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Abstract
In this article we consider the development of parkour in the South of England and its use in public policy debates and initiatives around youth, physical activity and risk. Based on in-depth qualitative interviews with participants and those involved in the development of parkour in education, sport policy and community-based partnerships, we explore the potential of parkour to engage communities, particularly those traditionally excluded from mainstream sport and physical education provision. We discuss how the perceived success of parkour in these different contexts is related to the culture and ethos of the activity that is more inclusive, anticompetitive and less rule-bound than most traditional sports, and to its ability to provide managed risk-taking. More broadly, the article highlights the emergence of lifestyle sports as tools for policymakers and the potential role these nontraditional, non-institutionalized lifestyle sports can make in terms of encouraging youth engagement, physical health and well-being. Our article therefore contributes to ongoing debates about the (in)ability of traditional sports to meet government targets for sport and physical activity participation.
En este artículo estudiamos el desarrollo y la popularidad del ‘parkour’ en el sur de Inglaterra y su uso en debates públicos sobre juventud, actividad física y prácticas de riesgo. El artículo se basa en una serie de entrevistas en profundidad con participantes y personas involucradas en la introducción del ‘parkour’ en programas educativos y de deporte a nivel local. Mediante estos métodos se explora el potencial que el ‘parkour’ tiene para aumentar la participación de aquellos que normalmente se encuentran excluidos de los deportes y las actividades de educación física tradicionales.
En el artículo se apunta que el éxito del ‘parkour’ radica en los valores y la cultura de dicho deporte, que es mucho más incluyente, anti-competitivo y menos dominado por los códigos de reglas que los deportes tradicionales. Además, el ‘parkour’ ofrece una sensación de deporte arriesgado que, sin embargo, es fácil de mantener bajo control. De una manera más general, el artículo subraya la importancia creciente que estos deportes identificados con estilos de vida pueden tener como una nueva herramienta en el desarrollo de las políticas públicas de deporte. La naturaleza innovadora y relativamente transgresora de estos deportes puede contribuir al aumento de participación de los más jóvenes en actividades deportivas de este tipo. Con todo ello, nuestro artículo contribuye a un debate abierto sobre las verdaderas posibilidades que los deportes tradicionales tienen para conectar con los jóvenes y, así, contribuir a los objetivos gubernamentales de participación en actividades físicas.
本文旨在探討跑酷在英國南部的發展，及其如何運用於青少年、身體活動、和風險相關的公共政策辯論與提案。本研究採用質性深入訪談方式，針對在教育、運動政策以及社會協力機構推廣跑酷者進行訪談，以了解跑酷促進社區參與的潛力，尤其是那些被主流運動和體育教學資源忽略的社區。本文認為跑酷運用在不同層面的成功經驗，與跑酷本身的兩個特點息息相關：較傳統運動更具包容力、反競技、和規則較彈性的文化與倫理；以及能夠提供適度的冒險體驗。整體而言本研究指出，生活型態運動已成為政策制定者採用的新興手法，並討論此類非傳統、非規約化的運動促進青少年社會參與以及身心健康的潛力。傳統運動是否能達成政府訂定的運動及身體活動參與目標，本研究為此論辯提供一個參考意見。
イングランド南部でパークアウトが発展し、それが青少年、身体活動とリスクに関する公共政策の議論とイニシアティブに使われていることについて本稿では考察する。本稿では、パークアウトへの参加者と教育、スポーツ政策、コミュニティーをベースとしたパートナーシップの分野でパークアウトの発展に関わる人物への質的な深層インタビューを実施した。その上で、コミュニティー、特に伝統的にスポーツや体育の主流から除外されてきた人々を参画させるためにパークアウトが持つポテンシャルを探ることを目的としている。これらの違う文脈でいかにパークアウトの成功が、多くの伝統的なスポーツよりもより包括的、非競争的で、ルールに縛られないという活動の文化と方針、さらに危険な行為をコントロールする能力を提供することと関係していると見なされているかについて論ずる。
より広範には、ライフスタイル・スポーツの出現が政策立案者にとってのツールとなり、若者の参画、身体の健康、幸福といった点において非伝統的、非制度的ライフスタイル・スポーツのもつ可能性について焦点を当て論じる。従って本稿では、スポーツと身体活動への参加の政府の目標を達成するため、伝統的なスポーツの持つ力に関する継続的な議論に貢献する。
Acknowledgements
The authors recognize the financial support of CUPP (Community University Partnership Programme) at the University of Brighton. The authors also thank colleagues at the University of Brighton for their ongoing critical commentary on this work, particularly Neil Ravenscroft and Ian McDonald; and additionally, to staff and students at the Research Centre for Sport in Canadian Society (RCSCS), at the University of Ottawa, where an earlier version of the article was presented in their seminar series.
Notes
1. All lifestyle sports contain debates and conflicts over ‘authentic’ histories that define an ‘essence’ to the activity. In parkour too there are debates and contested claims about the ‘real’ and ‘authentic’ histories. These debates frame popular perceptions and misperceptions over the development of the activity, where it is common to talk of divergence in style or splits between two (or more) participative ideologies. A caricatured discussion of splits is present in media commentary on parkour between it and free running, rooted in supposedly contrasting visions of its ‘founders’ David Belle and Sebastien Foucan, through also the degrees to which parkour is ‘selling out’ to a more commercialized version (free running). Practitioners we spoke to were concerned about academic ‘misreadings’ of parkour based on misinformation through mediated histories is histories.
