Leaf Alone.

Damo – Portrait.

I planned to be out Heaven or Hell this week! Even though the day before it was snowing! ❄️ our weather is so interchangeable! James was back from Miami and gagging to get out. The Mansfield ‘Vision’ chaps were out too, repping their Merch (top notch) which was nice to see them all uniformed. I arrived just after one to still find the guys at Plaza! The walls now had in between them artificial grass which I was told had been there for weeks. No excuses for plant life now. Nor a deterrent to stop us. The guys were using them as cushioning for dive rolls. It looked smart and I did some filming while they did that.

Schools Out.

 

It was a Sunday and with it a Parkour park training session. Set at the earlier time of 12pm. We always seemed to congregate from half past two onwards, well usually… There didn’t seem to be much interest for the session initially, apart from David, Patryk and myself. What with the success of our last training session [1] and with it, a video being produced too! I guess we were still on the high of wanting to do something similar this weekend. Adam’s plans had fallen through and so now he was out, Ben too! Everyone was running late in the end, so much for an earlier start to the session…

Patryk had forgotten buses were a Sunday service today, which meant they were one an hour and so he was going to get to us as and when he could! Adam had popped to Tesco first, so was going to be late too. I decided to arrive later as well, while David went at the earlier time to warm up. There were some kids tricking when I arrived, doing gainers and whatnot. It is always strange as they were really good at flips and yet couldn’t precision very far at all. But that is a debate within the Parkour culture of practitioners today. Learning all those sick flips and moves before they can do basic fundamental Parkour ones…

 

Parkour Hotspot.

 

Once everyone was accounted for we drove to a school I had seen in Bestwood that looked good for training on. Adam went back to the park after dropping us off, due to leaving his hoodie. Patryk and David looked at a big standing precision jump at the front. David got the jump first, which I was shocked about. I couldn’t commit to it, it looked horrible, felt horrible! It was just out of my comfort zone, but I did manage to get it in the end. David also did it as a running precision too, which I felt was even worse to do compared to standing.

It was funny as we trained. The people that passed by, just stared at us, like it was something they had never seen before. Often the case when you train in the suburbs or places that aren’t directly within Nottingham city centre. It brings you back to the early days of training when it felt like that no matter where you were or what you were doing. The school was fenced off and I felt a bit uneasy about climbing over that to gain access… Patryk had already gone over to check out the area and while me and David jumped about in the front of the area. Patryk then let us in through the gate that had a button on the inside.

 

Patryk – Portrait.

 

We were fine once inside, no hassle or people telling us off oddly. Even though all the houses around it, looked directly into the area. Man, I cannot tell you how awesome the place was for Parkour! So many wooden benches, ranging in distance and heights! I had to Facebook an image to show what the others that didn’t come out to train any other day than a Saturday what they were missing out on! It instantly got attention with people saying they would go next time we went, which they so wouldn’t… That or they would want to go on a Saturday when it was still open!

Parkour Park Trio.

 

I was wanting to train this Friday. The weather looked somewhat rainy, but maybe it would be okay as the weekend didn’t look any better either! So the odds of a community training session being a washout were high and the days prior nice. I was oddly hyped to train, I was unable to sleep due to this, having creative ideas and wanting to film the day as well with some ideas I had. I wanted to make a Parkour park video, after the solo one I mad long ago [1] but now I wanted more of a community project video. Maybe even do a video where multiple people were in shot doing movements together, at the same time. It was an idea!

I woke up and Patryk who was interested in training, had messaged me saying it was throwing it down with rain over in Carlton. Typical perhaps the day was going to be wet and rubbish as the weather predicted? So after an hour odd once the rain had passed and even the sun had come out it seemed like it might be good? Nearer the time we were going to meet up, it begun to rain again ugh! It was the very fine rain, lots of dark clouds and overcast. I left the house and it felt cold! The awesome hype I had, had now left me and I felt more negative about the day ahead.

 

 

It wasn’t so bad once I arrived, but I was feeling rather unmotivated. After some warming up my knee was feeling iffy and hurting. A current affair of late what whatever reason, joint wise. It was slightly giving out with some single leg movements which wasn’t helping matters. I filmed scenes of David and Patryk first. I think the funniest part was David doing a stump kong precision into a sideways catleap. The sheer amount of takes it took him to get was too funny. I also wanted to turn the camera at the same time Patryk did a flip, but it didn’t work out how I planned or envisioned.

The other idea I had was more ambiguous, I wanted us all to be doing a set run, doing our thing, coming into shot and then out of it, then the person who had left first then became the cameraman while the other two in shot were doing their movements. This did work in a sense, a few mishaps or having too much within shot to see the movements fully, then later realizing I had to film some separate shots to include within the main panning for people to fully see everything that was going on and it did work, at least I thought it did.

Churches, Grazes & Posing.

 

I woke up early this weekend, ready to train! I had a sore upper back in the shoulder area from the same old nerve injury ugh. I could feel it there, but it usually goes when doing something strenuous or even if I move in a certain way. No preventing it, just luck if it keeps in tact. But the main thought of the day was, will it hold?! It looked an ace day, strange to not have Adam out though. Patryk in the end, after much calling me out for being a wuss and grandma for not wanting to go to gymnastics earlier in the week. Stating he would be out and yet he failed to actually be out himself, instead he was only training locally… Pfft!

I arrived into town at around half one, it seemed Zain was back (for now) and he was out this weekend! We also had Jack (Jeeves) out as well! There were quite a few people out actually, it seemed like it was going to be a good day indeed! It was nice to see Dylan and Reece out too, in their awesome team t-shirts and jumpers (Evolve Parkour) brand. Hopefully this version of the group will remain and progress, rather than phase out, rebrand and re-team. The plan was to move, but to where? In the end, the decision was for Castle College for James to do running catleap and other movements nearby. We took a VERY slow walk there, stopping at the church opposite instead.

 

Reece – Running Precision.

 

It’s one of those areas which we don’t often train on, since it has been modernization it has become quite cool spot as we found out today. I felt scared to do jumps, like I wasn’t warmed up. At least my knee was holding up and not feeling too sore this weekend. David was owning a running precision jump, I’m glad he had no fear of running along the loose soil. All I could think about was slipping as I tried to scramble across it! Zain said he was feeling out of it and weak, when wasn’t he though? Part timer! Running precisions were the movement of choice it seemed today, while the others were doing running precisions to the top of the stair set as seen in the above imagery of Reece.

Running pop wall climbs were being done on the nearby roof was another movement. Along with running catleaps and vaulting over the electric boxes. James slipped on one of the pop wall climbs as he kicked up to get on top of the wall, slamming his knee during the climb up phase, but saving himself in a catleap as he fell back down! Even though he wasn’t able to take part in the running precisions or claim the one over the steps this weekend there was still hope with the Castle College cat. He hasn’t been there for a while, so time will tell what will happen with it and if he musters up the courage of still having the jump…

 

Webster’s Injury.

 

I really wish I had, had my camera out when Webster decided to do a precision from a railing to the slopped wall of the church. I was looked up while getting my camera out and saw he was about to jump! When he did it, it looked perfect, except for when his feet slipped due to the force of the jump. All I saw was he put his hands in front of him and some dust fly up from the slip. Though, he had managed to headbutt the wall as the image above shows. It was one of those nasty friction burn types. He had also caught his nose as well, too bad he has that basin haircut of his, otherwise the hair might have covered the graze!