Ethnography: Exploring the Unique Culture of Parkour, An Extreme Sport

December 10, 2014

Sports are something that has always been a part of my life and it’s hard to shake off. When looking for a culture to study, I immediately started thinking of something that I could do related to sports, but this was more difficult than I thought. I had already had experience with sports like swimming, synchronized swimming, dance, gymnastics, soccer, and softball. I also think that I knew too much about sports like football, basketball, or volleyball to complete an ethnography that is unbiased. That is what brought new to something a little closer to home, parkour. Parkour is the sport that my does and I knew nothing about the culture. I decided to observe the culture of parkour at the gym where he practice, Apex Movement in Boulder, CO. Parkour is one of the newest extreme sports , so it is working to create a community that draws people in. At first glance parkour may appear to have a hard time with building a community because many of the athletes are pursuing personal goals, but through observations and interviews, it appears that community is still capable of being created due to the communication of safety, various interactions among people at the gym, and as athletes face and try to defend themselves against the stereotypes that the world holds against them.

Methods

Parkour is a sport that I have come to know well over the last few years through Youtube videos, but most of all, my brother. My brother started parkour about a year ago with his friends by going to a parkour specialty gym in Boudler, CO. I was surprised by this sport because I saw it as most people do, as juveniles running through the streets and as the stuntmen in action movies, but once my brother started doing it, my view began to change. Through this ethnography, I wanted to learn what this parkour culture really was and why so many people were becoming attracted to it. Since my brother is the only person I know that practices parkour, I turned to him to assist in this ethnography so he could help me observe part of this particular culture of parkour. I observed the parkour culture at Apex Movement in Boulder, CO. Apex has been contributing to the parkour culture for less than ten years. When I started this research I was introduced to Jason Sikkema for permission to conduct the research because it is their business, as well as some insight to what I may be observing while at Apex.

Two days a week for two weeks, I went to Apex Movement in Boulder where I observed the culture of the parkour gym and conducted interviews for about two hours each of the days I was there. I observed the athletes in the gym who were there for class and for open gym. Interviews were conducted with instructors, employees, and a few of the athletes. The interviews consisted of about ten questions depending on the course of the conversation.

The data collected through interviews and observations were used to answer the following research question: How is community created while still pursuing the individual goals of parkour?

Review of Literature

As extreme sports, such as parkour, wrestling, snowboarding, and BMX riding, are becoming more popular, more and more studies are being conducted to learn about their cultures. In each new study, extreme sports must be defined, which often includes a hint at the masculinity of extreme sports, as well as what is included in the performance of the sport. It also looks at how those outside and inside the culture watch the sport and how that information is perceived.

Currently there are many different definitions of extreme sports. The definition depends on the focus of the study in which the author chooses aspects to highlight; however, there are many similarities that arise. From the similarities, a working definition can be constructed for the purpose of this ethnography.  First, extreme sports are a fairly recent culture that has been built with many subcultures for each extreme sport (Rinehart & Grenfell, 2002). Each extreme sport culture is unique, even to the point that they have their own language. Aside from the isolation of each sport, there is also a separation within each extreme sports to support their athletes as individuals (Lamb, 2010). Many of the skills performed in these sports are done individually and for the benefit of one person, promoting an antisocial environment (Hyung-Jin & Kim, 2003). The freedom in the practice of these sports (Lamb, 2010; Rinehart & Grenfell, 2002) plays into the antisocial environment by allowing athletes to practice what they want, in a given time frame, with whom they want, if they choose to do so. Possibly one of the greater appeals that contributed to the freedom for young athletes is that their parents are not needed in order for them to participate in the sport once they are in the training site (Rinehart & Grenfell, 2002). However with any amount of freedom comes the risks that can be demonstrated through dangerous (Jones & Greer, 2012) or violent (Hyung-Jin & Kim, 2003) forms of physical movement (Lamb, 2010) that could result in injury (Hyung-Jin & Kim, 2003).

