Latest news with #parkour
CNA
02-06-2025
- General
- CNA
Parkour instructor seeks to empower her female students and help them build confidence
Parkour is finding new footing in Singapore, with more parkour gyms popping up. CNA speaks to Gwendolyn Neo, the co-founder of a parkour academy that teaches women and children to scale walls, leap over obstacles and defy expectations. In a traditionally male-dominated sport, Ms Neo said empowering women is why she became a parkour instructor.
BBC News
28-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Heartbreak over much-loved motorcyclist's death in Plymouth
Family and friends of a motorcyclist who died in a crash have said their world will "never be the same".Devon and Cornwall Police said Karol Zalewski - also known as Lolek - died at the scene of the incident on Kings Road in the Devonport area of Plymouth at about 10:50 BST on 20 to the 27-year-old from Plymouth have been paid by many who knew him including relatives and members of the parkour community, which Mr Zalewski was part Zalewski's family said his positivity was infectious and his energy was "like a ball of fire". Marzena, Tomasz and Kamil - his mother, father and younger brother - said: "The world will never be the same without you."You left behind a void that can never be filled, a wound in our hearts that will never heal." Meg Cadwaladr, Mr Zalewski's girlfriend, described him as the "sweetest, kindest, purest soul". She added: "I still cannot get my head around that I won't ever to see your beautiful smile again."I am so proud of the man you were, words cannot describe this heartbreak."His best friend Oskar Kieda also paid tribute, saying Mr Zalewski was like a brother to him."Even though our personalities were so different, we were like yin and yang - two halves that made a whole," he said. 'Lost our heart and soul' Parkour groups said Mr Zalewski was a role model and they would always remember his "crazy moves".Plymouth Parkour Team members said: "We had the pleasure to witness his metamorphosis from a shy teenager to a noble man equipped with solid morals, high standards, love for his family and dedication to his purpose of training, coaching, and mentoring new breed of athletes - and also tonnes of funny memes."Scruffy Boys, friends from the parkour community, added: "We lost our heart and soul."You gave so much life to our circle."You were the spontaneous energy that held us down and kept us together."Police have asked anyone with information about the crash to get in touch with investigating officers.
Globe and Mail
27-05-2025
- General
- Globe and Mail
Leap, vault and roll: how parkour is flipping expectations in Canada
Dagan Shaw didn't plan on becoming a parkour coach – it started with a whim and a church wall. Seventeen years ago, fuelled by his Taekwondo training and a flash of curiosity, he tried climbing the side of a building. To his surprise, he made it. Perched on the roof, high above Ottawa's streetlights, Shaw felt something shift. 'I could see the whole city from up there,' he says. 'It was like this little world that belonged just to me.' At the time, Shaw didn't know what he was doing could be classified as parkour, a high-adrenaline sport where practitioners run, jump, vault and roll over urban obstacles. 'Our only judge is the concrete,' Shaw says. 'If you land feet-first and it doesn't hurt, that's a success.' Founded in the outskirts of Paris in the 1990s, parkour is steadily growing in popularity, with dedicated parkour gyms springing up in Canada. At his Ottawa parkour school, Shaw, who goes by Dagan Mercury on social media, offers weekend classes for over 100 students. 'To see them go from not knowing their left and right, to being able to run up a wall and roll off a ledge – it's incredibly rewarding.' One of the beginner parkour moves is a shoulder roll: a diagonal roll from shoulder to hip, allowing for an elegant recovery from a jump. The technique can come in handy even outside of practice. One of Shaw's students recently tripped while running in the rain but remembering his training and swiftly tucked into a forward role. 'He popped back up on his feet, took no damage at all, and looked cool while doing it,' Shaw says. More advanced moves include the reverse vault: spinning your body 360 degrees in mid-air while vaulting over an obstacle. One of Shaw's students, Simon Norman, 17, says he loves setting a goal for a new move, and then spending weeks or months perfecting it. 'When I finally get the move, it's a great feeling,' he says. Norman has been trying to coax his friends to join him at parkour, and hopes the sport will keep gaining momentum, especially with the help of social media: 'It's really cool to see all the interesting moves and creativity of the community,' Norman says. For Shaw, that shared creativity is one of the best things about parkour. Because nobody is competing professionally, there's no gatekeeping when it comes to new parkour techniques. 'We're not against each other. It's us against the concrete,' says Shaw. When the International Gymnastics Federation tried to regulate parkour, there was swift backlash from the community. 'No one owns parkour,' Shaw says. 'We're supposed to be dashing across rooftops and vaulting over cars. This isn't a fancy, fussy sport for judges to give you a score on.' That was appealing to Louisa Chang, based in Toronto, who got into parkour after being a competitive swimmer. In swimming, you're always looking to beat the time, Chang says. However, with parkour, she found creative freedom. 'Everyone can find their style. There's no one way to do parkour,' she says. Although the sport can appear risky, depending on the landscape, parkour practitioner Tamila Benabdallah of Montreal describes it as 'meditative.' She trains almost daily and has over 40,000 followers on Instagram. 'I find a flow when I do it that makes me really be in the present moment,' she says. When Shaw first started doing parkour in Ottawa, some passersby would watch him climbing on city infrastructure, like flipping off a utility box. 'They'd tell you they're going to call the police on you,' he says. Things have changed. Now, Shaw says it's more likely to have people ask to record videos of him. He hopes parkour will remain free-form and rooted in community and would love to see more dedicated parkour parks and gyms where enthusiasts can safely practice the sport without disruption. 'It's still pretty niche, but I've seen recognition of the sport grow,' Shaw says.
