A new form of exercise, as well as movement, has found a home at Posse Grounds Park.
On Thursday, Feb. 16, the first Parkour class was held at the park, led by Francesco DiGuida and Anthony Porter, with nine young participants completely new to the activity.
“Parkour is just play with a more mental aspect,” DiGuida said. “It’s a creative way to do fitness.”
Held at the athletic field by the tennis courts and the adjoining playground, the students started the class with warm-up exercises to loosen their hips, shoulders and necks. Being the first class, DiGuida and Porter taught just basic movements and ideas, forming the building blocks to progress as the weeks pass.
The first thing the kids learned was quadrupedal movement: Agilely moving on the ground with their hands and feet. Next were jump landings and squat landings, learning to land balanced on the balls of their feet, their chest up, hips back and keeping their knees pointed outward.
After jumping off of a set of low bleachers to reinforce the concept, the students moved on to broad jumps.
“It starts on the ground level,” DiGuida said. “Broad jumps, landing techniques like rolls, everything becomes one movement. It becomes intrinsic.”
DiGuida talked about Parkour being different than just the videos people see on YouTube of practitioners clearing huge gaps or jumping from heights. He explained how it is more about taking a creative approach to moving across, over or under things already existing in society, like benches or a fence.
One of the reasons Parkour is not such a popular thing to do, according to DiGuida, is the perception of it, created by the aforementioned videos, and also the lack of social acceptance of it.
“Mentally, it’s kind of uncomfortable to do in front of people,” DiGuida said. “In fitness things have to be socially accepted.”
One thing that sets Parkour apart from other forms of exercise is that there is no membership required; practitioners have the world and its infrastructure at their fingertips and toes to take advantage of.
Apart from strength, power, stamina and flexibility, practitioners gain a greater sense of connectivity with their bodies, DiGuida added.
The class continued onto the playground, where the students learned shoulder rolls, which is a part of Ukemi, or the “art of falling” in DiGuida’s words. It is the simplest of techniques the students need to know for recovering from a fall without injuring themselves.
Once the basics were taught, the students were put through a basic, timed obstacle course through the playground.
For the future, as the students learn and improve, DiGuida expects them to be able to do bigger broad jumps, better rolls and be able to clear obstacles with just their hands.
Classes are every Thursday from 4 to 5 p.m. at Posse Grounds Park. There is a $40 fee for an entire session, which lasts four classes, or $12 to drop in.
