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Run
don’t walk
There
was this print ad done by Leagas Delaney London in 1996
for adidas that gave an accurate glimpse of what goes on
in a runner’s mind when his feet are leaden and he’s
moving on sheer willpower:
“Just to
the signpost. Just to the car. Just to the crossroads.
Just to the curb. Just to the truck. Just to the
signpost…”
The ad’s
visual showed a street at dusk with the copy—written by
David Dye who also art directed it—vanishing down the
road. Dye’s creative partner, copywriter Will Awdry,
penned a companion ad meant for outdoor running that
read every bit similar: “I can’t stand straight lines.”
Both ads
were an astute and powerful discernment of running and
the triumph of the human spirit. And obviously, they’ve
made a lasting impression on me, for more than a decade
later, they remain as fresh and vibrant a memory.
And that
leads me to parkour where it isn’t simply “just to the
car or the signpost. ”To be more accurate, it’s about
going above or through the car and around the signpost.
For many people, their introduction to parkour was that
fantastic chase scene in Casino Royale when the latest
James Bond model, actor Daniel Craig, tried to apprehend
Mollaka, a small-time terrorist played by Frenchman
Sebastien Foucan, one of the founders of Parkour along
with fellow countryman David Belle.
The
scene, filmed in the
Bahamas,
featured some snazzy yet dangerous free running through
a high-rise construction site that included climbing up
a crane and jumping onto another one several feet
across, then leaping down to a sandpit. I almost didn’t
want 007 to catch Mollaka just to see how else he’d turn
the place into his own playground.
There’s
a preconceived notion that one has to get into sports to
get fit. It’s actually the other way around—you’ve got
to be fit to get into sports.
But
technically, parkour isn’t a sport. It’s a form of free
running that uses elements of acrobatics, martial arts
and jumping while traversing an urban landscape from one
point to another. Parkour is one such discipline that
requires more than knowing the basic running techniques.
There’s no stopping or taking any detours for traceurs,
as the practitioners of parkour are called. They go
through fences, walls, stairs, buildings and even cars,
that make parkour fun to watch. Stripped down, it was
like in my grade school days when my classmates and I
hopped around in the rock garden and used the monkey
bars to swing across.
Foucan,
who is a global ambassador for free running, stresses
the importance of proper training for traceurs for
there are a multitude of safety concerns and parkour
fundamentals that should be grasped, learned and
understood. “It is important to respect others and the
environment. There’s no right or wrong way for free
running. It’s all about expressing yourself in your
environment with no limitations. It’s about moving like
an animal or being fluid like water. Remember, the
journey is more important than the goal that also helps
in the social acceptance of parkour.”
Dan
Edwardes is one of the world’s foremost authorities on
free running who coruns Parkour Generations, an academy
dedicated to the training and popularization of the
discipline in
England
and the rest of the world. “One does not have to start
fit and strong, but the training will result in one
becoming extremely fit and functionally strong, as well
as confident, spatially aware, and generally much
healthier than normal,” says Edwardes, who is also
proficient in various fighting disciplines. “No
protective gear is worn, and basic running shoes will
do, which make it a very accessible discipline—hence, us
being able to reach a lot of inner city children who
have limited resources but a great deal of energy.”
Parkour
isn’t without danger, hence the hours spent training and
mastering one set of obstacles and terrain or free
movement over a larger area. “It’s all about moving,
getting from one place to the next using only your body
and the environment,” adds Edwardes.
The
beauty of parkour caught the eye and heart of
independent filmmaker Julie Angel, who made a name for
herself doing observational documentaries and subculture
sports films. “Parkour has so many elements to it that I
feel as though I am just scratching the surface of what
can be communicated about it through film and video,”
says Angel, who is currently undertaking a part-time
Audio Visual PhD at Brunel University in England. As it
is, several of her videos have been uploaded on YouTube,
which has certainly increased the awareness, profile and
participation of people in parkour.
“Most of
the documentaries that are online have really been
observational pieces of work, so my aim is always to be
as unobtrusive as possible and not interfere with what
the traceurs are doing. This is most obvious in the
Visions film, but it was pretty much the same for most
of the sections of Jump Westminster, Rendezvous, NYC and
many others [all which can be seen in YouTube]. If they
are running a workshop or seminar, the last thing
anybody wants is to have a filmmaker stop and direct
people and ask people to repeat something so you can get
another camera angle.”
“One is
never done with parkour,” sums up Edwardes. “The
training is the means and the end. It is the one goal.
There is no end, nor conclusion or perfection—only daily
improvement, hardship in training and the pleasure of
pushing oneself farther than one thought possible.”
And like
running, it’s pushing oneself—“Just to the signpost.
Just to the car. Just to the crossroads. Just to the
curb. Just to the truck. Just to the signpost…”
Drive
don’t shoot
There’s
something about the spherical shape of a basketball that
reminds National University coach Manny Dandan of a
clock. “It’s my life—24 hours a day,” he says with a
sigh. A bottle of San Miguel Light and the company of
friends and family lightens the burden. “We might not
have a big program like Ateneo or
La Salle, but basketball is a full-time occupation in every sense of
the word.”
Dandan
jogs and plays recreational tennis “to beat the stress
of it all,” as he describes it, but the one endeavor
outside basketball that he’s most passionate about is
driving. Car racing to be more specific.
He has
that sheepish smile of someone about to divulge a deeply
buried secret as a result of a game of Truth or
Consequence. “I was into illegal racing before,” he
whispers with a Cheshire-cat grin. “You know, Ortigas,
White Plains….I was there.”
On
Sunday, May 18, Dandan will reclaim a portion of his
youth on the race track near the High Street mall in
Bonifacio
Global City (The Fort) in Taguig. The coach will be
making his racing debut in his souped-up Opel Manta
(Aguilar will be driving his Mitsubishi Mirage) in Team
Nitro Motorsports Bridgestone Super Autocross Series.
“There’ll be a collegiate category for the competition
and Raymond and I will be representing NU,” he
announces. “Raymond” is the NU Bulldogs’ second year
forward-center Raymond Aguilar who will be driving his
Mitsubishi Mirage.
Bobby
Paguia, NU’s vice president for administration, plunked
down some of his personal money to cosponsor Dandan’s
vehicle. When Paguia asked his basketball coach’s
chances of winning, Dandan laughed somewhat excitedly,
“We’ll see, sir! I’m the rookie here!”
“It’s
all about the experience,” the coach admits of his
modest goal for the competition. “I need to soak it
in—the atmosphere, the tension. And from there aim
higher or better my performance in succeeding races. And
it’s my venue to vent my basketball frustrations.”
Somehow
it seems just right. The spherical shape of the
basketball now reminds him of a steering wheel. |
