them globally, ultimately leading one giant community working and growing together.

8. Many misconceptions have come out of this, such as the statement that freerunning a form of competitive streetgymnastics/streetacrobatics, when it in fact, was Sébastien Foucan 's way to represent his own parkour evolution. In a video at his official YouTube channel he explains freerunning as: “ Freerunning for me is my parkour evolution. I can't say anymore that I doparkour. Because if I want to be free to do flips, or let's say I'm learnng breakdancing, and I would like to coporate it into my parkour expression; Not to say: I am doing capoiera, breakdancing, parkour and anything else. Freerunning is the way I choose to name my own expression. Now people recognize freerunning as doing parkour with flips (acrobatics) as freerunning but the action of doing parkour with flips — only that is not freerunning. Its the action of adding more stuff into your expression. Thats the freerunning attitude. “