Well, we are guessing Patrick was allowed into Korea. He didn't show up back at the house last night...and I saw some of his Facebook activity on my newsfeed...so I'm guessing he got settled into the hotel.
While looking through his pics, I found these photos his friend Lia took of some of his parkour moves, and remembered I'd not shared them yet. Some of you may remember his broken collarbone last Summer. I have to hand it to Patrick...this is not an easy sport and it certainly comes with risks...but he really seems to have a knack for it. (Well, you know...other than the broken collarbone.)
I stole these photos and descriptions straight from his Facebook:
(Patrick's words in red)
The Wallclimb is literally running right up a wall. Two or even three steps can be easily achieved, combined with a Muscle-Up to give a climb distance of over 10 feet. (Editorial note: This is the side of our house.)
Spotting the landing: The second a Traceur moves over his obstacle, he must "spot" his landing. As quickly as possible, he must ascertain the angle and composition of the surface, how far away it is, what part of his body he will land on it with, at what speed, etc. This takes fractions of a second, or else the landing will injure the Traceur. (Editorial note: I think he learned that first-hand)
This is a Vault I haven't yet found a name for, although I doubt I discovered it first. I call it a "Kick Vault", because I kick off the wall in order to climb over it.
Although featured frequently in movies and video games, the "Parkour Slide" is a technique that many Traceurs rarely get to use. Empty pools are PERFECT for practice. (Editorial note: Wasn't he terribly lucky they just built a new pool in our neighborhood and had drained the old one? Just another little military family perk.)
This is how to get back out of the empty pool. Great Wallclimb practice.
Wallrunning, also known as a "Tic-Tac" or "Tac-ing", is used to get over an obstacle too large to simply vault or jump over. It can also be used to quickly change direction while running.
The Monkey Vault, also known as the "Cat Pass" or slightly altered by a long jump into the "Kong Vault", is used to pass over obstacles symmetrically, especially ones slightly taller or longer than the average wall, at the expense of speed.
A few months ago, on the WWW...Patrick found a parkour camp in Geneva, Switzerland. He desperately wants to go. This would be the parkour pinnacle. It would cost him about $4000, between airfare and tuition. Not wanting to be killjoys, we encouraged him to save the money and assured him we supported him going 100%. He then informed us he hated to use some of his savings...but feared he might have to. I said, "I didn't know you had savings...how much do you have?" Then he indicated he was speaking of his college/mission savings (the "hands off" savings we have in our names jointly) and he looked astonished as I nearly fell over laughing. (It was just so cute the way he tried to slip that in there nonchalant-like....as if he thought that was really ever going to happen.)
Anyway, I do hope that Patrick is able to save the money to attend his camp. It would be such a wonderful experience for him...but I know that he will only TRULY appreciate it if it's something he earns. He plans to take the training and start life-guarding as soon as school is out. How sweet that will be if all those hours of work pay off and he's on his way to parkour paradise!
While looking through his pics, I found these photos his friend Lia took of some of his parkour moves, and remembered I'd not shared them yet. Some of you may remember his broken collarbone last Summer. I have to hand it to Patrick...this is not an easy sport and it certainly comes with risks...but he really seems to have a knack for it. (Well, you know...other than the broken collarbone.)
I stole these photos and descriptions straight from his Facebook:
(Patrick's words in red)
The Wallclimb is literally running right up a wall. Two or even three steps can be easily achieved, combined with a Muscle-Up to give a climb distance of over 10 feet. (Editorial note: This is the side of our house.)
Spotting the landing: The second a Traceur moves over his obstacle, he must "spot" his landing. As quickly as possible, he must ascertain the angle and composition of the surface, how far away it is, what part of his body he will land on it with, at what speed, etc. This takes fractions of a second, or else the landing will injure the Traceur. (Editorial note: I think he learned that first-hand)
This is a Vault I haven't yet found a name for, although I doubt I discovered it first. I call it a "Kick Vault", because I kick off the wall in order to climb over it.
Although featured frequently in movies and video games, the "Parkour Slide" is a technique that many Traceurs rarely get to use. Empty pools are PERFECT for practice. (Editorial note: Wasn't he terribly lucky they just built a new pool in our neighborhood and had drained the old one? Just another little military family perk.)
This is how to get back out of the empty pool. Great Wallclimb practice.
Wallrunning, also known as a "Tic-Tac" or "Tac-ing", is used to get over an obstacle too large to simply vault or jump over. It can also be used to quickly change direction while running.
The Monkey Vault, also known as the "Cat Pass" or slightly altered by a long jump into the "Kong Vault", is used to pass over obstacles symmetrically, especially ones slightly taller or longer than the average wall, at the expense of speed.
A few months ago, on the WWW...Patrick found a parkour camp in Geneva, Switzerland. He desperately wants to go. This would be the parkour pinnacle. It would cost him about $4000, between airfare and tuition. Not wanting to be killjoys, we encouraged him to save the money and assured him we supported him going 100%. He then informed us he hated to use some of his savings...but feared he might have to. I said, "I didn't know you had savings...how much do you have?" Then he indicated he was speaking of his college/mission savings (the "hands off" savings we have in our names jointly) and he looked astonished as I nearly fell over laughing. (It was just so cute the way he tried to slip that in there nonchalant-like....as if he thought that was really ever going to happen.)
Anyway, I do hope that Patrick is able to save the money to attend his camp. It would be such a wonderful experience for him...but I know that he will only TRULY appreciate it if it's something he earns. He plans to take the training and start life-guarding as soon as school is out. How sweet that will be if all those hours of work pay off and he's on his way to parkour paradise!
No comments:
Post a Comment