News Archives.
| Sledgehammer was Awesome! |
|
posted on
December 27, 2010 by NOS |
| The first ever Parkour Mumbai Sledgehammer was one heckuva challenge, and a fun, engaging event, both for participants, and for spectators. Although the participant turnout was modest, but it was expected, and a learning experience for us. And despite this NOT being a Parkour competition, it did bring out quite a few revelations about the workings of our discipline, as well as proving several hypotheses posed by leading Parkour practitioners regarding training in and for Parkour, and measuring progress of an athlete. We also saw some interesting lap times of participants, and we'll be adding a new page to the website soon which will display detailed time-sheets of all participants for each event. Expect more minor changes to the format of the Sledgehammer Challenge over the next few weeks. Once again, we'll keep everyone posted of the changes made on our Sledgehammer Facebook Page, so be sure to Like it to be notified of them, and of other Sledgehammer news. Photos and videos of the first event coming soon. In the end, I would like to personally thank everyone who participated in the event, and more so to all those who so generously volunteered for work throughout the day of the event, and to all my other class students who chipped in with bits of help every now and then during the entire conception and planning phase of the event when I needed it the most, who came through when my own teammates and friends didn't, to help make this event such a success. Even though the first one wasn't very big by any yardstick, it was still fun, and successful in its own right, and let's hope we make the Sledgehammer Challenge an even grander event in the time to come. |
| Changes Made to the Sledgehammer Format |
|
posted on
December 17, 2010 by NOS |
| We have made some changes to the format of Sledgehammer, especially in the nature and structure of the Challenge, how winners are determined, the prize involved, conversion of two rounds to time-based rounds, bulk registration, among others. Most of these changes are reflected on our updated Challenge page, with anything not covered there mentioned in detail on our FAQ page. A more detailed description of each change made and how it compares with before the change was made is also available through the wall-history of our Sledgehammer Facebook Page. This especially applies to all those who have already registered for the Challenge, so you might want to go through these links. |
 Read more... |
| Ninja Warrior is now Sledgehammer! |
|
posted on
December 6, 2010 by NOS |
| The Parkour Mumbai Ninja Warrior Challenge is now called the Parkour Mumbai Sledgehammer Challenge. We would like to announce this permanent name change so that we can stop using the old term, and get used to calling it by its new name from now onwards. The old name was initially just a working-title which ended up being used in the final promotion of the event because, I admit, I ran out of ideas and got lazy. However, we didn't want to run into any trouble with a similar activity with the same name, so we have to take this step, and come up with an even more kick-ass name. So guys, Sledgehammer is here! Can you survive its brunt? We will gradually start rolling out changes in all the places online and in our promotional material where we have used the old name during the next few days. During this time, some portions of the website might stop working or display weird. Some places might also show both names at the same time. So please don't get confused and bear with us during this transition phase. |
| Read more... |
| Parkour Mumbai Ninja Warrior Challenge is here!! |
|
posted on
November 27, 2010 by NOS |
| Parkour Mumbai is proud to announce a whole new experience - the Parkour Mumbai Ninja Warrior Challenge. A monthly event, that will break you up, smash you down, and kick you hard. Come experience the biggest kick of your life! Test your physical and locomotor skills in our series of courses designed to challenge your strength, power, speed, stamina, skill, dexterity, determination, mental grit, and presence of mind in an event that is guaranteed to grow man-hair on your chest. (Just to be clear, our event is not meant only for guys, the previous line was a metaphor. Girls are just as welcome.) If not, then just come for the fun, because attempting a thing like this sure as heck is a boatload of fun, whether or not you manage to succeed. If you're still not convinced, watch our Teaser video here to be blown away! First event on Sunday, Dec 26, 2010. More details can be found on the Ninja Warrior section of the website. Register for the Challenge now! Have YOU challenged yourself lately? |
| Read more... |
| Awesome Two Days of Jamming |
|
posted on
September 9, 2010 by NOS |
| So we finally conclude the two-day long event we held this year for our second annual Parkour India National Jam, which we clubbed together with our preponed fourth annual Parkour Mumbai Pk-Day (Pk-Day 2010). Actually it concluded two days ago, but I was so tired and sleepy (but not less than the APK guys), that I just about finally managed to garner enough energy to sit and write it down. We saw a huge turnout this time - 30 people, which is the largest figure we have ever had so far in a Parkour Jam in this country. Not only did people from other parts of the country join Parkour Mumbai in the jam, but our good friends from American Parkour/The Tribe, who were in the country for performances at IIT-Guwahati, also joined us for the celebrations and jamming (which is the reason we had to keep the Pk-Day early this year). A big shout out and a huge thanks to everyone from outside that made it to the jam - APK, Chennai Parkour, Parkour Hyderabad, and Parkour Nashik. This wouldn't have been possible without all of you. Click the `Read More` button below to read a detailed description from NOS' perspective on what went down these past few days. |
| Read more... |
| Pk-Day Mumbai 2010 has been preponed |
|
posted on
August 17, 2010 by NOS |
