Parkour Lets You Jump, Flip, Roll and Run

Parkour involves running, jumping, vaulting and flipping over obstacles. That could be roofs, rails, stairs, ledges and anything else you might literally run into or climb over.

Jason Simpson, who runs Goose Creek Gymnastics with his wife, began offering weekly parkour classes at Goose Creek’s Casey Community Center about a year ago. It was an effort to find a program for some young men not interested in pointing their toes or nailing that perfect landing.

The class is from 6-8 p.m. Fridays at the community center, 101 Old Moncks Corner Road. The cost is $15 per session. No commitments.

Like any skill, parkour comes with lessons, like stamina and problem solving. But the first lesson is safety. “Gymnastics is graceful falling,” Simpson said. “In parkour, you’re trying to clear an object without breaking your neck.”

If these students weren’t doing this stuff in the gym, they’d be doing it on the side of buildings, Simpson said. “Now, it’s done in a safe, indoor facility."

The obstacles in the class are repurposed gymnastics tools. Balance beams fill in for ledges. Floor mats to protect gymnasts on the bar are used in the parkour class for cushioning a fall after you're done walking, mid-air, along the wall.

Most of the moves are difficult to explain. For example, a “palm flip” involves jumping onto a wall and spinning on your hands while at a 90 degree angle. It’s probably best if you just check out the video to the right.

But the basics come with no walls. It’s rolling and then running.

Last Friday, one student approached a four-foot-tall obstacle and flipped over it. On the other side, he planted his feet firmly on the ground. Success? No. “Do it again and roll out,” said instructor Andrew Burnell.

The rolling is important for two reasons. The first being that you’re typically landing on concrete, so you need to know how to tuck your head and roll to avoid injury. It’s also because, at the core of parkour, there’s no stopping for applause. You keep going. There’s another obstacle just ahead.