JOURNALISM 392W - Q & A #2

Scott Maxson is a Junior at UMass Amherst and a Resident Assistant in Washington Tower. I knew Scott was involved in something called Parkour, but I didn't know much about it, so I asked him if he would be willing to answer some questions. It proved to be an enlightening and at times hilarious (as I think you'll find) conversation. Here's what he told me.

Q: Tell me a little bit about what Parkour is?

A: Parkour is the art of getting from point A to point B as efficiently as possible given only the human body. So if I had to get from one side of a wall to another side of a wall, rather than walk all the way around the wall, I would just climb up the wall and go over it. It has evolved into a discipline almost like a martial art, in that by training you can make your mind and body capable of more effective ways of overcoming obstacles.

Q: Are you part of a group that does Parkour? If so tell me a bit about them.

A: I am a member and the treasurer of UMass Parkour. The club meets twice a week. We don’t just do Parkour. There’s this other similar art called free running which is less about efficiency, and more about flashy things like flips. We have about 60 members.

Q: Before, you compared Parkour to a martial art. In many martial arts there are symbols like belts which signify your skill level. How, if at all, is skill level measured or signified in Parkour?

A: It’s nearly impossible to measure Parkour level quantitatively. In martial arts you can do it because knowledge of specific moves or katas signifies your rank. For Parkour what you learn is much less concrete. It’s more about figuring out your body. There are certain techniques that we teach, but in the end what it comes down is how capable you are of moving your body to adapt to the situation. It’s pretty much a qualitative judgment. It’s also different for each person because our own bodies and physical conditions vary so strongly. What is an impressive feat for one person might be more or less so for someone else given different strengths, weaknesses, or handicaps.

Q: Is it dangerous?

A: It depends. Anything can be dangerous. If you push yourself too far, and start doing things like jumps that are very far outside your development, sure it can be dangerous. But with enough training what may have been dangerous once, will become less dangerous.

Q: How would you qualify your own Parkour skill level?

A: I would say I’m an experienced practitioner, but I still have a long way to go. There’s no end point to the journey unless you can somehow manage to reach some level of mental and physical enlightenment that gives you perfect form no matter what the situation is. That would be cool. I guess that’s the goal. Personally I think I’m capable, and certainly better than I was at first.

Q: Think of the most epic awesome Parkour experience you’ve ever had personally. Now try describing it for me in detail.

A: Well there’s some stuff that means a lot to me, because I’ve worked up to it, but one of my favorite stories to tell is a little off color. It wasn’t part of any organized Parkour activity, but I was able to do what I did because of my Parkour training. What happened was, I was streaking through this town at night in the middle of winter. Don’t ask why. Anyway this cop car came up and the guy got out and told me to stop running and stay still. I figured I could probably outrun him, so I started booking it down this road. Turns out this cop was faster than I gave him credit for, and he was chasing me down. There was this fence up ahead that I knew would throw him off because there was a 15 foot drop on the other side. So I hopped it and rolled out on the other side. Rolling is big in Parkour. I remember he looked so dumbfounded up on top of the drop. He kept telling me to stop and I was like “nope!” I ran into the woods and hopped up in this tree. I’m not sure what happened but after a little while these lights started shining round the woods and the cops were searching for me. I remember I was sitting butt naked up in a tree in the middle of a winter night as these cops were passing right below me. Anyway I didn’t get caught, but it was pretty intense.