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1st - 6th Feburary 2011
Australian Parkour Association Instructor Training
Location: Trace Facility, Melbourne Australia
My breath was coming out in ragged bursts, my cheeks were burning and I could vaguely see the backs of the people ahead of me. Chippa was leading us on the daily morning run, a ritual that was repeated every morning at 7 sharp, in total silence starting from the Trace Facility. The first day, we ran up the road, back, and over a couple of 4m fences before arrving at a 10m long rail for balancing. On the second day, we ran a little further. On the third day, a lot faster, longer and no breaks. On the fourth, we ran along the railway tracks. On the fifth, there was no run because of the midnight and dawn training with Benjamin. On the sixth and final morning there was no run but there was more training.
There were 9 of us, 6 men, 3 women and we came from all across Australia and beyond, gathering in a warehouse located 20 minutes drive from the center of Melbourne they called it the Trace Facility. The Trace Facility is a traceur's training paradise, a space for classes, a big boys' playground, the Batcave (stop at Batman station), the hangout, the unofficial headquarters, home - adjustable scaffolding, boxes, crash mats, mattresses, punching bags, two lounge areas, there were lots of places that 8 people could make their own. Every morning after the run, we'd gather in the lounge room, have breakfast together, continue with training, have lunch, train some more, eat and train again. When the classes at night were done, we would play around with the equipment, testing things out, talking about what we wanted to do the next day, until sleep and fatigue from the day overcame enthusiasm and the Trace Facility became silent.
6 days of pushups, warmups, running, wall runs, assisting in classes, voice lessons, balancing, climbing, vaults, learning how to spot someone for safety and rehearsing each technique over and over and over and over again until sheer willpower could barely push exhausted muscles that were on the brink of failure, muscles sometimes failing, and after particularly hard sessions, our bruised bodies lay languid upon the floor of the Trace Facility.
What makes a leader? And what makes an instructor? These were questions that we each had to explain to be selected for the Instructor Workshop, and throughout the 6 workshop days, experienced instructors shared their knowledge as well as personal and life changing experiences, like how parkour saved a friend from a brutal beating, and how an instructor who introduced parkour training to a friend with with rheumatoid arthritis helped him to save himself from a potentially nasty bicycle accident, with a parkour roll. The instructors from the Australian Parkour Association (APA) had graciously volunteered to share with us their time, skill and experience in running the classes in Melbourne. And after 6 days most of us would leave Melbourne with what we had learnt with the hopes that what we learnt would help others to train safely and to introduce the discipline to people. Trying to condense years of experience into 6 days is no easy task, but if we were ready, they of the APA were game and so we subjected our bodies and minds to them.
Welcome to the Australian Parkour Association's Instructor Training 2011.
Day 1:
We watched as the President of the Australian Parkour Association fell, past the spotter's outstretched arms, landing with a loud whoompf onto the crash mat 2 meters below. Turning around to look at us with our jaws on the ground, his eyes sparkled with mirth and he drawled, " Okay, you need to stand a little closer next time"
It wasn't even half past ten in the morning and we had already run 4km, climbed fences, balancing outdoors, indoors, quadrepedal balancing (cat balancing) and now Chippa was showing us how to spot someone falling from a height. To an outsider, parkour seems to defy gravity: we leap across chasms, flinging limbs and bodies in graceful arcs and suspending time. Alas, practitioners are human too and when we fall, gravity claims us: some of us are able to save ourselves through instinct or practise, but today we would learn to help others. Chippa, APA president / unfortunate falling projectile, was both instructor and victim for our practise. We learnt how to position ourselves and how we weren't plucking him out of the air, but catching him underneath his arms, keeping his neck and head upright so that his head didn't hit the ground and to watch out for flailing limbs.
But balancing drills weren't over just yet. Chippa walked to the scaffolding bars elevated 2.5 meters above ground. "We're going to do some balancing. You're going to practise controlled descents, that is, if you fall, to reach down to the bar and using your arms to lower yourself to chest level and if possible, to lift yourself back up to the bar " With that, we were balancing, swinging and lifting. At 11:30, we met Dutchy.