| Parkour Mumbai's Parkour Days traditionally happen on the 3rd Sunday of November every year. Due to unfortunate events last year our plans were canceled at the last minute and we had to postpone the event. Unfortunately it seems, due to a strange stroke of good fortune this year (disregard my antonymous metaphor), we will still be unable to keep our appointment with the traditional day this year, and have to shift the date of the Pk-Day to Tuesday, Sep 7, 2010 from the previously mentioned date of Sunday, November 21, 2010. I know, I know, it is not a Sunday, and weekdays aren't exactly feasible for everyone to jam on, but you will have to bear with me this time. The tight schedule of some important guests visiting us mandated this change, we had to accommodate holding the jam according to their period of visit, and I don't have the resources to organize two large jams within a span of a few months. (speculators and conspiracy theorists - no, it's not 3Run again, that's all I will say for now). Anyway, we have decided to do a nature-parkour-cum-methode-naturelle-jam-cum-trek out in the wilderness of the lush Ulhas Valley just off Khandala. Since Parkour Mumbai have been to Ulhas Valley for a jam before, we can vouch for the location. It involves a steep hour-long climb down the rocky valley to a beautiful river bed and a dream Parkour/MN hotspot. We plan to leave Mumbai early in the morning of the 7th, and hope to be back to town by nightfall. Further details about the logistics are being worked out and will be shared consequently. Needless to say, since arranging for transportation for such a large group (Parkour Mumbai members do not yet even know of this jam, and yet some more guests from outside promptly signed up for it upon hearing the news from me, effectively doubling the previous number of guests we were supposed to entertain) is going to be our main organizational hassle, if you are interested in attending this jam, now would be a good time to register with us. Please drop us an email on the website for the same. I absolutely will not entertain last-minute sign-ups because this is going to be a logistical nightmare for me to pull-off. Any minors wishing to attend this jam need to bring along signed parental letters of consent. Please click the `Read More` button below to read up on further important details about the jam/trek. |
| Read more... |
| Please Say No. Please Let Us Not Associate Parkour With Smoking |
|
posted on
August 14, 2010 by NOS |
| Mark Toorock of American Parkour just forwarded me a very disturbing piece of news. A Tobacco company is sponsoring a five-city `Parkour Rally` event in China in the name of charity, but what is clearly a veiled attempt at targeting youth and overcoming current promotion and advertising restrictions through conventional mediums on Tobacco companies. What is even more disturbing is the fact that these so-called traceurs decided to sell themselves out and prostitute our discipline for want of a little fame and money. Please show your support people. As a community we are still trying to figure out a good way to battle this, but for now, we are trying to raise as much awareness about it in the Parkour communities as possible, and to get the support of all traceurs. To voice your concern, post in our forum thread by clicking the `Read More` button below. Or alternately, you could post on our Facebook page here http://www.facebook.com/ParkourMumbai. Once we have a more clear-cut line of action defined, I will post back informing everyone what we have decided to do, and how you can help further. You can find the original article on the APK website here: http://www.americanparkour.com/content/view/5676/1/ |
| Read more... |
| Be Careful of Parkour Trainers or Classes |
|
posted on
August 3, 2010 by NOS |
| We have been coming across quite a few cases of bogus parkour instruction springing up around the country of late, and Parkour India decided to come up with some guidelines for the general public in light of the same. Click the `Read More` button to read the full article on the Parkour India website. |
| Read more... |
| Interviews, Interviews! |
|
posted on
July 19, 2010 by NOS |
| I've been giving interviews left, right, and center these past couple of months. Gabe Arnold, the resident American Parkour journalist, recently caught up with me for an interview on the scene in India, the country's only Parkour gym, and more. The interview can be found here: http://www.americanparkour.com/content/view/5605/ A new online youth magazine, Whackk.com, also recently did a hilarious but interesting piece on me, and another one on Parkour itself. You can read them here: http://www.whackk.com/june-2010/traceur-bullet http://www.whackk.com/june-2010/move-meant Lastly, Hindustan Times published a news article on Parkour in its Delhi edition yesterday, for which I had given another lengthy interview. The original piece was supposed to be a comprehensive look into Parkour in the country, and was supposed to be published nation-wide. But despite all the well-intentioned reporter's efforts, an over-zealous editor screwed the entire piece up and the end result turned out to be very embarrassing, even going so far as to totally distort the meaning of all the things that we (the senior Parkour India traceurs) had said. So I'm not going to put up a link to that disappointment over here. |
| India's first and only Parkour Gym just got better |
|
posted on
May 30, 2010 by NOS |
| We've just added some new fixed outdoor equipment to our existing gym setup at the Sports Authority of India center at Kandivali, and are on our way to getting a more permanent status for running our classes there. So that now gives us access to a huge mat covered gym with custom-made Parkour Mumbai indoor equipment for Parkour training, along with an outdoor free-standing scaffolding structure, a couple of weight training gyms, climbing ropes, and lots more indoors and outdoors training opportunities inside this vast facility on a more permanent basis - the makings of India's first and only full-fledged Parkour training facility. (Please do not mistake full-fledged as full-time, the training facility is not full-time for Parkour training, it is still primarily a SAI center and Parkour Mumbai has been given permission to train and keep their equipment there.) Grand Opening for the new scaffolding equipment took place Saturday and Sunday for students and select Parkour Mumbai/Team NUTs members. Most people to see the scaffolding structure immediately reverted back to their childhoods and it was a hard job dragging them away from it when it was time to leave. Pictures for the SAI training facility (which includes the scaffolding structure) can be found here. Seeing as we do not have any actual blueprints for any of the stuff we have made so far, we're releasing some `under-construction` pictures as well so that anyone looking to replicate this stuff may take cues and tips from them and not have to flounder around in the dark. You can find them here. |
| Injuries!! |
|
posted on
May 10, 2010 by NOS |
| Injury season seems to be upon us. I'm really sad to inform you that in two separate events in the past two months, I have seen two incidents of shattered bones due to techniques gone wrong. In the first incident, respected French traceur Naim shattered all the bones in his forearm when he took a nasty fall from a height of 6 feet after bailing from a simple monkey, missing his landing and falling straight on his arm. A few days ago, Parkour Mumbai's very own Psycho bailed from a simple B-Twist, on the sandy beach no less, fell on his thigh and broke it in 5 pieces. In both cases the traceurs had to undergo major surgeries to fix their bones back together, including inserting several metal plates inside. We visited Psycho in the hospital, and were happy to see that despite such a nasty accident he still hasn't lost his spirit or his sense of humor. Reports from France also state that Naim is showing similar fortitude after his accident. Here's wishing both a speedy recovery, and hope that it doesn't dampen their spirit even after recovery and that we can see them back in action soon. I would also like to take this moment to highlight the dangers of practicing parkour/freerunning/tricking once again, and also point out the dangers of training on rooftops for new/untrained individuals, even though neither accident took place on the rooftops (thankfully, otherwise it might have proven fatal). Neither of these injuries took place because of a lack of conditioning on the part of the practitioner either, but because of a momentary lack of focus. This, and my own weight training accident from a couple of months ago serve to highlight the fact that we must NEVER lose focus of what we are doing whenever training, because a momentary loss of focus is all it takes for a major incident to happen. |
