Informal sport, institutionalisation, and sport policy: challenging the sportization of parkour in England

ABSTRACT

Initiatives using parkour and parkour-inspired hybrid activities are emerging in increasingly varied settings from formal physical education to the performance arts. This proliferation in England has led to the need for more formal governance resulting in the formation of a Sport England-sanctioned national governing body, Parkour UK.

In this paper, we document attempts to challenge the perceived sportization process in England through the emergence of Performance-Parkour [2PK] a version of parkour practice rooted in the performance arts. We discuss the implications of these developments for maintaining parkour’s diversity and inclusivity as a practice for inspiring participation. We draw on a range of data sources including observations, formal interviews, and reflections from different positions from academic outsides to involved practitioner. We then consider the implications of these developments for maintaining parkour’s diversity and inclusivity as a practice for inspiring participation, particularly with regard to pedagogic style and gender inclusion. This process highlights some of the challenges and difficulties in the institutionalisation of an informal movement practice into an organised and formalised one. Our paper therefore contributes to our understanding of the role informal sporting activities can play in promoting inclusive and equitable physical cultures, and provides insights into emergent boundary-crossing practices that are situated between sports and the arts.

KEYWORDS:

• Lifestyle sport
• informality
• youth sport
• sport policy
• institutionalisation
• community dance
• PARKOUR

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.​​​​​

Notes

1. These interviews ranged from 1–2 h in length. The initial participants were targeted individuals visibly involved in parkour’s development in England, which subsequently led to snowball and opportunistic sampling. The interviews were fully transcribed and analysed thematically. The full detail of this phase is discussed in Wheaton (2013). Phase I of these interviews were conducted with co-researcher Paul Gilchrist.

2. e.g. The Art of Displacement – the 2PK Symposium at Pavilion Dance South West, Bournemouth, March 2013.

3. While some refer to free running, the name has never been as important as the ‘methods and spirit of practice which remain at its core’.

4. It is important to note this reverence to the originators is also variable across contexts with some countries such as North America taking different influences.

5. Namely Dan Edwardes and Francois “Forrest” Mahop’ who were formerly Urban Freeflow members.

6. This process is outlined on https://www.sportengland.org/our-work/national-governing-bodies/sports-that-we-recognise/

7. ADAPT was created by four of Parkour’s co-creators, and delivered in the UK, as in many other countries, by the London-based Parkour Generations. Dan Edwardes and Forrest Whitaker (of PKGen) are also co-founders of Parkour UK so It seemed natural then that Parkour UK should adopt the certification model presented by PKGen.

8. The Diploma in Dance Teaching and Learning (Children and Young People) course produced by the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, London.

9. While our focus here is England, these debates and processes are happening more widely. In Germany, for example, ParkourONE have spent 5 years developing what they call TRUST education, with a social learning model that contrasts with ADAPT. As their founder/ director Roger Widmer describes it:

My aim with TRuST is not to create a girdle that will constrict us and take the air and joy in Parkour away. […] I want to create an instrument, on which we play music through ideas and bring composers to being, who play individual melodies. (https://academy.parkourone.com/en/trust-education-2/concern/)

10. From O’Loughlin’s conversations with Malik Diouf about the development of parkour by the Yamakasi (personal correspondence, 2006–present) it is clear that the same was true from the outset.

11. He remains the only Yamakasi member who has promoted competition and is also a member of the UPG Team and co-founder of the 2PK Network.

12. Such as Callum Powell and Toby Segar of Storror, Shirley Darlington of PKGen, and Tim Shieff of Storm Freerun.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Belinda Wheaton

Belinda Wheaton is Associate Professor in Sport and Leisure Studies at the University of Waikato, NZ, teaching and researching in the sociology of sport, leisure, health and education. She is best known for her research on the politics of identity in lifestyle sport, which has explored the intersections of gender, race, age and informal sporting space. She is author of The Cultural Politics of Lifestyle Sports (2013), and several edited collections including Understanding Lifestyle Sport (2004). Belinda sits on the editorial board of 6 international journals.

Alister O’Loughlin

Alister O’Loughlin Co-Founded the Prodigal Theatre (1999 with Miranda Henderson), known for physical adaptations of classic texts, and has won multiple awards (eg The Tragedian Trilogy). Alister co-ran the Nightingale Theatre in Brighton (2002–2010) contributing to the creation of over 100 new pieces of theatre and dance, and developing a model of artist development which has since been adopted elsewhere. Alister and Miranda set up the UPG Team in 2005 with a grant from Brighton & Hove Arts Commission. Their first performance in 2006 was seen by co-creator of Parkour Malik Diouf whose been a member of the team ever since. They have toured for 11 years, internationally for 10, and performed on 5 continents. He has a BA (hons) Theatre VPA, Brighton School of Art (1997), and graduated from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance with Diplomas in Dance Teaching & Learning (gaining distinction) focusing on performance-parkour work. They continue to teach and perform internationally, and specialise in working with at-risk communities of young people.