Steely eyed, arms clasped behind him like a drill sergeant, voice expanding sonorously to the back of the warehouse, Dutchy's gaze could melt steel. He was there to lead the next session about coaching techniques, voice projection and from the looks of him, to also bend our wills to his bidding. When Dutchy suggested to split into pairs to teach and critique techniques, some of the guys visibly gulped. I wasn't quick enough to grab the person next to me and thus I found myself paired with Dutchy. Gulp.
Each pair took teacher/student roles, teachers explaining techniques to the students, demonstrating, breaking down steps and then putting the steps together, progressing techniques to increase difficulty or to keep the routine interesting. The teacher/student role playing was a technique that was repeated over and over throughout the week sometimes in pairs, in small groups or in front of the entire group. At the end of the week we would teach students in the APA Melbourne classes. Before then we role played endlessly and critiqued and debated every single technique, giving each other feedback on presentation, voice projection and progression. After the role playing, we went outside, each stood 3 meters apart from our partner and started talking for three minutes. Speaking from the diaphragm so that the person 3 meters away could hear us clearly, we each had to talk about ourselves and when it came to my turn, my mind went blank. So for 3 minutes, I talked about aetheism, the ethereal soul, concepts of life after death, the devil, Bill Gates and chocolate milk. Well, at least my diaphragm still worked, so Dutchy heard all of it.
And then Dutchy taught us mind control techniques. Sadly, these techniques are so secret that I cannot divulge them here, but if you ever come into contact with an Australian parkour instructor, he will undoubtedly be using Dutchy's mind control techniques on groups of people. However what I can share with you is the importance of terminology, that is using the right phrases when coaching, for students to understand and carry out the techniques correctly. For example, we were advised in wall runs, to describe the method as " stepping up " the wall as opposed to " kicking " the wall - " stepping " giving the idea that someone is moving up the wall rather than kicking off or kicking into the wall.
In the mid-afternoon, the temperature in the warehouse reached Swedish steam room proportions. Joshua had arrived to help with parkour rolls shortly before Dutchy's session ended, clad in nothing but shorts and a neckerchief. I thought it was a little strange, if not revealing, but as sweat streamed down my face and the boys had stripped off most of their clothing, staying conscious in the heat became as important as concentrating on learning the techniques. By 5:30pm, we had done more teacher / student role playing, wall runs, tic tacs, vaults and arm jumps and the weather cooled before Sam's Basics class that evening. More running and the third (or fourth?) warm up of the day, we found ourselves doing lunges and wall sits. Happy happy joy joy more lunges and wall sits. Nah, not really. It was only the first day and we had been up since 7am until 9:20pm when the last student left. We had done wall runs, tic tacs, vaults, lunges, sit ups, warm ups, mind control, coaching, balancing, running...and there were still 5 days to go.
Day 2:
" Okay, I'm going to tell you why people hate the APA. "
Morning run done, we were seated in the lounge rooms, breakfast sitting happily in our bellies and listening to Chippa. A lamp cast a cosy glow over the people seated on an assortment of sofas, mattresses and lounges.
"About 8 years ago, there was a parkour jam that was organized and a boy fell off a tree and hit his head, and Harley and I got blamed and were sued for it even though we were not even there, we were actually 100km away. After this, we started the APA so that we could provide liability for the people who wanted to teach parkour to others. It's a non-profit organization and the instructors are volunteers, so all the money we make goes back into parkour in Australia. This means that we can organize grants or funding to people or communities who need it.
But first, let's talk about what a leader is. Some become leaders by being exemplery in parkour, the ones with the biggest jumps for example, some are leaders by the activities that they lead. People who want to become instructors place themselves in a position to become leaders, but at the same time, put themselves up to critics..."
Me: " Those who can't do, teach? "
"Right. Some people have accused the APA of wanting to take over their communities and turning it into extensions of Melbourne parkour, some of those same critics have since joined the APA. Others want me to come to their cities to teach their communities. The APA can carry out these instructor trainings to help you to learn the necessary skills to teach others, but it's up to you to develop your local community.
And then it comes to the issue of earning money by being an instructor. The APA is a non-profit organization, but now that we're running classes at the Trace Facility, this has become harder to justify. But going back to the issue on why you're not allowed to earn money through parkour, this formed years ago on the forum boards when all people had to refer to about parkour were the videos that the original French guys were making. There was very little material we had to refer to, and somehow the idea, that we weren't allowed to make money off parkour, was created on those forum boards and remained.