| Delayed Start to the Summer Camp |
|
posted on
May 4, 2010 by NOS |
| We've got excellent news! The Parkour Mumbai Introduction to Parkour Summer Camp looks like it might happen after all, despite the delayed start. The Camp is going to be conducted from May 17 to Jun 16, and will run from Mondays to Fridays from 6:00 AM to 8:00 AM at the Judo Hall of the Sports Authority of India, Kandivali (E). Please email us for further details, enquiring about the charges, and for registration. (Please do not contact the SAI office for details about the camp since they are not equipped to answer your queries about a Parkour Mumbai workshop, they are merely providing us with space to train.) We may have limited seats available for the camp this time, so we'll be accepting admissions on a first-come first-serve basis only. Register now!! |
| Going Commercial |
|
posted on
May 1, 2010 by NOS |
| I have been putting this off for a very long time, but I think I will finally have to end up taking this step now. The costs of running this website, and Parkour Mumbai the organisation are too much, and taking up far too much of my time, and the returns negligible. I have always believed in keeping organisational websites free of external ads, and avoided putting up any sort of advertisements on this site since the day we opened. But I feel that the time has come now when I will have to start looking to tap into all the sources of revenue I can find to help keep us afloat. And putting up an unobtusive section of google ads in a corner of the website is one such thing. Hope you guys don't mind and keep showing us the same support as before. Although in retrospect I feel that despite having put up these ads here for a week now, they do not seem to be bringing in any revenue. So I'll leave it here as an experimental feature for a few months and see if it works. If it doesn't, then we'll go back to being the ad-free website that everyone knew and loved. |
| Website Overhaul |
|
posted on
April 21, 2010 by NOS |
| I've finally gotten down to doing something I had been procrastinating about for a long time, and that is - a complete design overhaul of the entire website. Some design elements that you guys used to complain about might get fixed, some might not. Depends on how much time and inclination I have, seeing as I'm still doing this thing by myself and haven't got hold of an actual designer to help bail me out. I have already started by adding a nifty `Connect with Us` sidebar to all pages, something that should solve the `the site looks too dull, it needs more color` complaint that was most common with everyone. The purpose of this news item is to inform everyone that the design overhaul is going to be an ongoing process for the next few months, so I would request you guys not to worry if portions of the site seem out-of-whack, display wierd characters, look ugly (that is, uglier than before), elements show up in wierd places or do not show up at all, or if the entire website disappears altogether. If this happens, please do not panic, it's still all there intact, it only means I goofed up while changing some visual settings. If at any time the site itself is inaccessible and you wish to report any issue, you may contact us in our alternate locations at Facebook or Orkut (links available now to your left, you might want to consider adding yourselves to both pages now over getting completely cut off at a later date when I inevitably goof up on a setting and make the site unavailable for a while), or if you remember our email id, simply drop me an email. |
| Team NUTs Gym Sampler 2010 |
|
posted on
April 16, 2010 by NOS |
| Presenting this year's new Parkour Mumbai training video, the Team NUTs Gym Sampler 2010 (although I don't think at 20 minutes runtime it has any right to be called a 'sampler', even trailers for feature length movies only run for 2-3 minutes, but I always felt that word felt kinda cool, so...). Once again, this video is not about the flash, but depicts how we at Parkour Mumbai take our training seriously and progress in a slow, safe and sure manner. Since the last training video to come out of the PkMum stables featured more of conditioning training with a little skill training thrown in, this one is more about skill training with a little conditioning thrown in. Hope you guys won't get bored by the loooong running length and will enjoy watching it through to the end it as much as I enjoyed making it. Here it is in two parts: Part I Part II We also uploaded another slow (and boring for some) video about a few PkMum traceuses climbing a tree a few days ago, if you're interested in watching it. Again, this is not a Parkour/Freerun video, and certainly not a flashy video, it is just to depict how girls are also actively participating in the culture of physical movement in Mumbai. Indian Traceuses - Official Ape Stamp |
| Parkour Mumbai Parkour Summer Camp |
|
posted on
April 11, 2010 by NOS |
| Parkour Mumbai will be conducting a month-long Introduction To Parkour Summer Camp at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Sports Center at Kandivali (E) as part of SAI's annual Summer Camp program. Currently we are looking at holding these classes five days a week from Monday through Friday (with Saturday being our regular parkour classes (not included in the Summer Camp) and Sunday being off) from April 16, 2010 to May 17, 2010. Charges for attending the camp are Rs. 3000/- per head, all inclusive. The timings for the Summer Camp haven't been finalised yet, and will only be finalised by the SAI authorities on the 15th or 16th of April, and we may begin the actual training camp from the 16th or 17th onwards. But we are mostly looking at morning timings of either 6:00 AM to 8:00 AM or 7:00 AM to 9:00 AM, with sessions lasting two hours each. Please email us for registration and also for any enquiries you may have. |
| Parkour.Net for Sale |
|
posted on
February 19, 2010 by NOS |
| Jerome, the webmaster of Parkour.NET, has decided to sell the website. He sells the domain name 'Parkour.NET' obviously, plus the databases and forum archives, a few other parkour related domains, and some miscellaneous stuff.
