Take Flight

Music is a huge inspiration for almost everyone. We use it to pumped us up, and help us focus and quiet our minds. We use it for inspiration and to inspire creativity. We even use it to change our moods and energize our bodies when we exercise. Although the type of music one chooses for all of these things is a very personal choice, the idea of music percolates through all we do and it’s the same with Parkour.

The Music Showcase Is Featured On The Take Flight Facebook Page!

This week we have decided to showcase the idea of music in the Parkour context. We’ll be touching on multiple themes all intended to enlighten and change the way you think about music. There are some songs that have already risen to the top of the Parkour world and become iconic in nature and we’ll be showcasing these songs and the videos behind them. Music choices for a Parkour video is another theme we will be touching on as the simple use or not use of a song can change a video’s theme, message, tone, feel, and overall impact.  We will also be showing some horrendous music choices that were chosen for comedy purposes and you’re guaranteed to laugh. Throughout it all this week you are going to hear a wide variety of music including hip-hop, rap, dub-step, techno, and more. And we are even going to include types of music that you may not expect.

This TF Facebook feature will be taking place via videos posts this week on the the Take Flight Facebook page from Wednesday through Sunday so keep your eyes and most importantly ears open and see what you can pick up. We think it will change the way you look at music in the context of Parkour, and it might even help you choose the next song for your own Parkour video.

Training Parkour can be quite safe when done properly, but no matter how careful we are sometimes accidents happen. Accidents can teach us that we were not being as safe as we should have been, while other accidents are just fluke events. Flow Team athlete Trevor de Groot recently suffered a major injury to his foot after a stroke of bad luck.

After climbing down off of a wall the top of the wall fell slamming down on his foot. This crushed his toes and he required 50 stitches! Trevor foot was completely out of commission for a couple weeks making training impossible.

This isn’t stopping Trevor though, “I plan on demonstrating that injuries should not stop Traceurs from progressing… Traceurs should never give up.” Trevor has been working his upper body and conditioning to keeping improving.

Take Flight athletes really are die hard. We are hoping Trevor has a swift and healthy recovery from this and in the upcoming weeks we will be posting training videos on the Take Flight Facebook page and blogs to keep fans up to date with Trevor’s progression.

“Now, is a great great time for Parkour!” – Matthew Lee Willis of Texas Parkour

It is the mission of Texas Parkour and the Parkour Federation to make the Austin Parks and Recreation Board of Officials see the truth in this quote. Over 2 months in the works, Take Flight Partner Texas Parkour has been trying to build support for building a Parkour park in Austin, Texas, and just recently they received news that the committee accepted their first round proposal! In only 2 weeks they will be giving a presentation that will determine the future of this project.

We are extremely excited for Texas Parkour and we are looking forward to supporting them throughout the process. For more information on the park and how to help and to show your support, visit Texas Parkour at the following sites:

Texas Parkour Home Page

Texas Parkour Parks

We are excited to have Jevin Dulak as our latest sponsored athlete added to the Take Flight Street Team!

Jevin first discovered Parkour in 2009 and has been a Take Flight fan since his beginning. In him we see a passion for Parkour that is rare and his loyalty to Take Flight is second to none. These are the exact qualities we look for sponsoring athletes, but Jevin wasn’t chosen for sponsorship just because he loves Parkour and Take Flight. Jevin is also an excellent role model for Traceurs and he is constantly giving back and contributing to the community by teaching others and spreading Parkour throughout his city and beyond.

One of Jevin’s current projects is helping develop Legacy Parkour and Freerunning; a team dedicated to reaching out in the community, and spreading the philosophies of Parkour to people young and old. He believes that much of his progress is due to the great Parkour community he has locally, so helping develop this team is a way for him to give back.

We are proud to sponsor Jevin Dulak and bring him on board as the newest member of the Take Flight Flow Team. Please join us in welcoming him and keep your ears peeled for more from this committed and giving Traceur.

This week Take Flight is bringing a tutorial showcase to help jump start your summer training! There are so many incredible Tracuers out there and many of them are incredible teachers as well. We will be posting dozens of informative videos on the Take Flight Facebook page over the next 3 days just for our fans. Whether you are working on perfecting your double kong to cat or simply trying to learn what “vault” even means, there will be some great tutorial videos just for you.

Many of us at Take Flight focus on pure Parkour movements, but who doesn’t love the occasion flip now and then. This tutorial showcase will include flips, flyaways, wall flips, and a host of other freerunning tricks that you fans ask about all the time. Keep in mind that just because you have watched a video enough times to memorize each frame, still doesn’t mean you can just go out and try it. Some of these movements, flips especially, can be dangerous if you do not train properly and follow correct progressions to build up to them. You should always train within your limits, and, if you can, work with an experienced instructor.

These videos will surely inspire you to work on building new skills and tricks over the summer. We will be showing you a so many tutorials from different athletes and teams it will be like a free summer camp! Be safe when you train. Jump, Fly, Dream!

