UMass parkour club grows by leaps and bounds
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Rooftop jumpers on YouTube have made parkour famous, but University of Massachusetts senior Jackie Hai says participants in the noncompetitive discipline are no "adrenaline junkies."
"Parkour has always come off as a sort of daredevil, risky sport," said Hai, president of UMass Parkour. "It gets sensationalized - that jumping from roof to roof."
Parkour is the discipline of moving quickly and efficiently through an environment. Also known as l'art du deplacement - the art of movement in French - it was made famous by French physical educator and stunt man David Belle in the 1990s.
Participants in the activity, called "traceurs," train themselves to scale walls, balance on railings, jump stairs and surmount other man-made objects safely and efficiently.
Recently, it has attracted attention for the short clips of extraordinary acts of daring found on video-sharing Web sites such as YouTube.
Hai calls this "the YouTube effect."
She said that the discipline, which has become popular in the United States but is still misunderstood in the mainstream, has been unjustly pegged as an extreme sport.
"If you just skim the surface, that's all you get," she said. "You don't see the discipline that goes into it."
But the members of UMass Parkour, which was started by Hai and a few other students last year, see all the discipline they'd ever want.
Members meet at the Haigis Mall in front of the Fine Art Center each Tuesday and Thursday evening. Though there is some turnover from week to week, meetings draw between 15 and 25 members. No equipment is needed, though most members wear athletic clothing and running shoes, and a few sport fingerless padded gloves for extra protection.
Hai, UMass Parkour vice president Ken "Scrib" Scriboni, treasurer Travis Swayne and equipment manager Yair Schatz spend around a half-hour leading warm-up exercises such as windmills, jumping jacks and various stretches.
"We try to stick to the basics day to day," Hai said. She said these warm-ups include running and walking, jumping, climbing, crawling and other quadripedal movements.
After - and only after - the officers warm up the group, they break into training and instruction around the university campus.
Club officers emphasize safety as well as conditioning.
"One important part of parkour is to know the terrain," said Scriboni. "You don't want any surprises."
Hai said that although parkour isn't as risky as people think, there are still liability issues that have to be resolved before members can take part.
"We have members sign a release and waiver of liability form, which is the same kind people who take gymnastics or martial arts classes have to sign," she said.
At a recent practice, Hai instructed newer members on how to perform a diagonal roll after jumping a flight of stairs onto the grass at the Campus Center.
"The goal is to minimize the impact on your bones and spine, as opposed to the somersault, which will put you flat on your spine," Hai said.
"Coming out of the roll, you want to extend one leg forward, so you can start running immediately," she said.
Hai then let the beginners jump the flight of seven stairs, performing the move she had just taught them. They all caught on fairly quickly.
"It's a conditioning based on comfort level," Hai said.
Hai said the group has almost doubled since last year. Many of the new members are first-year students.
Matthew Hawley, a freshman and UMass Parkour member, had heard of parkour before he arrived on campus.
"I saw a video on YouTube, and when I was coming here I checked on the UMass Web site (for a parkour club) and it was listed," he said.
Hawley was drawn in by the YouTube effect.
"What other sport can you learn to do backflips and climb buildings?" Hawley said.
But he quickly learned the discipline element of parkour as well. He said the conditioning is tough, especially because he's never been interested in other sports. Parkour, though, is a different ball game.
"It's really, really hard at first, but it's worth the effort," he said.
UMass Parkour has also opened up the discipline to women on campus, according to Hai.
"We actually have quite a few women in our group," she said. She said that the turnout for UMass Parkour practices and jams can be anywhere from one-fifth to one-third female. She said the only other areas with a comparable female presence in parkour groups are Toronto and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Hai said the media's portrayal of parkour as "a dangerous sport, and not a discipline similar to martial arts" is what turns many women off to parkour. She said women are more interested in "places where the discipline level is more prominent, like Toronto and the Bay Area, so you're not just taking unnecessary risks."
She said that when the focus is on discipline, and not adrenaline, "you're actually getting fitter and healthier and not just injuring yourself."
Samantha Yoon, a freshman at the university, joined the club after hearing about it at a freshman activity fair. She said the discipline is what kept her coming back.
"They really stick to the program," she said.
In addition to biweekly practices, the group hosts Saturday "jams" about twice a month.
Even with UMass Parkour's brand of discipline-oriented parkour, people jumping down stairs and climbing on buildings attract some quizzical stares.
"It looks like they're doing stunts for movies," said Jordyn Dapondi, a UMass student who looked on at a recent jam.
"I was a gymnast and I can't do this," said fellow student Eve Gavurn.
But not all onlookers are completely unaware of what's going on. Patrick Harner, a chaplain with the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship at the university, didn't know there was a parkour club on campus until he happened by a recent practice.
"I didn't realize that there were a lot of people doing this in the U.S.," he said.
Harner said he was glad to see UMass students embracing parkour.
"I used to be a personal trainer, so I've always been interested in different types of conditioning," he said.
The Saturday jams are less structured than practices, and UMass Parkour invites anyone from the area who's interested to join in. UMass alumnus and former UMass Parkour vice president Dante Ciliberti was in the Amherst area and came back to a recent jam.
"I try to keep up with it," he said. "I follow the New England Parkour Group" - an online community of traceurs - "and I train two to three times a week."
He said he's impressed with the group's growth.
"When I was in it, there were around five to 10 members," he said. "I wish we had this many people."
Hai said that although parkour is noncompetitive, and isn't a team sport, there is strength in numbers.
"When you train with a group, that's another advantage," said Hai. "You can push each other further than you would by yourself."
Hai and Schatz recalled an exercise at a recent practice where members got on all fours and performed quadripedal movements up Orchard Hill, a steep hill in the Central residential area on campus. Schatz and other members who finished first noticed that some members were struggling, so they ran back down the hill and performed the exercise again, this time cheering on their fellow club members.
"Everyone made it to the top," Hai said.