You can find all details here - Parkour.NET is for sale Please do not contact Parkour Mumbai if you are interested in purchasing the domain, but get in touch with Jerome using the contact form provided on the page mentioned above. |
| Interview with Livewire |
|
posted on
February 10, 2010 by NOS |
| Chennai Parkour did an interview with Timothy `Livewire` Shieff of WFPF recently, and have uploaded a transcript of it to their website. An exerpt: Timothy `Livewire` Shieff is a Freerunning athlete who has recently been in the spotlight after he won the World Freerun Championships `09. He's also appeared in the MTV Ultimate Parkour Challenge alongside other well known athletes like Daniel Ilabaca and Ryan Doyle. Tim graciously took the time (even though he's been working hard, and fighting sleep deprivation) to answer some questions that my buddies at Chennai Parkour had for him. Here they are, for everyone to partake in. Prabu asks `In the midst of the most physically demanding move, what runs through your mind? How do you build....` Check out this link or click the `Read More` button below for the full interview. |
| Read more... |
| New Media |
|
posted on
February 5, 2010 by NOS |
| We've just uploaded a ton of new media after a long period of inactivity including a ton of new photographs, a few new photo albums and a couple of videos. Be sure to check out the updated older albums as well. http://www.parkourmumbai.com/mediaalbums.php Then for those that were waiting for visuals from the Hyderabad Pk-Day, you can check select pictures from that day in the album here, and the video of the jam here. The highly anticipated album of the Pk-Day Mumbai 2009 can be seen here, and the video (in 2 parts) can be found here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5ikgTC22dY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zo2Stb33cDU We have also moved some of our older videos over to our new Vimeo channel because of certain issues with Youtube, so anyone who missed seeing the good ol' days can find our older stuff on this channel. |
| Pk-Day Mumbai 2009 - A Fantastic Trek |
|
posted on
January 3, 2010 by NOS |
| We have been holding these annual jams for a few years now. Every year at each jam we see a lot of new faces as fresh new blood comes in realising the joys of practicing parkour, a lot of the older ones disappear as they realise that maybe parkour is not for them after all, and then there are those few who are doggedly persistent and are a common sight at every jam. This year's jam was no different. But unlike last year's jam, there was no media present as this was more like a private gathering, and a few people with us this time weren't even traceurs/traceuses, but they were simply people who came along for the trek (though they didn't leave without us introducing them to the wonder that is parkour). But like every other year, we had a load of fun at the jam despite all that. This year saw us head out to Karnala Fort today for a Parkour-cum-Trekking expedition with a group of 20 people (this figure is getting to be a standard attendance figure for Indian parkour jams). Unlike in the past, due to low interest in actual Parkour jams this year (2009), we decided to bring a little change into the mix (after being inspired a lot from my man from Hawaii, Ozzi's nature parkour videos. Ozzi, I need to start writing you royalty cheques for all the recent different forms of inspiration you've been giving me), and went trekking to the fort with a lot of methode naturale training on wayward rocks and trees thrown in for good measure. The trick actually worked, and this was one of the most fun and memorable jams we have had at Parkour Mumbai so far. (Don't know how many people will be able to get up from their beds tomorrow and go to work though, please forgive me for that  .)We have a lot of footage - both videos and pictures - from the event that I will have to shortly sit and sift through, although once again, I cannot promise a good video edit of our jam because the battery from our main handycam ran out of juice a short way through the climb (thanks a ton, Daredevil  ), and we had to rely on low-quality digicam and cellphone footage instead. But we do have a lot of good quality pictures that will be going up on the website shortly, so keep your eyes peeled for both.We are also happy to announce that this being our first real outdoor jam out in the nature, we also followed APK's Leave No Trace, and although we didn't explicitly volunteer to clean up trash in our surroundings, we strove to make a conscious effort not to litter ourselves, and also cleaned any stray pieces of litter we came across. So what if the pk-day 2009 was actually held in 2010? We're still gonna hold the 2010 event later this year, hopefully keeping our date with the traditional 3rd Sunday of November. See all you guys next year this November. |
| Be Careful Who You Learn From |
|
posted on
November 24, 2009 by NOS |
| From the American Parkour website: This is a warning to all current traceurs, and anyone who is thinking about learning Parkour from someone else. Parkour is still young, and it is still new, and it is growing incredibly fast. Beause of the nature of parkour (it's so exciting and fun and requires no equipment), it has become a popular thing to teach. Places like Primal Fitness, APEX, or the Parkour Visions Gym are run by the most experienced pratitioners in the country, and students can be confident in their trust that their instructors know what they're doing. But if you don't live in one of these places, there might still be a place that teaches parkour. American Parkour encourages you to be careful about these places and these instructors. American Parkour will be releasing a teaching certification early next year so students can have proof of the competence of that instructor, but until then there are a few easy rules you can follow to at least get an idea of how good your potential instructor really is: • Ask lots of questions about the parkour, the instructor and the instructor's history. Ask how they started training, where they started, when they started, and who they've trained with. Then go home and do some research, see if you can find any record of their posts online or articles they've written. Try to track down the people they mentioned and contact them to see if they're legit. A good teacher will have made a mark in the community. • Ask to watch a class before you commit to anything. A good instructor will be confident in their classes, and should have no problem letting you watch - or even take part - in a class before you sign or pay anything. • Do your own research before hand - find out what a good landing looks and sounds like. Find out what a good roll looks like. Then when you watch the class, make sure the instructor demonstrates some techniques and watch for their level of control. If their rolls are sloppy, if their landings are loud, if they don't have any flow... stay away. The instructor is not experienced enough. It's not just that they don't have a full mastery of the techniques. If they haven't been training long enough, they simply aren't experienced enough to fully understand each of the techniques, and how to explain them. Just like you wouldn't learn baseball from someone who first picked up a bat a year ago, or martial arts from a yellow belt, you don't want to learn parkour from an inexperienced teacher. This article was inspired by a recent CNN article featuring Sean Hannah, who was a student at Primal Fitness just last summer. By watching the video, you can clearly see his inexperience with parkour techniques. It is dangerous to have inexperienced people teaching parkour, and every injury that results from a inexperienced teacher results in more negative press for parkour. Click the `Read More` button to read the original article on the APK website. |
