Theres always a time where the student should surpass the master. There are many arguments for either side, so i'll just present one real quick. It is almost selfish to not have parkour competitions. The reason for this is this would bring unparalleled exposure to parkour. Think about how much parkour has changed your life, now wouldn't you want that for everybody else? We would have much more people starting to do parkour. You might argue that people might not have the true philosophy of parkour in their hearts, or something similar. However, why would it matter if it is making that person more useful, more fit, and maybe even a better person all around. Competition would also bring out the best of training. When competition becomes big, we will begin to see what people are really capable of. Right now there isn't a single person in the world who is training for parkour to the extent they could be (oly lifting all the time, sprints, nutrition, plyo's, weights etc...) This is what competition would allow. It would bring whole new levels of training, and improvement to the community.
I have a bone to pick with you.
It is every master's dream for the student to surpass them. And yet... It is not up to the students to decide when they have surpassed their master. The master will be the one to say who has surpassed who. By claiming yourself to be better than those who taught you, you only prove how much you have yet to learn.
Unparalleled exposure hmm? I agree that it would bring parkour into the light. However, this would be the wrong type of exposure. It is better to expose fewer people to the true face of parkour than to simply expose more people to what appears to be parkour. There is a reason Parkour Generations and Majestic Force are teaming up to ensure not just the movements of parkour are taught correctly, but the philosophy behind it. It would be folly to disregard these founders. I'm sure you heard that Australian traceur that said he did parkour for the thrill. I don't expose thrill seekers to parkour. In fact, when there are "hot-shot jocks" around I don't train on anything that looks cool so they won't try to copy me. I've had a kid copy a rail precision that was four feet above the ground. He could of easily slipped and cracked his head open. I had spent nearly a year getting to this point that I had stressed to them before NOT to do it. He goes and does it anyway. What does that say to the people who see all of these moves on the X-Games even if they have plenty of warnings they say, "Don't try this at home."
It is important to spread parkour to those who want to learn it, but only to those doing it because they love doing it, not for the thrill it gives. I started parkour because it appealed to me. Not the thrill. The difference. I wanted to learn it because it was something different and it amazed me. A week later when I went to the PKGen's training in Columbus, albeit for one day. I truly learned what parkour was about. I met someone who my first initial thoughts of was that he was some type of laid back "too cool for you" emo kid. I honestly thought that. I was kind of revolted by his appearance. But he turned out to be extremely nice. My prejudice was folly. It wasn't just him though. Every traceur I met there, every single one was kind, courteous, helpful, nice, and I could tell there was some type of magical attraction between all of us. Everyone respected everyone. It was an unspoken mutual respect. It amazed me. There was like what? Fifty to seventy-five people there on the second training day and they all got along. It didn't matter how good you were, it didn't matter how high you could wall run. You were treated with the same respect regardless of your skill level. THIS is what parkour is about.
I fear competition would destroy this bond. We would want to become better than others. We would think ourselves higher than others. Suddenly it matters that your better than someone. Suddenly animosity would form. The bond would be destroyed. Parkour would be destroyed.
Competition would bring out the worst. A precision has the weight of everything up to this moment on it. You are bogged down by expectations of others. What if you're not the best? What if you're not the greatest? What will happen to you? It is like you're wearing weights. Weights that will keep you from flying. People will take risks for the sake of the gold, risks we always stress not to take. Do you not understand that we don't train to do parkour? We should be training parkour because we love doing it, not for any reason. I know nearly everyone here will agree with me when I say that I bet no one who has been training parkour for a year or more isn't in it for anything but the love of doing it.
Parkour shouldn't be lumped into being an X-Game. Everywhere people say it'll become the next skating. I fear they may be right.
