If a jam has been held in your area and you were there ... make sure to send in a small write-up telling who was there, where you were and, if you can, send some pics in for us to put up on the site.

DnK, the Benoni Jam is due for a write-up. Wanna drop one my direction? (I don't have your e-mail address, because you haven't added yourself to our MAILING LIST!!!! :-p)

So, off you go .... quick .... everyone who hasn't yet added their e-mail address to the mailing list which is on the bottom of the Main Home Page .. off you go!

(compiled by X-Ray)

Hi guys last nights jam went off well, the skies threatened to open up and cause us to stop but nothing happened. A closer night jam to full moon you could not have had. With the lightening and full moon almost clear skies what a atmosphere.

There were about 7 new guys who pitched up to have a look and join in for a while. We hope to see you next week. Specs, AJ, Rab, X-RaY, Viv and Syndicate the regulars continued to jam until 21:30. We went for a visit to the new building with the ABSA in it, the parking area underground presented some cool drops and stairs to play around with. Specs pulling big monkey to drops with Syndicate getting some good shots of the action. Then off to find other structures. Some small cat leaps on the one office building and then onto another building next door. The building had a ramp with rails and some neat flower boxes with climbs and cats available to whoever was feeling energetic enough.

Syndicate got some more shots and we finally moved back to the cars at Game and then on home. Great jam guys I enjoyed and I hope you all did too. More action on its way this weekend and then again next week."

(editor - Nice work guys. Looks like you all had some good fun! Welcome to all the new guys... We look forward to seeing the pics.)

Well, it was always going to be a milestone for Parkour in South Africa.... and here it is. The Sunday Times journalists krept along to one of the Wednesday Night Jam sessions in Fourways.

SUNDAY TIMES on PARKOUR

Please note that:

A) Tricking is not what we do. We practise certain movements and then string them together into a "run".

B) "Equally amusing names" (?) Soopamom and Carrot aren't amusing by any sense. In my sense "FLIGHT OF THE MALL BATS" deserves the title of "amusing" ... ;-P

C) www.urbanfreeflow.com will bring you up to speed on advanced training skills and fitness schedules. www.parkour.co.za is aimed at the South African/African community.

D) Parkour can be practised on any urban obstacle. It need not be something HUGE or very daring! By simply challenging your surroundings, and finding a new way to move from one spot to the next. (Phrophet said the most amazing thing "It's not necessarily about physically getting to point B, but rather the journey it takes between point A and point B) ...the editor - Very wise words indeed!

Monkey2Cat at Tukkies Jam. (Richt click, Save File As...)

Tell us what you think of it in HERE

 

Ciao
DC

101 pictures on our wall. Don't worry, I'm not about to sing some irritating roadtrip song, but it is the exact number of pictures we currently have in our galleries. Go check it out. We just added the Benoni Jam snaps as well as the Tuks Jam with DC.

http://www.donjman.ho8.com/misc/LaLiberte.exe (Right Click ... Save Target As...)

And a newbie is born....

The newbie in town, Specs, arrived to show most of us what the phrase "No Fear" is actually all about. What a great start to the day!

We started with a mild warm-up at the Tukkies Student Centre, and quickly got stuck into doing runs. (where previously I have had to go through individual moves for most of the day, this time Specs fell right in with the runs. Which already was a welcome start for me...)

Since being back here in the UK, I have changed my style of Parkour from MASSIVE drops and HUGE Single moves, to a more flowing run and linking the individual moves into a more controlled journey. I find it far more rewarding. However, having said THAT, Specs and I still managed to execute a neat sequence containing 'monkeys to cat leaps' which X-Ray caught on video.

B.i.G. worked tirelessly on his turn-vaults which were coming on very nicely, and soon he managed to execute them in a more controlled manner.

Although the girls were still recovering from Wednesday night's jam which left their muscles aching, I managed to see a small move sneaked in here and there ;-)

'Recovery' seems to be the magic word right now, as X-Ray is still working on his knee and Zeorin on his foot. We wish you guys a speedy recovery! Don't push yourselves too hard just yet. We need you in one piece.

My move of the day? There are TWO: 1)Definitively the Stair-well Monkey to Cat Leap and 2) the Wall run up a 3.2mtr facebrick wall.

For all the Pretoria guys and gals that are keen to join in for the next jam, best you make yourselves heard. Specs is keen to session some more spots in Pretoria, and I'd recommend anyone to join him! You won't be dissapointed.

Ciao4now
DC

By Prophet

In the army of ancient Rome, a centurion was in charge of a century, which is a company of 100 foot soldiers.  So what has this got to do with PK, the recent jam in Potch (Sunday, 10 October) or this write-up?  Before I answer that, let me first give a short overview of the jam we had.

On the verge of starting our jam I received "sorry-I-can’t-make-it"-messages on my mobile.  I was slightly disappointed, but jammin’ is not about the numbers - It’s about the vibe. And we had a good vibe, gggrrreat obstacles and enough possibilities for runs to make the world our canvas. 

