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News from March 2009

Parkour Handbook at 30% Discount

rBooks.com are doing a special 30% off pre-publication offer on the new Parkour and Freerunning Handbook written by our very own Dan Edwardes and drawing on the knowledge of many of the most experienced practitioners in the world. It is being published by Virgin Books in the UK and will be available from the 4th June. It features many photos of the team taken by Kiell and offers an introduction to the fundamental aspects of the discipline aimed at building the confidence of the novice to become a confident and capable practitioner. If you are interested in purchasing the book then click THIS LINK and enter the code PARKOURSBOOK at the checkout to take advantage of the offer.

Tuesday 31st of March 2009

Edutain Programme Underway

Today saw the re-commencement of the ongoing Edutain Programme of workshops in school holidays for the City of Westminster's Positive Futures project. The sessions are going on for the next 2 weeks at Moberly Sports Centre on Mondays, Avenues Sports Centre on Tuesdays and Churchill Gardens Youth Centre on Thursdays, all of them from 1-3pm. The workshops have proven a great way to engage young people from the inner-city boroughs over the last few years, and give them an introduction to a positive discipline and physical activity that they can then take on for themselves. Long may it continue!

Tuesday 31st of March 2009

Epsom and Ewell Youth Club

This month we have started a new Youth Club in Epsom and Ewell Borough at The Edge Youth Centre. The club runs every Monday from 4.30-5.45pm at the centre and caters for children of 5-10 years. For more information on the club contact us HERE.

Saturday 28th of March 2009

Sutton Council to join Schools Programme

Sutton Council is the latest London borough to jump on board with our Parkour for Schools Programme, with 3 Sutton schools beginning weekly classes. A display day will be held for the three schools next week before regular classes begin after the Easter holidays. Welcome aboard!

Saturday 28th of March 2009

BBC London Piece

BBC London came along today to one of our regular school sessions, this one at Quintin Kynaston School in north London, to cover the success of the teaching of the discipline in schools over the last few years. The piece, featuring an interview with Stephane, will air on BBC London tomorrow at 1.30pm and 6.30pm. Thanks to Matt Sheppard and QK School for being so accommodating as always!

Thursday 26th of March 2009

Morzine Camp Discounts

This year's Morzine Parkour Intensive Training Camp in the French Alps on 21st to 28th June 2009 is currently at a reduced rate for all those early bookers. Pay now and you will receive between a 30 to 50 euro discount for the event, but this deal will be ending very soon so be sure to get in early to take full advantage. You can click HERE for more details on the camp and for paypal payment options.

Thursday 26th of March 2009

Off the Wall: London Jam March 28

Off the Wall is taking place this saturday at Elephant and Castle. Traditionally (brace yourselves), it has rained when we've visited, so dress warm but remember to leave your gloves at home. We'll be meeting at 12.45pm right outside the shopping centre, under the statue of the... yes... Elephant and castle. We'll then be ready to leave at 1pm and from there we head to the concrete jungle of the infamous Hayward estate for the group warmup. For more details email brian(at)parkourgenerations.com

Thursday 26th of March 2009

New Gallery Pics!

Fresh off the back of the relentless news article posted yesterday you can now see some more pictures from the team at that particular photoshoot by visiting our gallery page HERE. All photos were taken by Spencer Murphy at Big Sky Studios, London.

Wednesday 25th of March 2009

Relentless Magazine

A new article featuring some stunning photography of Brian, James, Yao and Andy has gone online in the magazine "This is the Order" by Relentless Energy. You can read the article in the current issue by clicking HERE and scrolling to page 12. There is also a supporting webpage with more of the photos by Spencer Murphy located HERE. Keep your eyes peeled for our own online gallery with more from this photo shoot.