| Read more... |
| Golconda Fort Rocked! |
|
posted on
November 11, 2009 by NOS |
| We held a Pk-Day in Hyderabad this Sunday the 8th at the iconic Golconda Fort, and I'm happy to say that the jam absolutely rocked! Literally! I happenned to be in Hyderabad this weekend and met up with all the guys from Teams Secret Fury, Demise Forfeiters, half of Team Karma, and Kage from Chennai and Smaran from Vizag for a truly kickass jam at the fort. Team LASS were missing in action that day though. The ruins of the limestone fort itself are an awesome place to practice parkour, and contain obstacles ranging from easy and basic to extremely advanced with many multi-leveled walls and dilapidated parapets perfect for practicing cat-leaps and wallruns, a type of obstacle that is a rarity in Indian Parkour hotspots. So all in all, the location is perfect. Also, it seems to have a very low heat level, although you are sure to gather a crowd pretty soon comprising of tourists who probably think the fort is putting up a show for their benefit. The day started out overcast, and looked like it might rain, although it didn't, and we were thankful for both counts, since overcast meant no harsh sun bearing down on us and cutting short our practice, and luckily it didn't rain until well after we were done with the jam and everyone was on their way home. I wish to thank all the traceurs who attended again for coming to the jam and making it a memorable event. Hope this paves the way for more such Indian traceur gatherings in the future. Pictures and videos coming soon. Keep an eye out on this section. Read more to look at the jam from Smaran's perspective. |
| Read more... |
| Pk-Day Mumbai 2009 Cancelled |
|
posted on
October 20, 2009 by NOS |
| I'm sorry to announce that due to a multitude of factors, least of which is absolutely nil public intererest, we have had to cancel this year's Pk-Day Mumbai, which traditionally, should have been held on Nov 15 this year. However, we might decide to hold one at the last minute on popular public demand. If the jam is held at all, it is going to be held in a park in Kandivali (E) at 7:00 AM, for those of you who want to check your logistics before committing to attending. So if you want us to bring back the jam, and also agree to pay us an entry fee of Rs. 75/- per head, please email us with the subject 'Pk-Day 2009', or make a post in this thread - http://www.parkourmumbai.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=175. Please note that the entry fee is not for us to profit from this jam, but to cover costs of hosting the jam and obtaining permissions. I'm pretty sure that despite the charges levied to those attending I will have to pay more than half the amount of the costs incurred from my own pocket. |
| Read more... |
| Parkour Defined |
|
posted on
October 14, 2009 by NOS |
| American Parkour works on keeping the definition of our art Parkour current and in-line with changing times and changing perspectives of its practitioners every year. This year, after a massive community effort they have come up with a definition for the art that is the most succint and accurate definition we have seen so far for an art which seems to have a million different definitions and meanings amongst its practitioners with no common consensus on what the art is truly about.
So if you want to see the latest definition (and what I feel to be the most accurate, one that captures the true essence) of Parkour as defined by the Parkour community around the world, see here. Please note that this effort only strives to define Parkour and not Freerunning. |
| Read more... |
| Top Gear Magazine Anniversary Issue |
|
posted on
October 10, 2009 by NOS |
| Maniac, Nigel, Gaijin, NOS and the Architect headed out to a desolute, derelict mill recently for a photoshoot with the guys from Top Gear magazine, pitting the new Fiat Punto with and against us (yeah, I guess the Punto has this thing for traceurs and parkour - first the 3Run launch in Delhi, now us). Check out the awesome review of the car, and the even more awesome photographs of us with the car in this month's anniversary issue of the magazine, available on newsstands now. You can also find select photographs of us from the photoshoot in the album here. |
| A Disappointing Jam |
|
posted on
September 27, 2009 by NOS |
| Okay, so the traceur turnout for this jam yesterday was abysmal. And a disappointment. But nevertheless, Team NUTs members were present at the Jam in full force, doing what the jam was primarily aimed at - raising awareness about both Parkour and the adverse effects of Climate Change and ways to prevent it. We managed to collect quite a few signatures from bystanders for Sandbag's petition, got people interested in trying out parkour for themselves along with us, and had quite an experience in the process. We also managed to gain some media attention for Sandbag's campaign and spoke at length to NDTV about the cause.
Since the turnout for this jam was so low, we don't know if we managed to get any usable footage from yesterday, so can't promise a video edit for this event, but you can be sure to catch us in action on NDTV's feature on the event, that is whenever they air it (no idea when). However we are pleased to announce that we do have a very relevant video for Sandbag's Climate change One Giant Leap campaign that we filmed specifically for this event. The video was premiered at yesterday's Mumbai Jam as well as shown by Sandbag at London's Jam at the London IMAX. The video, called Gone Shopping can now be viewed online here and can also be found on our Videos page on the website. |
| Anniversary Jam Video |
|
posted on
September 18, 2009 by NOS |
We've just released a video edit of the proceedings at our Parkour Classes Anniversary Jam, as promised. The drills conducted that day (although grossly inadequate by my standards  ), were still so numerous that putting together a nice small video was unfeasible. So we had to split up the 16 minute video into two sections in order to meet Youtube's 10 minute per video limitation.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX9gaXKLMfk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcygdsDBl_Y Needless to say, we've also put some new photographs on our photo albums, although there are none of the anniversary jam event itself, with some more photos to be added in coming days. |
| Please sign Sandbag Climate Campaign's Petition |
|
posted on
September 17, 2009 by NOS |
| This is regarding the One Giant Leap Global Jam we posted about earlier. The whole point of this jam is to gain support for Sandbag Climate Campaign CIC's petition for the upcoming Copenhagen summit. Sandbag is campaigning for new international laws to be passed at the summit so that there is more investment by governments and private businesses in cleaner sources of electricity and energy. This can gain momentum if enough number of people sign their online petition. A link to signing this petition can be found below. Please do your bit to help prevent climate change, join the cause and sign the petition. See you all at the jam next Saturday. |
| Parkour Generations One Giant Leap Global Jam |
|
posted on
September 15, 2009 by NOS |
| Parkour Mumbai is pleased to finally announce that we will be a part of Parkour Generation's and Sandbag Climate Campaign CIC's One Giant Leap Global Jam against Climate Change on Sat, Sep 26, 2009. The Mumbai leg of the global jam will be held at Carter Road's promenade and will commence at 4:00 PM at the Amphitheatre opposite Cafe Cofee Day. We might spread out to other areas of the promenade during the course of the jam. This is likely to be a two hour jam, but might also go on for longer than that based on people's enthusiasm levels.