The risky behavior of extreme sports and other qualities make extreme sports appear more masculine. Extreme sports put a lot of emphasis on their athletes for having a high level of athleticism (Jones & Greer, 2012). This athleticism is not just defined by the physique of the athletes, though it can certainly be helpful in their demonstrations of strength (Jones & Greer, 2012), but also speed (Lamb, 2010; Jones & Greer, 2012) and power (Jones & Greer, 2012; Rinehart & Grenfell, 2002) in order to complete the given physical maneuvers of the sport (Lamb, 2010). Extreme sports then evaluate their athletes through competition. Competition highlights the masculine quality of the desire for dominance (Jones & Greer, 2012). Those that are successful in dominating the competition pool then feel elated (Hyung-Jin & Kim, 2003). This relates to parkour which is based on military traditions (Lamb, 2010), which is commonly known as training for several months then going into battle where the outcome is the domination of one side, even if that is not how parkour athletes view it.

The masculine qualities of extreme sports contribute to the performance of the sports. Many extreme sports requires acts of violence or aggression (Hyung-Jin & Kim, 2003; Jones & Greer, 2012). By facing the sports in this way athletes are very competitive (Jones & Greer, 2012) and audiences are enticed to watch. In competition, success equals power (Jones & Greer, 2012) and respect from others. However, in some ways, the respect is present beyond the competition as athletes depend on each other for encouragement and help in times of need (Jones & Greer, 2012; Rinehart & Grenfell, 2002). This performance of extreme sports is more relative to parkour as it is viewed more as a discipline rather than a competition, a lifestyle rather than a rivalry (Lamb, 2010). This discipline focuses on the obstacle courses of life and teaches the athletes who practice it to overcome it (Lamb, 2010). These obstacles can be the overcoming and conquering of the environment which surrounds us or the challenges we face everyday. Parkour also teaches that although many of the stunts (Hyung-Jin & Kim, 2003) are done individually, teamwork is necessary to learn and eventually overcome the obstacles of the sport and of life (Rinehart & Grenfell, 2002).

When a new extreme sport starts, the athletes themselves are the audience, and an occasional parent of young or new athletes to the sport (Rinehart & Grenfell, 2002). As the sport grows, more people begin to know about the sport. Due to the extreme physical nature of extreme sports, those that do not know a lot about the sport view the athletes as bad kids who are destructive to themselves and the world (Lamb, 2010). The sport gains an even larger audience when it is televised because then it is viewed as a “real” sport (Hyung-Jin & Kim, 2003). The more television coverage that a sport receives, the more positive the view of the audience on the sport because they begin to associate it with the success of certain athletes and respecting those athletes due to their success (Jones & Greer, 2012).

As extreme sports emerge into the mainstream, they become more and more defined in order to be accepted by the athletes themselves and the wider audience of the world.

Results

All sports create a culture that is unique to its athletes. It is through teamwork and interaction with the other athletes in the sport that a community is built strong enough for the culture to stand on its own. However, interactions are more limited in sports that are more about individual performance than team performance, such as gymnastics, swimming, and the most extreme sports. Despite that, parkour is one of the latest extreme sports that is based on individual performance, but the culture continues grown and thrived. So what is it about the parkour community that draws people in? Through observations and interviews it appears that the parkour community is built on safety, interactions with others, and the opinions of those that are not a part of the culture. Community is built in spite of the pursuit of individual goals.

Safety

A concern for safety is necessary in many sports, especially parkour. The amount of safety varies easily based on the scenario, whether it is class time or open gym. The variations, particularly during open gym, are a reflection of certain risks and benefits, such as the placement of mats for safety or the limits that are constantly being pushed by athletes. All of this information is then perceived by the athletes and employees at the gym to form their own opinions of parkour and of the facility where they practice.