Monday 23rd of March 2009

Vigorsol Commercial Complete

Today saw an extra, and final, shoot day in Lisbon, Portugal for the Perfetti "Vigorsol" Chewing Gum TV commercial starring Stephane and Dom. The shoot went smoothly for the guys, and the final edit will be seen soon online and on TV in Europe. We'll direct you to it when it appears.. ;)

Saturday 21st of March 2009

Rome Seminar Underway

The three-day international gathering in Rome kicks off today, with a seven-strong team from Parkour Generations there to run a seminar on the Saturday and hundreds of practitioners attending from all over Europe. Seb, Blane, Chris, Johann, Anne-T, Andy and James will be out there for the duration, so we hope all the participants brought their training gear with them..! Photos and reports of the event to follow soon.

Friday 20th of March 2009

Thomas in Turkey

Team Member Thomas is now set to enter his Near East section of his world journey, and will be in Turkey in April. Any traceurs wishing to meet and train with Thomas while he is passing through Turkey should email him on Thomas(at)parkourgenerations.com - well worth it for those lucky enough to catch up with him.

Thursday 19th of March 2009

NJIRC Success!

As reported earlier in the week, a five man team of coaches from Parkour Generations was sent down to Battersea, London to hold workshops alongside the National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships (NJIRC). The day was a huge success and the team had a constant queue from the two thousand participants all wanting to get on the equipment! Watch this space for details on next year's event.

Thursday 19th of March 2009

The Guardian Article online.

A thorough and insightful news article has gone online at the Guardian newspaper's website covering Parkour Generations success with our Parkour for schools programme. You can read the article by following the link HERE.

Wednesday 18th of March 2009

Workshops at NJIRC

Tuesday 17th March hosts the National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships, the biggest in the country, at Battersea in London. Parkour Generations will also be providing a day of workshops alongside the event, so be sure to visit their website HERE for more details.

Sunday 15th of March 2009

New Blog goes Live!

Our brand new blog has finally been released for the public, so head over to the page now and check out all the nice new features! Click here for the blog. The whole team is now involved and you will be recieving a new post to read every other day.

Sunday 15th of March 2009

The Guardian Newspaper Piece

Next week The Guardian newspaper will be running a piece on our thriving Parkour for Schools programme, now in its third year. The article will run in the Life and Style section of the paper, and will be accompanied by video footage of our teaching in schools on its website.

Friday 13th of March 2009

Vigorsol Gum Commercial

Team Members Stephane and Dom will be in Lisbon, Portugal, next week shooting a television commercial for European giant Vigorsol Chewing Gum. The commercial will be shown on European TV and the internet, and will be helmed by acclaimed director Sebastian Reed. More information as it unfolds...

Friday 13th of March 2009

Positive Futures Workshops: Fridays in March

Every Friday this month we will be running workshops for the Positive Futures programme in Westminster. Positive Futures is a national social inclusion programme using sport and leisure activities to engage with disadvantaged and socially marginalised young people, and we have seen amazing results form our work with Positive Futures over the last few years. Long may it continue! The sessions will occur on Fridays from 11.30-13.00 at Moberly Sports Centre.

Thursday 12th of March 2009

The Avenues Fundraising Youth Project

Nine members of Westminister sports unit will be running in the Flora London Marathon on the 26th April 2009 to raise money for one of their partner organisations, The Avenues Youth Project, which is one of the locations we teach our EDUTAIN scheme and was featured heavily in the Jump Westminster documentary. If you can please sponsor them at www.justgiving.com/teamavenues2009 to help raise funds for this very worthwhile organisation.

Wednesday 11th of March 2009

Blog Maintenance!

For the next few days the blog is getting some much needed love and attention from the resident code-monkeys and will need to be taken offline for the period. Why not check out the forum in the mean time and sign up if you haven't already! You can visit the message board here !

Tuesday 10th of March 2009

Morzine Camp Booking Up Fast

After its success last year, this year's Parkour Training Camp in the beautiful resort of Morzine in the French Alps is booking up fast as we near June. The course will be led by several of the Parkour Generations Team from France and the UK, and will be an intensive and focussed experience for all those who get a place. A candid report of last year's Camp can be read here. To book a place on this year's Camp, click the link at the top.