The purpose of the APA is to make sure that the knowledge of what parkour is and why we train it is transmitted correctly in Australia. If you watch the videos by the founders of parkour, l'art du deplacement and freerunning, when they explain the philosophies of their disciplines, they are very clear and distinct about their philosophies. For David Belle, parkour was part of how his father Raymond Belle taught it to him and we try to follow that as closely as we can."
We talked for a while more and trained some more - more drills, more techniques, more role-playing, and then Harley arrived. After introductions and more warm-ups, including an interesting analogy for big hip rotations (Australian man having sex) and well defined lower torso rotations (Brazilian man having sex) - there was no denying it, Harley was definitely fruitier that your average Australian bloke. If that wasn't enough, Harley made it more interesting. Splitting us into two teams, it was time for an obstacle course. But first, the blindfolds. Half of us waited in the lounge room unable to see what was going on outside, while the rest of us set up bars, crates, boxes and Bob, the punching dummy.
When it was done, the team was led out blindfolded to navigate their way from one side of the building to the other, without touching the floor. For Grant and Alec, their task included making their way over the railing of the second storey balcony. Then it was my team's turn, and that's when things got tricky. Halfway through the course, they had set up a swing rope, landing to ride upon a giant rolled up carpet, and there were several basketballs placed after that. Being blindfolded made movements 10 times slower, it would be good practise for unfamiliar terrain when our sense of sight could not be used, but in this case, also good entertainment for those watching us.
And then Harley made us sing and do parkour.
COMING TO A THEATRE NEAR YOU, THE SINGING PARKOUR GROUP FROM DOWN UNDER!!
No one said anything about being part of a parkour Von Trapp family! Smack. Ouch. As I tried to remember the lyrics, I momentarily forgot to tuck into a roll, resulting in a bruised skull. Others had their singing caps on, and timed the chorus perfectly for every vault and wall run. It was a ridiculous moment, something that was a relief from the instructor critiques, techniques and drills, and as Harley's blue eyes lit up with mischievous delight, I realized that I, like the others, had enjoyed this alternative session very very much. And then the basics class, we were introduced as the "out of state instructors who will be taking part and assisting in the classes" - which usually meant that we would be doing that after a full day of training, it would be another 2 hours of warmups, lunges, drills and conditioning - we were feeling the pain from the climb up and wall runs drills earlier in the day and from the day before, but we pushed on. 4 days to go.
Day 3:
The people in peak hour Melbourne are sure friendly. I was supposed to meet Mike "Smo" Snow, one of the APA instructors, at the Spencer Street station but as I asked one person how to get there, several others on the tram helpfully chimed in with advice; it's now called the Southern Cross station and I need to get off in two stops, and change trams. As I hopped off, another lady helpfully pointed me in the right direction to the next tram stop. Walking to the meeting point, I spot Smo's profile: Smo has tree trunks for legs and arms and like Dutchy, has a gaze that can blast through solid concrete - and then he smiled, momentarily breaking his imposing facade, and gave me a welcoming hug. Eventually the group was assembled at Southern Cross station, all excited - First day in Melbourne city! The question on everyone's lips: Are we going to Southbank?
Southbank, similarly named to the one in London, is a famed training ground in Melbourne and in Australia, notable Youtube videos in Melbourne have been filmed on the variety of walls, ramps and steps of Southbank, benefiting from the good relationship between the parkour community and the forces managing Southbank. Smo led us down a path, close to one of the many pedestrian bridges that crossed the Yarra River to Soutbank. Today we were climbing bridges - not over them, but under them. Little nooks and crevices, planks, dust, covered wires, pigeon poop, Grant "Beefcake" made it under and around in less than 60 seconds, while some of us barely made it halfway on our first try.
Then Smo showed us a technique that had taken him months to work out and suddenly what had seemed impossible seemed probable (in several tries, at least for me). Then Smo had a new challenge, we would each take turns, grasping the steel girder running underneath the bridge with our arms and legs like demented koalas, propelling ourselves over the water, as far as we could comfortably go. The first person popped up, started...
… and then two police officers poked their heads over the railing.