A majority of the community built at a parkour gym is centered around its classes (J. Sikkema, personal communication, November 9, 2014). In classes, students are taught the techniques of parkour, including how to safely execute the stunts. The instructors are certified to teach the Apex curriculum and must demonstrate their abilities to do the requirements (Sarah, personal communication, November 9, 2014). Each class starts with the circling of students around the instructor. Before any signal is given that class is started, students are not allowed in the gym, but even the slightest movement of the instructor to the starting point of class communicates to the students that they can now enter the gym. The calling together of the class brings the students into a structured environment to minimize risk. A structured environment imposes a community onto the student by which they interact amongst themselves. Interactions can include, but are not limited to, looking out for one another, helping the injured or moving and securing equipment as needed, coordinating workouts with others, and forming small groups. The formation of small groups is coordinated by the instructor during class in order to decrease down time, but students have the freedom to be in whichever group they want and with whom they want. Directions are given like any other type of class to the students. When directions are being given all of the attention is on the instructor despite all of the other distractions that are present in the area of the gym where the class is. The safety of the students is increased during this time because they have not actually started doing the stunts that could be dangerous, but they are learning the proper technique to do a particular task which most of them have probably never done before. By knowing the proper technique, the chance for injury is decreased and the students are able to remain a part of the community as an active participant. Once the directions of the task are given, the structure loosens so that students are able to go on their own to complete the instructed task, but also leaves some free time before moving on when students can work on something else or socialize with their classmates and other athletes in the gym. Even given proper direction in class and other safety tips for new students, safety is at risk during this time of freedom, but community has the opportunity to be built naturally, not forcefully.

The community that is built during an open gym period at a parkour gym is much different than the community built during classes as related to safety. Open gym entrusts the athletes to be responsible for the safety of themselves and others. During  open gym athletes are able to improve upon their skills, learn new skills, and do conditioning in order to support other movements (Chris, personal communication, November 13, 2014; B. Halpin, personal communication, November 13, 2014). Safety rules are laid out and explained to athletes in various forms during open gym, from the rules that they learn during class, to open gym orientation, to the signs that hang intermittently in each area of the gym stating rules, techniques, and cautions for that area (J. Sikkema, personal communication, November 9, 2014; Chris, personal communication, November 13, 2014). In open gym the structure that was present during class is lost; however, parts of the communities that were formed during class carry over to the open gym time that follows. Similar to the classes, the athletes help each other, but during open gym it is more for a personal benefit than a communal benefit. When working together, athletes are generally in partners, more than that becomes a crowd, and safety is secured by means of spotting stunts and sharing knowledge. However, sharing knowledge, in the form of saying or doing, can be dangerous because most athletes do not have experience teaching and even the smallest error in the parted wisdom could result in injury of self or others (J. Sikkema, personal communication, November 9, 2014). But whether partners are together for safety or for knowledge, this is a form of interaction that is building the parkour community. Once the community starts, it continues to grow and grow so that eventually more time is spent waiting one’s turn to do a stunt than doing the actual stunts. While waiting the athletes socialize more, strengthening the present community and it continues to grow. Music played during open gym also contributes to the socializing of athletes during open gym. However, in regards to safety, for some, music is beneficial because it helps them to focus, while for most, it is one more distraction to try to tune out when performing a stunt.