Tuesday 10th of March 2009

Ecce Parkour! Rome Seminar March 20-22

Hot on the heels of our recent two Italian seminars, a seven-man team from Parkour Generations will be returning to Rome from March 20-22 to run workshops at the international Ecce Parkour gathering. With traceurs attending from over 11 European nations the event is promising to be quite a meet, and we are happy to announce that our Yamakasi friends in Majestic Force will also be present to run the workshops. The hosts are providing free accommodation for anyone wishing to attend, all you need do is sign up at the link above and get yourself to Rome for 3 days of fun and training!

Monday 09th of March 2009

Men's Health Article

This month the US edition of Men's Health is running a great article on Erwan Le Corre, one of the world's leading figures in natural movement training and a man well known to the parkour community for many years. Erwan's approach to functional physicality is very similar to the core principles of parkour, and his own Movement Naturelle (MovNat) programme is well worth researching further. An online preview of the article can be read here.

Monday 09th of March 2009

Rome Charity Seminar

On Saturday we ran a seminar in Rome in conjunction with our friends from Majestic Force, Laurent Piemontesi and Chau Belle, and organised by parkour.it in aid of a children's hospital charity. Over 100 practitioners attended the event, eah one having to bring at least one gift for the beneficiary children - in fact well over 300 gifts were gathered and distributed in the end, so well done to everyone for pitching in! Thanks to Stephano for the smooth organisational work, and for everyone who participated and trained so hard. Julie Angel was there capturing the action as usual, so expect another classic short film soon.. ;)

Monday 09th of March 2009

Milan Seminar Report

Dan, Johann, Dom and Thomas had a great time running the Milan seminar this past weekend, which was well attended by traceurs from all over Italy and blessed with great sunshine and good training throughout. Huge thanks to Marco and the Milan Monkeys and Gise of Parkour Rome for making the whole thing such a success, and to all the practitioners who brought their smiles and training legs to Milan for the event. We'll be back in Rome from March 20-22, more on that soon. A Team Blog report on the Milan seminar will come out in due course...

Monday 09th of March 2009

CBS News Piece.

Over the past few weeks the American channel CBS News has been shadowing the team for coverage on the UK Parkour scene whilst highlighting our schools programme. Click HERE to see the aired news slot which was broadcast this morning.

Thursday 05th of March 2009

Blane's Videos

Check out some of Blane's archive of video footage on the new videos page Here! Includes: Excelsior, EscApe Artist, Docendo Discimus and Power is Nothing without Control. Well worth a look for some training ideas and challenges, Blane's videos and articles have been a constant inspiration for traceurs around the world.

Thursday 05th of March 2009

Schools Programme Expanding

Yesterday a new London school, William Ellis School in Camden had its first parkour session, which was a great success with Coaches Brian and Alli giving the first session. The school is the latest to join our very successful Parkour for Schools Programme, now expanding rapidly with several more schools coming on board over the next few weeks. For more information on the programme and how you can get involved, click here.

Thursday 05th of March 2009

Girls' Empowerment Workshop: 4th March

Tomorrow sees the next in our round of Empowerment Day workshops for 14-19 year old women in London, this one being held in Putney College, Wandsworth, as we move around the boroughs. The Westminster day kicked off the programme in style, and a short edit of that day can be seen here. A six-strong team will be there to run the session, which kicks off at 11.30am at the college.

Tuesday 03rd of March 2009

Yamakasi music video!

Check out a new video from musician Apollo J which features some of the unbelievable skills of Yann, Laurent and Chau from the Yamakasi as well as a very large group of students in cameo.
Click here to watch!

Tuesday 03rd of March 2009

Videos Page Update.

Be sure to check out the new videos page Here! It contains all of our previous videos plus a couple of new ones and a few old cuts that we forgot about. You'll now be able to search a lot more easily by using the tags, archive and category lists as well as see general information about the video before you play it. Another nice little addition to play around with is the social network buttons on every page, so if you like a movie, we've made it easy for you to tell everyone about it!

Monday 02nd of March 2009