We came together at 15:00 at the Potch University - in front of the iCafé where we quickly came acquainted and started stretching.  We did some precision jumps for warm-ups.  We then moved to a nearby railing where I demo’d about all the vaults in my arsenal (Monkey, Lazy, Turning, Reverse, Flare).  The newbies were keen on trying everyone. 

We then moved on to a wall and played about with wall-runs, depth jumps, and wall cartwheels!

From there we moved to the entrance of the Psychology Department where they have an confusing, but interesting, display of modernist architecture.  We made small runs, with many solid precision jumps. (The possibility of two meter drops has a tendency to make precision jumps more solid!) 

Wanting to show our visitors as much of the spots at the Potch Univ. possible, I led the gang to the "Calvyn"-which is a fountain in honour of the Reformer, John Calvin.  The Calvyn consist of stone slabs and pools of water.  Some of the gaps between these stone slabs are about two meters wide.  This made for excellent "dry" gap jumps, always with the possibility of "wet" landings.  Claude, one of the visitors from Centurion, proved to be the bravest traceur - doing some beautiful jumps over masses of water.

We ended our jam at the Klipoog-Student Centre, where I busted my knee over a low obstacle - can’t even remember what I was doing?  It was all just part of a run.  This confirmed again my theory that injuries always happen at the end of a jam - when fatigue sets in and your muscles don’t react like you brain thought they would.  So, at the moment, I’m limping like wood-legged pirate. A swollen knee, is the cause of obscure noises each time I straighten or bent my leg.  Alas, I’m getting the chance to use Arnica-gel and the RICE-method.  "What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger", was somebody’s last words - but still a slogan to live by.  Even if it is only to make one feel better about ones current predicament. 

By now you might have guessed what the whole "Potch-Centurion Jam" thing was all about.  It’s in honour of Claude and Jaco that came all the way from Centurion to attend a Potch Jam.  Just shows you the length Parkour-enthusiasts will go to for a great session.  I look forward to seeing you guys again at future jams.  And I’m sure that no centurion, nor his hundred foot soldiers, would be able to catch you guys!  Keep flowing!

And Tanya - thanks for the photo’s, girl!  ;)  I’ll email some to B.I.G. to add to the gallery. 

Cheers from Potch.

God bless!

Prophet

 

As usual we met outside the Game store at 20:00. I had arranged to meet Julz and Ryan – AKA Cosmic-G8 from Mr Spencer and of course I was there with Soopermom, Egon arrived a bit later. On my arrival I duly found them and 3 others waiting in the parking lot. Are these people keen or what? The start of the jam began with a short explanation to the Newbies and then a short warm up. Apart from Ryan the other 3 people had arrived due to the Men’s Health article.

 

Thanks to Men’s Health for the exposure which is helping the sport grow. Keep your eyes open for other articles in publications about PK there will be more.

 

 I must say that Julz is really progressing well he is very energetic and somewhat younger than I am this gives him a big advantage keep it up man. Ryan has good potential to get much better at PK, not bad for your first time out mate. I hope to see you next week as well as some of the Newbies who indicated that they would be more than spectators the next time.

 

Now to the serious stuff. This sport can hurt you people, its not that difficult to get into but you body needs conditioning and you need to know that you are comfortable with the basics. Landing, landing this is what I will be stressing along with strengthening exercises and fitness. The landings especially with the new guys are too hard, at future jams this is what we will be working on before pulling even small drops. We want you guys to continue to enjoy Parkour not sit on the sidelines with injury.

 

I had the miss-fortune of a bad landing after a monkey to a drop of about 1.5 meters this has caused a knee injury that will now take time to heal and cut into my training time. Not worth it because I could have used any other vault that I feel more comfortable with. Not everyone is going to be good at all the techniques so keep with what you know and practice the others on lower or softer landings until you get them nailed, then start to go bigger.

 

Please don’t let my comments here scare anyone away this is a wonderful sport but your body needs to be treated with the respect it deserves. You have many years to perfect the art don’t be too hasty it can cost you.

Keep Jamming everyone.
X-Ray

(Editor's note: A VERY nice write-up X-Ray. My appologies for not getting it up sooner and we know you are going to be bouncing about in no time. To all the newbies out there, Parkour is NOT about the "stunts". It's about personal growth. Don't rush your game. You have the rest of your life to perfect it)

Our fellow Traceur, and avid Rock Climber, Syndicate has completed the write-up for Parkour. which can be viewed at the following link: Ready Steady Jump

A big thanks goes out for doing this and we KNOW how troublesome it was for you to tirelessly work around the clock day and night to complete this.

Syndicate ...... *said in the most sincere and serious tone* ..... "Yak-shimash" (For those of you that know Borat. hahaha)

(ps, I like what you did with the pics)