PARKOUR is getting popular among the city’s residents with more and more children, teenagers and adults entering parkour clubs, Shenzhen Evening News reported yesterday.

Currently, the development of parkour in Shenzhen ranks among the best in Chinese cities, which echoes the city government’s efforts in turning Shenzhen into a vibrant and sports city, the report said.

Du Lingrong, a coach at a local parkour club, told the News there are currently over 80 students at his club, with the youngest being only 4 years old and the oldest 40 years old. Many of them are female participants.

Parkour is an activity in which people aim to move their bodies from one point to another as quickly and efficiently as possible, using their bodies’ utmost abilities.

To succeed, one must develop his or her body and mind to overcome any obstacles that may pop up, which can be anything in the surrounding environment, including concrete walls and rooftops, the coach said.

Du joked: “It wasn’t me who chose parkour. It was parkour who chose me.”

In 2018, Du saw a parkour video from the club’s founder. The movements shown in the video fascinated him. This full body exercise which combines running, jumping and fitness immediately became his best choice.

Du said that, like all sports, parkour can bring many benefits to those who practice it. “When exercising, your body feels the same as in the plane cockpit, and you suddenly discover that you can control your body that instantly jumps up high,” the coach said, adding that this is the charm of parkour.

During a weekend training course, 9-year-old Zhang Peng leaped over one obstacle after another at Du’s club, just like a monkey. “Every time I practice parkour, I feel like a hero in a martial arts movie,” the boy said.

A 6-year-old girl, known as Guoguo, told the News that she began to fall in love with this sport after playing Talking Tom Gold Run, a classic parkour game.

“After learning parkour, my daughter became more confident, which I think is very helpful for her psychological growth,” the girl’s mother said.

Yang Miao, who has been engaged in program development for 10 years, also feels the same way. He told the newspaper that his reflexes seemed to be returning to the peak of his youth after practicing the sport.

Yang Qiaofen, chairman of the Parkour Professional Committee of the Shenzhen Extreme Sports Association, said that a professional parkour trainer can correctly control his body and minimize risks.

Parkour is not only a sport, but also an escape skill, Yang told the News. When caught in danger such as fires, attacks, car accidents or emergencies, his probability of escape will be over 20 times higher than that of ordinary people, according to Yang.

Yang said that the association has held many competitions and interesting activities to promote and develop parkour in Shenzhen, and it ranks as the best among the country’s cities.

With more and more people joining parkour clubs, the “parkour economy” also emerged, the report said.

For example, the sales growth of parkour courses not only increased the customer flow of offline sports venues, but also led to the sales growth of related products. Since March, the real-time retail sales of sports gloves, knee pads and headbands in various supermarkets and equipment stores have increased by 495%, 201% and 183% year on year, the News said. (Windy Shao)