There are a number of additional risks that jeopardize the safety of athletes when doing parkour. Any place where parkour is done, there will be distraction. Away from the gym, such as on Pearl Street there are people, cars, and bikes that can be unpredictable. Or on the University of Colorado at Boulder campus, there again, are a number of people walking and riding bikes, as well as buildings or areas that should not be used for parkour stunts. In order to learn this information and to be in a place that is a little safer with few distractions, athletes go to parkour gyms like Apex. In the gym, people are still a distraction and since space is confined, when more people are in the gym, the distraction increases, at times there can be up to 50 people in the gym for open gym at once (J. Sikkema, personal communication, November 9, 2014). People congregate in areas of interest, which serves as a safety risk for those doing the stunts as well as for those around them, because there is little room to move. Competition is also heightened when people gather together because someone wants to or has to be the best. Competition risks safety because often judgment becomes clouded which leads to taking more risks and forgetting technique. Parkour is also known for many of its stunts being at height and/or requiring a certain amount of speed. With increased height, safety is at risk. With increased speed, safety is at risk. In the gym where spaces are tight, speed is limited, but it is still possible to reach speeds that risk the athlete who is running, as well as others with whom they may unexpectedly cross paths. Despite all of the safety risks in parkour, there are a few things that can reduce such risks. First, focus can increase the safety of individuals and others because distractions are able to be tuned out and stunts can be executed as they should. Repetition also reduces safety risks because then that movement is done in a way that is safe and that will be remembered by your muscles and by your brain, so that even when distractions are present, the movement, no matter the difficulty, is still possible. Experience is also beneficial to one’s safety because with experience, athletes have the ability to know the limits of their own body and mind and have learned a number of safe techniques that contribute to their training and athleticism (B. Halpin, personal communication, November 13, 2014).

In the parkour gym these implications of safety attribute to the athletes’ own experience at the gym. The loose structure of class and of open gym which promote socialization, but risks safety, is what gives the gym the particular mood that it is known for: fun, light-hearted, relaxed, comfortable, and friendly. If the sport or the facility were more strictly structured then the certain appeals that attract people to parkour would be nonexistent. However, the rules that promote safety are structured in such a way that when athletes do perform their stunts they consider safety over style.

Interactions

The interactions among the people at the gym affect their safety. What occurs during these interactions: aide, mockery, or distraction, but when observing the parkour gym, patterns become visible as to who communicates with whom and how those interactions form. These interactions can include talking with others, collaborations, and working in the same area because some sort of interaction is inevitable, even if the interaction is avoiding communication. There are stratifications of the people that cause them to come together, with the most prominent being the number of male versus female athletes. The interactions, once formed, serve a particular structural and functional purpose to creating a community.

There are stratifications that exist as a result of the gym’s staff, such as by age or skill level for classes (J. Sikkema, personal communication, November 9, 2014). These divisions create a hierarchy which can carry over to open gym and the greater culture of parkour. However age or skill does not grant power to those with more, even though they would like to think so. In classes, the instructor has power over the student, as an instructor does in any sort of learning environment. If this hierarchical tier did not exist at all within the confines of the gym, then chaos would ensue and safety would be breached. The instructor is given power by the business for which he works, but also by the students who have learned the cultural norm of instructors over students. The instructor’s power is also taken from the parents, whose only control over their children at the gym is when it is time to go home. All of the other powers of the parents are relinquished when their child enters the gym. Besides the instructor, no one else has power; all of the students are of equal status. Some students attempt to overpower their classmates by being the leader or showing off to the instructor that they can indeed complete the assigned task. These attempts are unsuccessful because regardless all of the students in the class have the same goals and at times, they must come together and work as a team in order to achieve those goals. During open gym the hierarchy is different since there is less structure and more room to move around in. Employees have control over the athletes in the gym in order to ensure safety; this is entrusted to them as employees of the facility. Otherwise all athletes that are in the gym are of equal status during open gym. When athletes compete against one another they are fighting to break free and rise above. There are situations when an athlete is proving their strength that they appear to have seniority over other athletes, but it quickly fades as the attention of the practicing athletes turns to something else. Despite being of equal status, athletes still critique others, especially when they are working towards the same goals. This form of critique, from an equal, is preferred by many, but not necessarily better received. Among the athletes, equality is also stratified by the ratio of male and female athletes in the sport. There are significantly more male athletes that do parkour than female athletes, which may be due to their purpose of teamwork or competition, respectively, to participate in the sport. Female athletes have a significantly lower presence in all extreme sports and parkour is no different.