" Hello, what are you doing there? Seems like you're going over the water. "
Smo: "We're just doing some climbing, if you'd like us to leave, we can do so. "
"Well, since your group seems to be really responsible about what you're doing, you can stay."
Smo: "Nah, we'll move along. Thanks officer. "
Slightly disappointed, Smo led us to a wall and we drilled spotting techniques. At noon we met Benjamin, who is from France but started parkour in Melbourne. Like Chippa, Harley, Dutchy and Smo, Benjamin (Benji) started instructor training by telling his story to us, how he started and his relationship with the APA. Knowing yourself, your goals and your reasons for practising and become an instructor are as important as learning the techniques and instructor syllabus - Benji would speak with us more about that later. But first, more bridge climbing.
At Southbank, we went to a different and smaller bridge - this time we would be taking ourselves along the edges of the bridge, suspending ourselves by our arms, moving over the water. My heart sank slightly when I realized that most of what Benji was doing involved intense upper body strength. At the end of 2 days of climb ups and wall runs, I was almost using my teeth to pull myself up the walls. Jumping up to grab the railing, internally cursing my short legs and arms, I realized it wasn't too bad because although my shoulders were gone, I could use what was left of my forearm and grip strength. I managed to get into a consistent rhythm, moving myself over the water - and then I felt my muscles failing while I still needed the final push to get myself from the hanging position, back onto the bridge and vault the railing. I was in a precarious position where I needed to have enough energy for the final push, but yet I wouldn't drown if I landed in the Yarra River. I had once pushed myself to the point of exhaustion, cat balancing on rails and pretty much fallen off when I finished, grabbing the rail as I fell, but this wasn't the time or place for working my muscles to failure. I hated giving up, but I went as far as I could and pulled myself up the bridge. We continued with several variations of hanging off bridges and the edges of the river banks, coming to a floating pontoon where we did running arm jumps as the pontoon moved and shifted according to its moods.
Office workers were streaming out of the offices and into the train station, the sun was still shining and the smooth stone and steel around us was warm from the day of sunshine. Benji had made a list on a piece of paper, he tells us that some advice may not be useful immediately - with the warm sun pouring down, some of us are struggling to pay attention, but it's all good - Benji talks about the 80-20 principle (investing a large amount of time for a small increase in results) , technique masturbation (working so long on one technique that the overall goal of training is lost) and training in all conditions, amongst other life lessons. Before we know it, we're rushing back to the Trace Facility for the night's classes and then it starts raining. Arriving at the Trace Facility soaked, shoes leaving puddles on the floor and late for the class, we start assisting as best we can. 3 days to go.
Day 4:
This morning's energy levels are as low as the crawling quadrepedal that Harley made us do the day before - place your nose and body about 1cm off the ground and commence quadrepedal movement. After the morning run and breakfast, it's more drills, coaching techniques and critiques but it's hard to snap to attention, so we get an early day off at 4pm. Some of us go to Melbourne city to look around and to shop for Jayme "Commando". The nickname isn't just because Jayme has a pair of badass sunglasses but because he has been going commando for the whole week because of a packing malfunction. Grant "Beefcake" has decided to get him a new pack, plus a woman's pink g-string that he'll give to Jayme first before presenting the men's wear. Some of us have been christened new nicknames during the workshop, tall Alec is " Sunshine " and Fizz is " Mum " . Alec and Grant head off to find a bridge they want to climb and I head back for some rest. 2 days more.
Day 5:
Benji wakes everyone at the Trace Facility up at half past midnight. It's pouring with rain outside and everyone has to go out for a run. In Southbank, Benji had been talking about how a real test of oneself is to wake up totally unprepared and to react immediately, so he is taking everyone outside to live it. The run lasts an hour and a bit, weaving through the industrial area that the Trace Facility is located in. A few hours later at half past four, Benji wakes everyone up again - it's time for another run, and it's still raining. At one point Benji has everyone balancing or cat balancing on fences 4m above the ground - extra caution is taken in the dark, wet and slippery conditions. The rain is so heavy that sometimes it's hard to see. At 6 am, the training ends. People lay on mats where they fall, shoes soaked, bodies exhausted.