2. Their report develops an agenda for research, suggesting ways in which lifestyle sports can be brought into the policy arena in England. Key areas include examining the potential for new and different forms of engagement and new ways in which governance structures – and governing bodies – could work with Sport England and other agencies (Tomlinson et al. Citation2005, p. 5).
3. For example, Active X, Great Yarmouth's kite-project and CREST Cornwall, Rural and Extreme Sport. Available from: http://www.aelz.org/files/documents/Using%20water%20based%20activities.pdf
4. Available from: http://www.streetgames.org/drupal-5.0/index.php
5. In evaluating the various survey data available, Tomlinson et al. claimed ‘These are limited in terms of scope and data reliability, with little trend consistency’ (2005, p. 2). To illustrate the extent of this problem, consider the various data sources on UK surfing participation. According to the British Surfing Association, the sport's NGB, there are 500,000 regular surfers in the United Kingdom (2006). They also claimed that it is a fast-growing activity with membership up to 400% in the past 5 years (cited in Barkham Citation2006). However according to the Sport England's Active People Survey, the number of adults (over 16) who take part at least once a month is only 58,439, a 10-fold difference. Moreover the survey did not show a large increase in the year-on-year data (from 2005–2006 to 2007–2008). In contrast another national survey focusing on water sport participation, the Watersport and Leisure Participation survey (2007), suggested there were 606,802 surfers in the United Kingdom. Such variation in the survey data on lifestyle sport participation is typical.
6. The research was funded by the Brighton and Sussex Community Knowledge Exchange (BSCKE) programme. Our community partners were the Peacehaven and Telescombe Regeneration Partnership (REGEN) who were trying to raise money for the parkour training area.
7. The parkour participants were all teenage males between the ages of 15 and 18, either at school or college, however the group they practiced with included older men up to their mid-20s. They were all white and appeared to come from a range of socio-economic backgrounds. The practitioners involved with teaching and training were all men in their 20s and 30s. As outlined above, there is no survey data available to help understand who is the ‘typical’ parkour participant; however based on the view of those involved in training, and other qualitative research (e.g. Atkinson Citation2009), the activity increasingly attracts both teenage and older men, across a range of social backgrounds and ethnicities. The male-dominated nature of parkour, and involvement of women, is discussed below.
8. Sport development is a widely used but contested term that ‘can mean the development of sport for sport's sake and equally the use of sport and physical activity opportunities for the development of society – sport as a social instrument’ (http://www.sportdevelopment.info/). In the United Kingdom, most local councils have sport development units. They are usually responsible for coordinating the local provision (and budget) for sport and active leisure provision in that locale, including sports to schools, youth/community centres, parks, clubs and various sport centres/complexes and open spaces.
9. Available from: http://www.westminster.gov.uk/services/leisureandculture/active/westminster-sports-unit/ [Accessed 10 February 2011]. A documentary film about parkour in Westminster titled Jump Westminster is available on YouTube. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvP_HfVa2Rs.
10. In partnership initially between Home Office Drugs Strategy Directorate, Sport England, the Youth Justice Board and the Football Foundation. It initially targeted 10–19 year olds. See www.positivefuturesresearch.co.uk.
11. Nichols explores the complex problem of crime programme evaluation and develops a theoretical model of how and why such programmes might make a difference, which would be useful for exploring the efficacy of parkour in this context.
12. These figures were given during interviews with personnel from/involved with Westminster sports development unit, and are also cited in a range of newspaper reports, for example Johnson and Wroe (Citation2009).
13. Although the locations and names of programmes are given in full detail, the names of individuals involved are changed for reasons of anonymity.
14. The situation is ever-changing (see footnote 13).
15. During writing this article several developments occurred. The Telescombe site was rejected, and in February 2010 the parkour park was moved to Newhaven, which opened in the summer of 2010.
16. In understanding the benefits of such activities, policymakers could benefit from a fuller engagement with this social psychological literature. Additionally, there are many interesting and potentially useful points of convergence with the literature on physical literacy, which advocate a more holistic understanding of embodiment, including in the physical education sphere (see Whitehead Citation2010).
17. This makes them particularly precarious as the resourcing for these programmes is highly dependent on key agents on the ground and government priorities, both of which are susceptible to change over time.
18.http:// http://www.girlparkour.com/page25.htm [Accessed 10 Nov 2009].
19. Emo is a term that is used to refer to a type of teenage subculture in the United Kingdom – children who dress in a particular way, who have (or affect) an emotional, sensitive, shy, introverted or angst-ridden personality and are considered not sporty.
20. Moreover, traceurs said that the cheaper trainers in a brand range tended to be better for parkour.
21. Indeed, as several analyses of action/extreme/lifestyle sport have suggested, the current expansion of lifestyle sport provision is related to the growing ethos of neo-liberalism within North American societies (as well as Australasian and European societies) (see Kusz Citation2004, Howell Citation2005, Citation2008, Heywood Citation2007a,Citationb, Banks Citation2008).
22. In Canada, for example, parkour does not easily fit into sport policy at all as Sport Canada's operationalization of ‘sport’ requires some form of competition.