Culture and Leisure
Running free in concrete jungle
by Chriz Chan
At a park in crowded Tsim Sha Tsui, a
group of young people dashed through,
with some leaping from one railing to
another and others jumping from a
footbridge to the ground. They climbed,
they swung, they vaulted. They did parkour
– a new kind of urban sport.
Parkour, a coined French word referring to "the art of movement", is to move from one point to another point in the fastest and most efficient way.
In order to move fast, players have to
think quickly and act swiftly to get over all
the obstacles, including railings, stairs and
even walls of buildings.
The street sport was created by a
Frenchman, David Belle, who stresses that
its spirit is to "escape" and "run". It is
popular in France, Britain and the United
States.
Soon several Hong Kong young people
have learnt the skills of parkour by
watching related videos online and founded
a group to gather fans together to practise
the physical recreation.
"We call our club members 'Zippies' because all of us are young and energetic, each having our own dreams and passions.
We fear nothing, we love adventure,
challenges and parkour," said German
Cheung Man-kit, a founder of the local
parkour group.
Cheung has been a stuntman for
eight years. He said many teenagers
asked around in online forums where
they could learn and play the sport. So
he joined his three friends to set up the
club in May last year.
But unlike other martial sports, there
is no coach to teach them, as parkour is
not yet a common sport in Hong Kong.
The four founders, all in their 20s,
have to learn from the online videos.
They have regular practices in indoor
stadium, parks, streets and even public
housing estates, such as So Uk Estate
and Shek Kip Mei Estate where there
are railings, stairs and low buildings for
them to drill the skills.
"We have been to places like Tsuen
Wan, Tsim Sha Tsui and Stanley. There
is no specific criterion for choosing a
place for real street practice. As long as
there are enough obstacles for us to
jump or leap over, then it can be a place
for practice," Cheung said.
They often practise for a long time,
from day to night. Sometimes when they
drill in parks, some mothers scold them
for playing "dangerous tricks" and
express worries that their children may
follow suit.
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