clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Is parkour a sport?

New, 1 comment

I have had dreams where I am really good at parkour. Usually, they involve me being chased by a mysterious, would-be assailant and suddenly discovering that I'm able to scale fences like Jackie Chan and squeeze my new, 14 year old girlish dream body through impossibly narrow gaps between trees and buildings.

And then I wake up and realize I've fallen asleep in my jeans again.

If you're somehow not familiar with Parkour and shame on you for that, it basically involves people running very fast through urban settings, bouncing over obstacles, flinging themselves over/under/through guardrails and stairwells. It's not really clear even among parkour people (referred to as traceurs and traceuses) if what they're doing is a sport or if it's just a really hip way of not using city infrastructure properly.

There's no good way to keep score other than counting up the number of bones one manages to not break. There aren't any proper leagues or need for referees or anything. It's just something that you do.

I'd try it myself, but I'm pretty sure that instead of looking as cool as some dudes look while "parkouring", I'd look more like these guys. Awkward and fabulously unimpressive while randomly shouting, "Parkour!"

So, to answer the question in the title... Sure. Parkour is a sport.    

Poll

Is parkour a sport?

This poll is closed

  • 40%
    Oh heck no
    (11 votes)
  • 59%
    Heck yeah
    (16 votes)
27 votes total Vote Now