How I started (Lines 6-10)

Okay I started about six years ago just after seeing some guys from France on the TV. Yeah I saw it on the television and thought that is pretty amazing and the first time I really thought it was some kind of special effects. The first clip I saw was on BBC One of someone jumping between roof tops and I thought that was just stunts or whatever.

3. Sense of fun (Lines 2-3, 5-10, 15-17 and 21-23)

Parkour started off in Paris about twenty years ago with a group of youngsters who were bored and had nothing to do. They developed the idea of kids chasing around. I started about six years ago just after seeing some guys from France on the TV. I saw it on the television and thought that is pretty amazing. The first time I saw it I really thought it was some kind of special effects. The first clip I saw was on BBC One of someone jumping between roof tops and I thought that was just stunts or whatever. Basically parkour is a fun way to improve yourself and develop ability and every time you get past an obstacle you get a sense of success. It makes you become free and makes you able to do anything you want to do. It’s important that you enjoy what you are doing so there is no point in restricting yourself to something that will be boring and you are not going to stick with.

4. Risk factor (Lines 17-21 and 38-40)

Risk is always going to be part of it and with parkour you have to always work out what you can do and what you can’t do, so that is like working around what you can do and what you can’t do.

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It’s a boundary of definitely knowing what you can do and what you can’t do so there is always going to be some risk around cause you are working in that risk area. Sometimes you can get two or three teenagers riding into you on skateboards. It’s daunting trying something new. You have to be quite brave to do this. It helps if you have other people around you.

5. Searching for thrills (Lines 23-24)

Thrill seeking as a specific word phrase is irrelevant really. If it’s something that is difficult you are going to feel good about yourself.

6. Personal development (Lines 10-14, 23-26 and 29-34)

The first day I went out in Manchester was on some of the really low walls. They were kind of two or three feet high and I just tried to get over them in different kind of ways. I started off with volts. I just tried to copy what I had seen. When I started there wasn’t really anyone that I could speak to who had any experience or understanding of how to get started. If it’s something that is difficult you are going to feel good about yourself when you overcome it. You don’t need to physically go looking for the thrills. They are there in any kind of movement that you are doing. I am a parkour coach so I find everything interesting about parkour. The important thing is the affect it has on each person’s personalities. It’s the fact that you are trying to get past an obstacle and not trying to avoid it. People get more confident because they are not ignoring the fact that they are trying to get past the difficulty. It makes people think more confidently. They become more willing to solve problems rather than ignore them.

7. Improving fitness level (Lines 41-44, 34-35 and 69-70)

There seems to be various people doing it coming from different backgrounds. You can be twelve years old or in your thirties or forties and at any level of fitness. Parkour is about making yourself fitter and to develop. It increases physical fitness and helps people change their fitness through parkour. I wouldn’t want to live without it and it’s the best way I have found to keep fit and healthy.

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8. Parkour movement (Lines 46-49)

It’s really good to teach and show the movements that you can do and break it down for them which I do personally and they can use this. It’s great when you see that they have cracked it and they use their own movement as well. 9. Practise (Lines 37-38 and 59-60)

You see things much larger when you have been practising for six years and practising in public place. More people are practicing and continue to practice once they realise the deeper aspects. They identify with the physiological, mental and social side of things and the way it operates. 10. Emotional relationship with the environment (Lines 30-31, 56-58 and

61-63)

It’s the art of getting past any obstacle and difficulty. It’s a discipline practised through your relationship with the environment. That is one of the reasons you get regional trends. People are forced to train in different ways. People practise and try to improve their parkour and don’t think about confidence issues and try and improve things with the environment they have. No one else is involved and it’s just you and the environment, the walls and trees.

11. Individual competition (Lines 62-67)

No one else is involved and it’s just you and the environment, the walls and trees. That part of it is so good at forcing you to develop your own ability. You can rely on your coach or get technical information but to get your feelings and perceptions right you have to do it yourself. Not everyone can do it on their own and will need some help from someone else but the bulk of it is individual.

12. Way of life (Lines 15-17, 26, 28 and 67-69)

Every time you get past an obstacle you get a sense of success. This success makes you become freer and means you can do anything you want to do. There are a huge range of benefits that people can focus on.

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Parkour helps you realise that you can find freedom without obstacles limiting you. Having started it, no it would be impossible to stop parkour. The things that I have done through parkour and the changes it has made. I cannot stop in the changes it has made in the past.

Figure 5.1: Participant D: Clusters and Emerging Themes Cluster 1: Training (themes 1 and 9)