Escape the boredom - Jumps in the city - Parkour Freerun and Tricking athlete

Escape the boredom. – Jumps in the city – Parkour, Freerun and Tricking athlete enjoys training in the city.

‘’A normal life is boring!’’, says the young and agile chap, while getting ready for the next somersault.

Parkour, Freerun and Tricking are urban sports/ disciplines where one has to have the ability to blend in with the environment that surrounds us all. Every city has great spots where these athletes can practice, and Dublin, the capital of the Emerald Isle is no exception. These urban sports are not only about blending in with the environment, but overcoming all the obstacles with ease and finesse without hurting oneself, such as rails, walls, cement blocks, fences, trees, stairs and etc., you name it.

Training outdoors on a hard surface such as grass and concrete has its own risks and requires many years of mental and physical preparation. Why mental preparation, one might ask? – ‘’You can do anything you set your mind to!’’, the young lad tells us. The athletes need to believe in themselves in order to perform tricks that are more difficult or a combination of tricks when overcoming a few obstacles at once, just like in the video. Though believing in oneself has its limits as well – the athletes need to know what their bodies are capable of. The risks have to be calculated and here comes the physical preparation where one has to be strong enough to withstand the pressure when landing somersaults on a hard surface and not only when landing, but when taking off as well. It takes lots of strength to lift your own weight high enough in order for the athletes to have enough time to do the rotation of the somersault they are performing. A lot of technique is involved in those movements as well.

‘’It is a learning curve and as long as there’s progress, there’s no reason for one to stop expressing oneself through movement.’’, says the snappy boy with a smile in the video while leaping off high walls in a nice warm day in Dublin.