The jam is open to all traceurs to attend, but this time, more than practicing traceurs it is aimed at complete newcomers to the art and to people who know nothing about the art as it is more in the form of an 'awareness' jam. So we hope to see you attend the event in full numbers, and if you feel anyone you know can even be remotely interested in parkour, get them along. |
| PkMum Classes Anniversary Jam |
|
posted on
July 23, 2009 by NOS |
| It was on this day last year that we started the Parkour Mumbai paid Parkour classes. Fortunately the classes have been going very well and a lot of people have expressed interest in learning parkour in a structured manner. Not even in their wildest dreams did the older pkmum practitioners ever envision such a turnout for jams back in the day that we now have attending our classes, with newer people joining every session. Since we were pretty much reaching pk-day numbers of attendees in our classes alone, we are holding a small anniversary jam during our next class. Since it is going to be held during the duration of a regular class, the jam is open only to past and current students of NOS' classes and to select new joinees who have pledged to join classes from that particular session onwards. We'll post a video of the event later. |
| New Media |
|
posted on
June 30, 2009 by NOS |
| We've just released two new videos 'Kid Parkour' and 'NOS Training'. We've also fixed the youtube audio issue on some of our older videos in case you wanted to watch them again. The audio on Pk-Day 2008 hasn't been fixed however. If you are a music composer/artist and would like to help us add a legitimate audio track to the Pk-Day 2008 video (without charge), please contact us on the website. And we also take the opportunity to post a small video of our 3run rendezvous in the form of a small cameo in one of the 2 new videos. We've also added some new photo albums, which include pictures from the latest 3run visit to town.
You can find the videos on our videos page and also on our youtube channel. You can find the pictures in our photo albums on the website. |
| Parkour in Hyderabad |
|
posted on
June 29, 2009 by NOS |
| It's great to see that Parkour in India is spreading fast, even though the Indian Parkour Initiative hasn't taken off yet.
We are proud to add another Indian website on Parkour to the list in the form of Parkour Hyderabad. Hyderabad is one place along with Mumbai and Delhi that has had a lot of traceurs and different groups from day 1, so it's good to see they've finally opened doors to a new website for that region.
You can find them here: http://www.parkourhyderabad.com/ and can also find them on our external links page. |
| The Indian Parkour Initiative - Announcement |
|
posted on
May 26, 2009 by NOS |
| Callout to all traceurs, not just from Mumbai, but from all over India. Parkour Mumbai, along with Urban Escape of Delhi, Chennai Parkour, and a few other senior traceurs from around India are working on a new initiative to bring together all traceurs of India under a common roof, in a community-driven, community-managed website. This will be a comprehensive, one-stop website for all your Parkour/Freerun/A.D.D needs in the country. We are planning on hosting the regular works - tutorials, help for newbies in getting started, how-to articles, other articles, community forums, blogs, social networking, media section, community-uploaded videos and pictures (part of the media section), and listings of all regional traceurs and traceur groups around India among other stuff, but this is not enough. We need more ideas! And since the keyword here is community-driven, which is why we need YOUR input. We need to know what else you would like to see in an Indian Parkour website. Any and all suggestions are welcome as long as you do not post nonsense or childish stuff. Please click on the `Read More` link below which will take you to a discussion thead on the Parkour Mumbai forums created specifically for the purpose and post all your suggestions and discussions there. If you do not already have an account on the Parkour Mumbai forums, registration is easy and takes a few minutes. It needs to be activated by an admin (me) though, so that I can distinguish between legitimate human posters, troublemakers and spammers. Please don't let these two minor points deter you from taking a few minutes to let us know your valuable suggestions which would go a long way in determining the fate of our beloved art in our country. Like I mentioned - this is a community-driven effort, so start by making it! - NOS. |
| Read more... |
| 3Run in town again |
|
posted on
May 3, 2009 by NOS |
| The 3Run team was in Mumbai again, this time for a show for Bollywood. Unfortunately they were so jam-packed with their routine and rehearsals that they didn't have the time to meet up with local traceurs at all, despite having been here for nearly 10 days. NOS however did get to hook up with them for a brief while. After finishing up with their performance here, they flew back home yesterday night, but they mention they had a great time while here and are looking forward to coming back. Maybe we'll put up some footage of it in a future edit (some new videos coming soon). Meanwhile a picture has been added to the existing 3Run rendezvous album. http://www.parkourmumbai.com/mediapictures.php?state=7 |
| Responsible traceurs exercise their rights and fulfill their duties |
|
posted on
May 1, 2009 by NOS |
| NOS exercised his. Click here to see the proof. Hope the rest of you did yours as well yesterday. (Most of the traceurs I know are above 18 years of age, thereby eligible to vote) |
| Winners train, losers complain |
|
posted on
April 20, 2009 by NOS |
| So I just came across this great line in today's newspaper, and decided to share it with everyone. Actually it's very apt for a lot of the so-called traceurs I know in light of all the recent events. I'll leave you now to ponder the meaning of the line. |
| You've been had, mateys! |
|
posted on
April 2, 2009 by NOS |
| If it wasn't so glaringly obvious the minute you saw it yesterday, I have to painfully break it to you now - APRIL FOOLS!
This applies to both the news articles that went up here yesterday. |
| Flips are now Parkour |
|
posted on
April 1, 2009 by NOS |
| Our friends over at American Parkour, along with UrbanFreeflow, the Yamakasi, and other major parkour groups from around the world met up earlier today at the take-off Manpower Gap where David Belle, the founder of Parkour held an international press conference. The conference was also attended by several scientists, physicists, aerodynamists and others, who conducted scientific experiments to ascertain that in some cases, flipping moves such as a gainer actually carry more height and power into the move, thereby making them more efficient over other regular moves like drops and gap jumps. Therefore, even David was forced to conclude that flips can now be considered a part of Parkour.
What this bodes for the spin-off art of Freerunning remains to be seen. There were no comments available at this time from its founder Sebastien Foucan. Read this breaking news at its original source at http://www.americanparkour.com/ |
| Read more... |
| Presenting the Pk-Tonic! |
|
posted on
April 1, 2009 by NOS |
| Parkour Mumbai is proud to present a brand new performance product for parkour and freerunning - the Pk-Tonic!
