PARKOUR IN SINGAPORE (2007) by KHATIM HAMIDON (Teens Crossroads) Haja takes a deep breath, swings himself over a fence

to a five-meter drop, and lands on his feet, almost cat-like. He straightens himself up, breaks into a run towards a rising slope, and jumps off the edge to a perfect landing. You shouldnt do that! some children nearby are chiding, Dangerous! Haja Abthaheer, 19, a Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts student, and his friend, Singapore Polytechnic student Karthik Naidu, 20, were showing me and my photographer their largely self-taught parkour moves. For those fancying themselves as Spidermans and Yamakasis of your neighbourhoods, you might want to consider parkour. But what is it actually? Is it merely jumping up and down, here and there and anywhere? Park-our? Par-kour? Par-ko-wer? Pa-kor!!! For starters, parkour (also known as the art of movement) is difficult to define. NSman Muhammad Rudyn, 22, webmaster of the official online Singapore parkour site, PKSG (le-parkour.sg), offers a perspective. He admits that, at first, he thought of parkour as an extreme sport, but now, Its more like a passion, a way of life maybe, he said, but definitely not a sport. The easiest description for us laymen is: getting from point A to point B as efficiently and quickly as possible. All practitioners (sometimes called traceurs) practice with a frame of mind that they are supposedly escaping from something dangerous or reaching for something vital, hence the fast and direct movements. Developed by David Belle in the late 1980s, the Frenchman was heavily influenced by his fathers military training in the Vietnam War. Wondering if he could integrate the military skills with his martial arts and gymnastics training and apply them to daily life, Belle set off in his neighbourhood to experimenthence the birth of parkour. This physical art that began from a Parisian neighbourhood has since procured an impressive following, with communities dotting Europe, the US, Brazil, the Philippines, and of course, Singapore. The philosophy behind it There is more to parkour than meets the eye than seemingly crazy stunts. Parkour is a means of discovering and overcoming your fears (and literally at that, when meeting physical and psychological obstacles during training) that you can apply throughout your life. Rudyn attests to how parkour has changed his life. (Training) translates to real life where you have daily problems and such, and you slowly analyze it and overcome the hurdlesit might be clichd, but nothing is impossible. On a deeper level, parkour is like a personal journey through life. That is why most practitioners oppose competition, fearing that it dilutes their art, stating that

it is against the philosophy of parkourthat the drive to train should come from within, and that traceurs should not perform to show off for a crowd. Parkour in Singapore Parkour is still relatively new in Singapore. PKSG was officially formed less than five years ago. The number of practitioners here, judging from online members, is about 500 (from 200 in 2005), though Rudyn cautioned that maybe, less than half of it are really still active. Plus, some practitioners may not register themselves, like Haja and Karthik. The community is mostly made up of Malay males aged between 15 to their 20s, though there are a substantial number of Chinese practitioners. Members typically are school-goers or serving their National Service. What about girls? Frankly, there are few female practitioners here. Parkour is thought to be too strenuous for the girls, as it involves much use of the upper body strength. However, girls can participate, as how the movie The Great Challenge (Yamakasi 2) has shown. Girls are more flexible when making certain moves too, Haja observed. PKSG hosts a lively forum for community members to exchange tips on training and plan for their next private practice, or jamming session. It also organizes workshops and performances to create awareness on parkour and as a sort-of member recruitment drive for those who want to try out this art. One of the communitys pet peeves is that parkour can alternatively be called freerunning. Founded by Belles childhood friend Sebastien Foucan, free-running started out just like parkour. The major difference is in the goals. Free-runnings aim is to make the moves look graceful and aesthetically pleasing, which would mean a few additional turns or flips to make a particular move look artistic. From what I observe in the PKSG forum, some members really stress the difference between the two disciplines and are slightly touchy when the subject of free-running appears. However, both Rudyn and Haja opine that it is up to ones preference. Singapore is an island-wide haven to train on. Its HDB estates and multi-storey car parks are favourites with practitioners. Other sorts of hotspots are childrens playgrounds and fitness corners in neighborhood areas. In the local media Though parkours aim is not fame, it has been making ripples in the Singapore consciousness. Locally, there are already a number of articles written and radio interviews on the physical art. An undergraduate even wrote her term paper on parkour, offering a sociological approach to it. Lately, an HL milk commercial which features a young woman who scales HDB rooftops to get her carton of milk is making rounds on the television. If it is of any indication, it shows that Singapore is warming up to parkour. Not a bed of roses Still, not all are convinced that parkour is all that good.

For one, risky behaviour is involved. Yes, practitioners sometimes sustain injuries, but they would usually blame themselves for careless behaviour. I was still sleepy, and I didnt warm up first, Haja told me, when once, his leg was stuck in a railing and he fell facedown. Also, what needs to be understood is that practitioners thoroughly calculate the risks. Safety first. Be confident, but dont go against your limits might well be one of their mottos. During the small session that I observed, Haja made a deep drop, which Karthik refused to do next. Scared, he said. One very Singaporean reason why some are wary of parkour is that it might be illegal. Well, forum member torched explained that the police WILL be annoyed if you: 1) vandalise or destroy public property (e.g. footprints on walls), 2) cause too much public nuisance (being too noisy or may harm the public), 3) trespass into private property. Practice with common sense, said Rudyn. Another thing worth worrying is that when new practitioners advance to higher levels of training in too short a time and attempting feats which they may not be ready for. This may result in both short-term and long-term injuries. What strikes me most is that the practitioners I interviewed are humble in claiming their level of expertise. For example, Haja still considers himself a beginner, despite dabbling in parkour for the past four years. Its not good, said Haja, referring to the express training, even the experienced ones started from the basics in landing, rolling, jumping and balancing. The Future Despite the above hitches, it seems that parkour will continue to grow steadily in Singapore, thanks to the efforts of the PKSG team and the local media in raising its awareness. The international media, of course, plays a major role in this, by featuring parkour in documentaries and films. Most encouraging too is that as what the PKSG community has proven so far, it is not just a mere short-lived trend. They just have to their hard work in it if they really want to become experienced, advised Haja to aspiring practitioners. Keep an open mind, added Rudyn. Singapore, parkour is here to stay. -END-