As the summer sun and heat move into the Northern Hemishpere with full force, lots of you will be out training. The nicer weather and no school means you will be out training Parkour and freerunning for longer hours and in the summer heat. We at Take Flight like hearing about all your training and progression, and we especially love seeing video and pictures. But it’s terrible hearing about injuries!

Team Kinetic Trains Together!

We have put together a few basic tips for summer training to help keep you healthy and training all summer long.

These tips are supposed to help you avoid any injuries, but accidents do happen, so you should have a Parkour partner, freerunning friend, or just train around other people in case you do get hurt.

Always drink enough water; it is better to have to take an extra restroom break than it is to get dehydrated. Just a note, some energy drinks and most sodas dehydrate you, so if you are going to have them, have water to back it up.

On really sunny days it is important for most people to have plenty of sunscreen on especially if you are going shirtless. The exposure to the sun causes increased fatigue rates and fatigue can lead to mistakes and accidents. Some athletes and trainers say it’s better to keep your tee shirt on in the mid-day sun to protect from the sun. Now if only you could find a Parkour T-Shirt company ;-)

Follow proper progressions when training Parkour or freerunning. Drilling skills is very important and most people move on as soon as they land a skill once. A quote inspired by David Belle says, “A good Traceur trains until he gets it right, and excellent Traceur trains until he can’t get it wrong.” This means take your time with each skill.

These quick tips should help you have a fun and safe summer of Parkour, train safe and HAVE FUN!

Click here to watch Thib in Brazil!

Thibault “Thib” Granier has officially become a sponsored pro athlete of Take Flight! Standing 6′ 2″ this 24 year old is taller than most Traceurs or freerunners. But don’t let his height fool you, he is just as quick and agile as any other athlete out there.

Known as ‘Thib’, his huge moves and smooth control make him stand out far more than a little height advantage. Thib started Parkour in 2004, so has been practicing Parkour for over 6 years now. Being from Paris, he doesn’t live far from the birth place of Parkour; Lisses, France. The opportunity came early in Thib’s career, to meet some great Traceurs like Seb Goudot and David Belle. He met David in 2006 and now considers himself one of David’s friends.

We should be so lucky, the early influence of these great Traceurs really shows in Thib’s form and passion for Parkour. It is great to have Thib join our Pro Street Team.

Hailing from the east coast of the United States, Tyler Incontrera is the Take Flight Fan of the Week! From South Amboy, New Jersey, Tyler trains his freerunning in his K-Swiss Tubes. Take Flight has received multiple photos of Tyler, but for some reason in all his shots he is upside down. His huge flips are featured on the Take Flight facebook profile this week in his Take Flight Jump, Fly, Dream Tee. Tyler’s favorite athlete is Daniel Ilabaca and we can’t wait to see the improvements he makes to become more like Daniel. Thanks for all the flip photos Tyler, you’re our #1 fan this week!

Take Flight is featuring the Red Bull Art of Motion competition on the TF facebook page. It was held this March and marked one of the latest in many freerunning competitions that are springing up all over the world. The first Red Bull Art of Motion was back in May of 2009, and it drew huge crowds and international competitors. The events have even drawn enough attention to warrant an article by Time Magazine. There was also the TV show Jump City Seattle featuring international pro freerunning. But these international professional level competitions are just the tip of the iceberg.

Around the same time as the most recent Art of Motion event, there was the Nivea fo Men Freerunning Championships in Thailand (seen here).

These pro events are greatly outnumbered by the small amateur events that don’t get any publicity. For every pro event there are dozens of lower level competitions, but just because the event is smaller doesn’t mean the tricks are. In May of 2011, there was a freerunning event in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho held at a local gym. Some of the athletes were throwing big tricks, and it really showed how fast freerunning is growing. freerunning competitions have even found their way into backyards. We recently saw video of a competition that was set up as part of a birthday party! We’re not saying this is common be any means, but we are sure freerunning birthday parties will become more popular as time goes on.

The 2011 Red Bull Art of Motion took place this past March in London, and it was one of the biggest freerunning events ever drawing spectators and Traceurs from around the globe. Because of the prominence and the talent present at this competition we’ve decided at Take Flight to bring the event to you in an exclusive all access TF Facebook showcase.

In our showcase over the next few days we will be bringing you all the videos and inside looks from the 2011 Red Bull Art of Motion competition. In fact, this will be the only thing we showcase on our FB page for this time! Included in our showcase will be official behind the scene looks at the competition from Red Bull, Visive Productions and other organizations. We will also be featuring ALL the qualifying runs from the competitors including Ryan Doyle, Jason Paul, Tim ‘Livewire’ Shieff, Phil Doyle, Marcus Gustafson, and Marvin Ross and more.

All you have to do to be a part of this showcase is stay intently tuned in to the Take Flight Facebook page over the next few days, and we’ll do the rest to bring you all the action. Never before has such an inside look at some of the best Traceurs in the world been comprised and presented so succinctly. In short: you’re going to love it!