Under development for over 6 months now, the Pk-Tonic is the perfect drink for the traceur seeking to improve his game, especially his jumping prowess. Test results have shown the immediate-acting effects of the Pk-Tonic resulting in upto 500% increases in drop thresholds and upto 200% increases in vertical jumping height. Click the `Read More` link below to view more details about the product and the complete announcement. You can also discuss all new developments pertaining to the tonic on this forum thread http://www.parkourmumbai.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=168 |
| Read more... |
| FINALLY they get my name right |
|
posted on
March 21, 2009 by NOS |
| Finally we have a decent article come out on Parkour in the city, and I call it decent only because this is the first paper that finally got my name right. :D
No more referring to me by wierd pseudo-names or referring to me as an anonymous character altogether. The name NOS finally gets its due share in the papers. It's well on its way to becoming the legend that the Architect always makes it out to be.
The article in question is a really good (okay, this time I'm serious) write-up in today's DNA (yes, I think we can finally announce DNA as our official media partners and Pk-Mum's sponsoring newspaper - they've covered us so many times now I've lost count) on page 11 of the main supplement. You can view the article online on the DNA website for a limited time period at - http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1241061 |
| Fatal Accident at the G-Spot |
|
posted on
March 21, 2009 by NOS |
| Responsibility check for all Mumbai traceurs.
Yesterday night an 8-year old child was killed when a decrepit section of the aeroplane at our most popular hotspot - the Aeroplane Garden in Santa Cruz - collapsed on him while he was playing under it. Older Parkour Mumbai and Team NUTs members will remember the exact spot very well, as they have also had their fair share of damaging the already damaged propeller of the plane when they used to play over it themselves. These same members would also remember well the warnings of their more responsible teammates, as well as those of the authorities there that the plane's wings and propellers were damaged and could come down any time, so they should not be scaling it in the first place. Imagine what would have happenned had a traceur been involved/responsible in such an incident. This is why I always tell everyone to behave in a mature and responsible manner towards your surroundings when practicing parkour. Our deepest condolences go out to the family of the deceased child. The heat level of the hotspot has been increased. Traceurs, please refrain from using it for some time. Read more about this and discuss it on our forums by clicking the 'read more' button below. |
| Read more... |
| Parkour.Net working again |
|
posted on
March 17, 2009 by NOS |
| The Parkour.net forums which were taken down a year ago due to infingement claims over the use of the word 'Parkour', has been brought online again, but only in a read-only capacity. Owner Jerome Lebret cited that some of the resources contained within the forums were invaluable to the parkour community, and should be available for persual. You may not be able to post anything on the site though. But still, be grateful that you can still see the gems contained inside. |
| Chennai Parkour |
|
posted on
March 2, 2009 by NOS |
| It was about time that the growing number of organised traceurs in Chennai came up with their own website.
Check out http://www.chennaiparkour.com/ to see what they're upto. |
| Callout to ALL Traceurs |
|
posted on
February 6, 2009 by NOS |
| Here's a fun opportunity for all you guys who practice parkour, and even for those who claim to practice parkour. A fun way in which to test your skills, compare yourself with your own goals, test how far you have progressed, have a load of fun along the way, and even get the chance to appear on TV.
Yes, you heard me right, you get to appear on TV, and no, this isn't the Indian version of the Barclaycard World Freerun Championships, but instead, is the Indian version of the famous game show Takeshi's castle (pardon me if I've gotten the spelling wrong, I don't watch TV). You will get to jump around, cross obstacles, and test out all your parkour/freerun faculties that you've earned hard over the past few years. And the best part is, if you are thoroughly tested by some really hard obstacle, you can still attempt it and not worry about breaking your limbs in the Big Fall you have, because it will be entirely safe. And fun! Read more to find out how you can be in it. |
| Read more... |
| 3Run's visit to Mumbai |
|
posted on
January 26, 2009 by NOS |
| 3Run family members Chase, Nathan, Ash, Ian, and Fabio were in Mumbai for the past 4 days for an event at the IIT Techfest and because of some timely insider tip-off, Parkour Mumbai got to know of their visit beforehand, and also got a wonderful opportunity to meet up with these guys and interact with them for these past few days.
We tried to get them to meet up with traceurs from the city for an informal jam but it didn't work out. Although they did mention that they were interested in holding a parkour workshop with us whenever they came back here. Whenever that happens, you'll first get to know of it here, so stay tuned to this section. |
| Sleepover Gym Jam on the 31st |
|
posted on
December 28, 2008 by NOS |
| Parkour Mumbai are holding a sleepover jam on the 31st in a gym in Kandivali. Event similar to the pk-day held earlier this year, and is open to practicing traceurs. Please click the link below that says `Read More` for details. |
| Read more... |
| Forums now live |
|
posted on
December 23, 2008 by NOS |
| http://www.parkourmumbai.com/forums/
I've been working overtime for the past few months to get these forums up and working, and in transferring all of our previous communication from our old hangout place on the pkmum and pkmulund message boards on Orkut to the new ones here. We now have here a vastly superior and better mode of message board functionality for your use. You may from now on carry on all your parkour and related discussions freely on our message boards here, subject to forum rules. Also, a number of changes have been made to the Privacy Policy and the Terms of Use in light of the same, and you would be well advised to go through them again before continuing your use of the website or the forums. |
| Pk-Day footage |
|
posted on
December 12, 2008 by NOS |
| Here is the long-delayed, much awaited video of the events from the Pk-Day held earlier this year. You can watch it on youtube here.