Interactions within the culture are also structural created. The loose structure of classes allows for three different types of interactions. First, the students can interact in a manner that is focused, technical, and in a way professional as the tasks assigned are completed. These interactions are among a few students in the same class that form a small group. This group works to fulfill an assigned task that has been previously coordinated. The logistics of each new task during class is thoroughly explained by the instructor and the students try to make sense of it in the interaction with the instructor and the interactions they have with other students before completing the task. An interaction that is less focused when the task is complete, but students are still working on parkour stunts. The interactions are based on connect, competition, or learning (Sarah, personal communication, November 9, 2014). In each of these first two forms of structural interaction there is a basis of either competition, which bring together people, or individualism, which is the lack of interactions.  Competition is present when the athletes are doing any of their parkour stunts; it is heightened when they are working on the same task like they do in class because in the free work time athletes have a choice to engage in the competition. Individualism is a structure that is forced by the individual who wishes to be alone. This structure, like the competition, is chosen by those who participate and can easily change and often does from one aspect of training to another. Some people just work better alone and others work better with others (J. Sikkema, personal communication, November 9, 2014). Finally, there is a form that is completely informal interaction through which the students socialize with each, not necessarily the instructor. Informal interactions allow athletes to relax, to be open with others, and have fun. Through each of these forms of interactions parkour athletes are creating a community by working together, playing together, and building their relationships with other parkour athletes through communication.

View from the Outside

The community of parkour is created in part by how those not in the culture view those within it and how those in the culture view themselves. There are many stereotypes that parkour athlete experience for those that know very little about parkour including that the athletes and the sport are isolated from the rest of the world. What most of the world doesn’t see is that parkour is a much larger community than a single parkour gym in Boulder; it even has an online base that spans the globe.

The stereotypes of parkour cover just about everything that an observer may see, but since it is only based on what is seen the conclusions are hastily made. The main stereotype that parkour athletes hear all of the time is “hardcore parkour.” This is a phrase that came from an old episode of The Office (B. Halpin, personal communication, November 13, 2014; J. Sikkema, personal communication, November 9, 2014; C. Strutt, personal communication, November 15, 2014) that is repeatedly used by people when talking about or watching parkour. Brandon, a parkour athlete and instructor, view this stereotypical phrase as distracting and advises that people “do not ever say that to someone who is training outside”(B. Halpin, personal communication, November 13, 2014)Which goes right into the second stereotype that all parkour is flips and handstands (D. Heljick, personal communication, November 15, 2014; C. Strutt, personal communication, November 15, 2014) from height or with speed. Especially when parkour athletes first tell others that they do parkour, the most popular reaction seems to be “can you do a backflip?” (D. Heljick, personal communication, November 15, 2014; C. Strutt, personal communication, November 15, 2014). The idea that all parkour is is running fast or doing backflips from the tops of buildings contributes to a lot of the stereotype that follow that specifically target the athletes. The notion of jumping on building brings on the stereotype that parkour is a sport for delinquents (B. Halpin, personal communication, November 13, 2014). They are “delinquents” because they are, what outsiders consider, trespassing and running with great speed as a way to avoid the cops. In reality the rights of parkour athletes to train the way they do where they do are often protect or legal by means of the law (B. Halpin, personal communication, November 13, 2014), the only thing that makes it seem like its not is that is a strange and unique sport that is different to anything else we have experienced in our world at this point. Parkour also gets the rep of being for adrenaline junkies (B. Halpin, personal communication, November 13, 2014). The thrill of the competition, speed, and success of completing a stunt (B. Halpin, personal communication, November 13, 2014; C. Strutt, personal communication, November 15, 2014; J. Sikkema, personal communication, November 9, 2014) stimulate adrenaline in much the same way that they do in many other sports. The difference here is that parkour athletes train and compete in places that are often more visible because they are not always confined to a gym. Ultimately, all of the accusations of parkour are based on the fear of danger that the athletes are putting on themselves as well as innocent spectators nearby. They fear the height or speed that could cause injury, they fear what could happen just by watching, and they fear having to face the witnessing of an injury and not knowing what to do.