The next morning, part of the Trace Facility has flooded because the rainwater tank has overflowed from the heavy rainfall the night before. Benji wakes everyone up again because the kid's classes are about to start and the wet shoes, clothing, mattresses and sleeping bags need to be put away. Everyone's up, rearranging equipment, sweeping and vacumming and Grant has just finished when the first parent and child walks in through the front. Some of us are out front assisting with the kid's classes that Sam is running and Reilly and I step in to assist, but Sam the instructor waves us away. " Don't worry guys, they can handle themselves. "
And Sam is right, the smallest child there, in age and size, moves instinctively and gracefully. The 5 year old's dad starts talking to me, dad does parkour as well and it's obvious how proud he is of his son. He comments on how well Sam is handling the big range in ages (5 to 12 years old), and how, as a snowboarding instructor himself, teaching adults and children is different - children need less explanation and more demonstration, moves have to be exaggerated so that the kids will copy it, and how young children have short attention spans and need to be constantly kept stimulated. All of us are entranced by the energy and fun that the children are exuding, it brightens up the weariness and it reminds us of the joy we get in parkour when we rediscovered how to move like children. There's lots of laughs, especially when Sam "bribes" the kids to do pushups, by offering himself as a human sofa if the kids complete all the pushups - although he might have bitten off more than he can chew when 3 kids decide to sit on him!
At about 1pm, we head into the city, all of us wondering what's next. Chippa's taken note of how tired the group is and from Flinder Street Station, we walk for a few minutes to a multi storey car park where Smo is waiting for us. We head to the top floors and it's evident that Chippa and Smo been there before and that they also don't expect for us to be disturbed.
"We're going to be playing a few games today, it's good as alternative exercises in classes, breaking the ice or when you have groups of people who don't know each other's names"
In the first game, an invisible boundary is drawn with columns forming markers. It is essentially a game of tag, one person (Smo) starts as the tagger and before Smo can tag someone out ( Alec), Alec can shout out another person's name (Chippa!) and Smo has to tag Chippa, but then Chippa can shout out someone else's name (Grant!). As more people become tagged out, sometimes people shout out a random name, forgetting that the person is already out - and so the tagger tags them out! There's lots of laughs and for the next game, we gathered in a cricle and put our shirts, or a towel, in our back pockets like a tail - people paired up in the middle of the circle, in quadrepedal position (on all fours) and each person tried to get the "tail" from the other. It's a comical atmosphere when one person lunges over one person's back while the other goes underneath at the same moment, ending up in a draw, or the other person's feet being pulled from under them by their "tail" being yanked.
There's also the "ninja cat" game, (my own name) because it's like being stalked by "ninja cat", you'll turn around, and "ninja cat" has snuck up behind you, turning around again, "ninja cat" is even closer... (the proper name might be "statues"). One person stands in front, their back facing us, and all 10 of us sneak up to him or her, trying to keep as silent as possible and avoiding them seeing us when he/she turns around. This becomes lots of fun in an empty split level carpark, with large columns to hide behind, railings to get over and different platform levels to jump and climb over. Then it's time for multi-level tag, which I'm told is like British bulldogs where we have 2 taggers / guards / bulldogs positioned on Levels 9 who will tag us out of the game if we're caught. Starting at level 8, our goal is to get to Level 10, past the bulldogs at level 9 - who can chase us at any level, but for fairness can't wait at Level 10 for us - although they can chase us up to level 10! It's good sprint training and because I can't outrun others on a long stretch like long-legged Alec can, I have to strategize more, such as by sneaking around or by waiting for diversions for the guards, such as others sprinting for it.
After a few rounds, Chippa takes it up a notch. There's now a 10 minute time limit and the goal is to get to Level 10 as many times as possible, this time there's no tagging out but taggers can only "freeze" people, who can be "unfrozen" by other runners. There's a lot more running in this, each round lasts 3 minutes or less and there is less hiding and more activity. At the end of it, we're breathless, laughing and happy. Chippa tells us that we can change the rules to get people moving or more involved and everyone chimes in with suggestions for the next time. Before we leave, Smo shows us some techniques that they've developed for getting through the railings, it's a vault and dive - it's fascinating to see what they've developed in specific situations and we're all really getting into it, and then we break for lunch.