We apologise for the delay, we had a little difficulty in collecting all the stuff shot by different people together at one place. You can also watch snapshots of the proceedings in our pk-day album here. We've also taken the opportunity to add a few more picture albums and photographs to the website. So also have a look at our updated albums while you're at it. http://www.parkourmumbai.com/mediaalbums.php |
| Read more... |
| Pk-Day a huge success |
|
posted on
November 17, 2008 by NOS |
| The first Pk-Day Mumbai was a resounding success, with an unprecedented 30+ traceurs from different groups from all over the city showing up, along with various other people interested in Parkour for different reasons also being present as spectators. There were some people from the media, happily clicking away as the traceurs put on their moves for display, and a cheering crowd of onlookers gathering everywhere we went. A houseowner watching the event from above was so impressed that he even went so far as to invite a traceur to jump off his living room window onto the balcony a dozen feet below (but he didn't accept the offer though). We'll be putting up the pictures and an edit of the proceedings in some time, as soon as we are able to get our hands on all of them and sort them out. |
| Read more... |
| Pk-Day fast approaching |
|
posted on
October 27, 2008 by NOS |
| The first ever Indian Pk-Day is fast approaching, my fellow traceurs. Make sure your preparations to attend it are going on in full swing, and you have made the requisite arrangements for it, like taking the necessary leave for that day from work/school/college/friends/family/guests/other planned visits or trips from home/etc. We are hoping to make it a big event and a great success, in order to continue the annual tradition for years to come. Please direct all queries for the event to our mailbox mentioned on the contact-us page. |
| Read more... |
| Tehelka! |
|
posted on
October 24, 2008 by NOS |
| Parkour Mumbai and Team NUTs were featured in yet another article, this time by the Tehelka Magazine. You can get the magazine from newsstands all through the week, and can also view the article online for a limited time period through this link - http://www.tehelka.com/story_main40.asp?filename=hub011108Falling_Skyward.asp |
| Website is now live! |
|
posted on
October 15, 2008 by NOS |
| After more than a year of delays and procrastination on my part, I have finally finished the coding for the website, and it is now, completely live. |
| Read more... |
| Comments section live |
|
posted on
October 14, 2008 by NOS |
| The comments functionality for the hotspots section of the website is now live. You can now discuss everything about the hotspots in the city, as and when we add new ones. Please read the website's fine print before posting. |
| Live RSS feed now available for Parkour Mumbai news |
|
posted on
October 14, 2008 by NOS |
| We have just started an RSS feed for those of you who can't be bothered to check the homepage every now and then for news updates. Subscribe to the feed, and have all news updates delivered to you the minute they are released on the site.
To get your feed, simply point your RSS reader application to the orange feed icon at the top of this section. |
| A Joyride on the Flip Side |
|
posted on
September 17, 2008 by NOS |
| Parkour Mumbai has been featured in yet another article in the media. You can catch the article in today's Times of India, Mumbai edition on page 9. We will be adding the article to our list of media achievements on the website at a later date. |
| Read more... |
| Important Notice |
|
posted on
September 11, 2008 by NOS |
| A few irresponsible, outgoing members of Team NUTs, decide to form their own renegade team, and call themselves 'The Real NUTs'. The public is requested to exercise caution in dealing with them, and to not confuse them with the real Team NUTs, that is, the people behind this website. There is only one Team NUTs in existence in the Parkour/Freerunning world as of now, and that is the one mentioned on the relevant page on this website. Most likely the issue over the infringement of our name will be sorted out in the near future. Meanwhile we implore you to please not confuse this new team with the actual one. |
| First World Freerunning Championships Result |
|
posted on
September 3, 2008 by NOS |
| Gabe Nunez of America wins the first ever World Freerunning Championship held by Barclaycard in London, and is crowned the current reigning Freerunning World Champion. Check out Urban FreeFlow for more details. |
| Read more... |
| Notice of Removal |
|
posted on
August 28, 2008 by NOS |
| Two erring members of Team NUTs, Edsel Rodriguez aka the Lil' Devil, and Giles D'Souza aka The Kid, have been removed from the team for misconduct. Henceforth, they do not have anything to do with the team whatsoever, and any interaction of outside parties with these members, wrongfully assuming them to still be team members based on past information, will solely be on their own risk.
People who deal with Edsel and Giles need to be aware that they are acting individually and of their own accord, and are not representing the team anymore. Owing to personal differences, Nilesh Shah aka Wierdo and Akhil Shetty aka the Jumper have also left the team, and no longer represent us in their interaction with the outside world. |
| Parkour Mumbai is now completely ours |
|
posted on
August 18, 2008 by NOS |
| We have finally recieved control of the parkourmumbai.com domain name, after a long struggle, which was thankfully not legal.
parkourmumbai.co.in will slowly be phased out. Currently though, users will see a redirection page. |
| Read more... |
| Second Parkour classes started |
|
posted on
July 13, 2008 by NOS |
| Team NUTs decide to start teaching parkour in the western suburbs of Mumbai, owing to the large demand for such classes from people living in this part of town. Primary base of operations is Kandivli (E). Check this website for further details. |
| Notice for Pk-Day event |
|
posted on
July 11, 2008 by NOS |
| Pk-Day Mumbai to be held in Nerul on Nov 16, 2008.
An event for traceurs and interested traceurs from all parts of the city to get together and jam, and have loads of fun in general. First such event held in the city/country. A link to the official announcement in detail can be found here - And I just noticed something - What a coincidence that I plan to organise an aniversary of the first Parkour Mumbai mega-jam (in the form of the Pk-Day) on the very aniversary of the starting of this website! |
| Read more... |
| First Parkour classes started |
|
posted on
April 3, 2008 by NOS |
| Suraj Mandal decides to start teaching Parkour to interested people. He starts his batches in his hometown Nerul. Check this website for further details. |
| Read more... |
| Team NUTsTM formed |
|
posted on
February 12, 2008 by NOS |
| Active practitioners of Parkour in the city decide to finally form an official team, which, after a lot of debate and brainstorming, is named Team NUTs, owing to the whimsical personality traits of its members. Apart from that, whenever we explain what we are doing (parkour) to outsiders, they always think we've gone nuts anyway, so the name fits perfectly! |
| First proper Parkour meet held in the city |
|
posted on
November 18, 2007 by NOS |
| First Parkour Mumbai mega-jam held in Nerul, New Bombay. Historic event for the growth of Parkour in our city. A total of 8 members attended, and the meet laid the foundations of the team that is now called Team NUTs, the main active traceur/freerunner team in the city. |
| Read more... |
| Parkour Mumbai launched |
|
posted on
July 11, 2007 by NOS |
| A new website has been launched for the Parkour/Freerunning community in Mumbai to cater to the growing number of practitioners.
Parkour Mumbai formed as a platform for interested traceurs from Mumbai, its suburbs and satellite townships to get together and practice Parkour, and also for imparting training, organising events, etc. The site will not feature content about the discipline. |