The hesitation caused by fear is part of what causes parkour to remain so isolated. The sport and its athletes are viewed as isolating themselves from society by running from it and working alone. Through observations, this idea is as music true as it is false. There are some athletes who do parkour because they are introverted and parkour is a sport that allows them to work individually in order to express themselves (B. Halpin, personal communication, November 13, 2014), but there are also times when group can be beneficial (J. Sikkema, personal communication, November 9, 2014). Individually or in small groups athletes are able to focus and work on things that are unique to their current training program. However, there are times when athletes have the same workout or want to do a new workout, so they join with other in order to benefit each other and socialize. Genders can isolate each other out, especially since the sport is mostly males, but when there are small groups they very quickly grow into a larger groups as people are attracted to the crowd in which gender does not matter. Finally some athletes purposefully isolate or include themselves based on their activities. Isolating activities at the gym are exemptions from activities based on injury or success, lack of interest of others at the area, and technology, even if to connect with other parkour athletes not at the gym. Inclusion can be done by participating in group activities, joining crowds, and socializing with others. Music is one thing during the open gym that can contribute to both the isolation and socialization of the community. It promotes isolation because the volume masks some of the conversation, but it serves as a social factor for athletes to sing and dance and have a good time. Isolation is beneficial to the technique and movement of the individual while socialization is beneficial to creating a community that is fun to athletes.

Finally, the parkour community is growing into the world outside of parkour through various digital media. Parkour is becoming more mainstream as it makes its way into Hollywood films and TV shows (B. Halpin, personal communication, November 13, 2014; J. Sikkema, personal communication, November 9, 2014). Youtube is the form that puts the ideas from Hollywood into real world perspective and really attracts new people to the sport (B. Halpin, personal communication, November 13, 2014). These videos are used to share the success of individuals and promote future success of others. This media is brought into the gym setting through computers and phones to inspire and train the gym.

Conclusion

Parkour is a sport that is focused on individual performance, but in order to do well, athletes rely on others. The gym environment controls the interactions between athletes, forcing a community on the athletes in a way. A similar environment most likely exists at other parkour gyms other than Apex Movement of Boulder. However, the culture of parkour is much greater than that of these gyms where parkour athletes can practice. The culture expands across the globe in various media. Closest to home these athletes are in the street and in the environment around the rest of the world. While the parkour culture outside of the gym is often the same athletes as those from the gym, so the dynamics of the gym should be the same.

Possibilities

Since parkour is such a new culture, many studies are possible in the future. Further studies can conducted to analyze the community built through communication. Also as the sport develops and moves even more into mainstream in such a way that its competitions are televised, studies can be conducted to look at how the media covers the sport and how that coverage influences the perception of the viewer (Jones & Greer, 2012).

References

Hyung-Jin, W., & Kim, Y. (2003). Modern gladiators: A content analysis of televised wrestling.   Mass Communication & Society, 6(4), 361-378.

Jones, A., & Greer, J. (2012). Go “heavy” or go home: An examination of audience attitudes and their relationship to gender cues in the 2010 Olympic Snowboarding coverage. Mass      Communication & Society, 15(4), 598-621. doi: 10.1080/15205436.2012.674171

Lamb, M.D. (2010). Negating the negation: The practice of parkour in spectacular city.     Kaleidscope: A Graduate Journal of Qualitative Communication Research, 9, 91-105.

Perspectives of the sport-oriented public in Slovenia on extreme sports (2011). Kinesiology, 43(1), 82-90.  

Rinehart, R., & Grenfell, C. (2002). BMX spaces: Children’s grass roots’ courses and corporate-sponsored tracks. Sociology of Sports Journal, 19(3), 302-314.