We're back at Southbank. Chippa sits us down and announced the theme of the next few exercies.
" In most situations, we assume that we're able-bodied and are able to do everything, but in certain situations, say that we're with our mum and she can't do everything that we can, or perhaps we're injured with only one usable arm. "
So we started off doing wall runs with one arm, which is easier for the taller guys, and then Chippa offered himself, in the wallsit position, as a human chair. It's a surprisingly stable movement, and when it's my turn as a human chair, I'm able to let a full grown man step on top of me. If you do try this, remember to alternate foot and arm because when I put right foot on leg and right hand on shoulder, my foot slipped off and I came very close to stomping teammate Reilly in the jewels...
We split into groups of 3 people each, and we started into drills - rolls, precisions, wall runs and turn vaults that we take turns doing in groups. I'm grouped with Chippa and Ai-Mo, a Melbourne regular , and unfortunately we start with wall runs. There were huge puddles of water at the base of the wall, which frustrated me as I can't work out why the bottom of my shoes can't grip the wall and I'm barely able to get up. I stand there confused, my tired brain trying to assess whether it's my fatigued arms or my jelly legs - eventually I work out that it's the puddles and I move to the end of the wall which is dry - and then it's time to move to the next route. After completing all the routes, we regroup. Fizz looks exhausted and looks at Grant who's next to her.
"Grant, just stand there?"
"Huh?"
Fizz leaned against him and wrapped her arms around his waist, she looked drained.
Me:" Awwww group hug, come on Julia! "
For a minute, Fizz, Julia and I, are wrapped around Grant, turning him into the Most Envied Man on Southbank. Later when the whole team talks about the finish of that training session on Southbank, we agreed that, after 5 days of continuous training and drills, we had all been pushed as far as we can go and had metaphorically, hit the wall. 1 day more.
Day 6.
It's officially the last day of the instructor week and the last morning that we will all be in the lounge room together. A fast and furious pillow fight is taking place in the middle of the lounge room and the black 13 inch baton from the front desk has found it's way into the melee. Jayme throws the baton at Grant, managing to clock him squarely in his jewels, leaving him bent over and breathless, 2 minutes later, Grant returns the favor. I'm facepalming myself watching this, and then Jayme reaches over to grab Fizz's sore toe, starting another tussle, the Nerf gun has been found and assorted pillows and items are flying around. After 6 days, we're a big family - we've seen each other at our lowest and decided that our expression of love is physical abuse. Wait a minute... I mean, I love you guys and girls :)
Today we're instructing in the first APA class of the year in Melbourne, where we will put into practise what we've been doing the whole week. I should be more excited, but my legs and knees are covered with bruises, causing me to wince whenever my leg brushes over the railing and my muscles feel as though I've had to dig deep several times this week already. As classes start, we're all silently rehearsing in our heads everything that we've learnt in the week. Dutchy, Benji, Sam and Smo are standing on the sides, as are several other Melbourne instructors. Our group is split up and the afternoon passes in a blur, when we regroup after the classes, the other instructors give feedback about how we each did. I sit on the grass, absorbing and reflecting on everything that had happened in the week.
Instructor training, is not about who does the biggest jumps, or the fanciest tricks. All the people I met have a genuine desire to teach parkour to their communities, without any ego or desire for personal glorification. We argued, debated and critiqued each other, we were physically destroyed, and then we had to dig deep and find a little bit more. Most of all, we supported each other, in public, during the quiet moments and making sure that no one got left behind. I really appreciate that Chippa and the APA guys volunteered their time, energy and experiences as instructors and practitioners for us to take away with us. After the week was finished, the process of learning and training is not over, particularly for some of us who want to start classes in our home cities. Instructor accreditation is not automatic at the end of the 6 days, the decision to award instructorship still remains with the existing APA instructors, so techniques and instructing still need perfecting. Even in Melbourne, this process of self-improvement takes place continuously - Chippa and all the instructors have spent years trying to perfect techniques to teach parkour safely to others, and they tried to pass that knowledge on to us in 6 days. In other words, there's a lot of time and energy being devoted by a network of people around Australia to develop and spread parkour and for 6 days I am honored to have trained with some of them.
-Shi
The Australian Parkour Association website is http://parkour.asn.au