Parkour: should it come to Stratford Park?

This evening I met with a youth worker and couple of young people to talk more about Parkour - it was great to learn more - they had contacted me after they picked up on an item I had written on my blog after the SNJ covered Hunter.

Photo pinched from Hunter Hubbard's website

It does seem to me that we have a culture that encourages Parkour/Free Running with James Bond films and Madonna videos - yet at the same time there are good reasons to be concerned if young people are trespassing or occasionally damaging property or themselves. It is surely great that these young people are honing and developing their athletic skills, rather than succumbing to lethargy and obesity.

The young people I have met who participate in this new sport are keen to share their knowledge and issues of safety with others - they were talking of wanting to make a film that would include more re the safety aspects - to me if we ignore the issue it could lead to more accidents as people try out tricks, use dangerous locations etc - so a film about responsible Free Running - not that they would call it that - is surely good... indeed it is crucial to get that message out if we are to avoid serious accidents.

Skateboarding is now widely accepted: I think the time is right for Free Running sessions to be organised in Stratford Park like at other sports centres? I only wish I was a little younger and fitter to be able to join in!! In the meantime I will follow up on this issue to see if their might be possibilities at Stratford Park?

At the moment maybe only 30 to 40 young people in the Stroud area are participating but it looks set to grow as it gets more media coverage nationally and more films use it - infact I saw a couple of weeks ago the film 'Breaking and Entering' (Juliette Binoche, Jude Law, Robin Wright Penn) that has some great sequences....