Take Flight

The Zombie Apocalypse Tee launched three weeks ago to roaring applause. Well, actually we didn’t hear any applause. But that’s because we launched it online. But the launch announcement post got more than 100 shares which is the most we’ve ever seen for a product picture.

It was no coincidence for why and when we launched the tee. We finished the design in July but held it for almost 3 months until late September. And why? Because Halloween. The day when Zombies come out is now just a few weeks away. And what is more applicable than that?

To commemorate Halloween, Zombies, Parkour and the shirt that draws all three of these things together (<— huh?), we are going to keep the Zombie Apocalypse Tee on sale through October 31^st. It’s only $16 and you can picks yours up today. We cannot, however, promise to keep the shirt in stock. For this reason, and this reason alone, if you have your eye on this tee we recommend picking it up soon.

Cyber Monday is here!!!

If you don’t know (and up until a couple years ago we didn’t) Cyber Monday is a term for the Monday immediately following Thanksgiving when millions of Americans shop online. This year it is estimated that 106.9 million people will shop online on this day! The trend has given rise to huge online sales, and the spirit of the Holidays we will not be left out!

Stay tuned in to the Take Flight Facebook page all day long for deals including free shipping, new sales items, and discount codes that will save you more than 40% on your purchases.

Is this a day to get some of your Holiday shopping out of the way?! Yes indeed! But if you are just looking for a good deal for yourself, this is also the opportune time.

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Week 20 and 21 closed and we’re still tracking the interaction totals on the Take Flight Facebook Fan page. The totals for these past two weeks were 496 and 573 interactions respectively.

The conquest for 1,000 interactions in a single week continues. With some new posting content to provide to the Parkour community, new Parkour apparel to be released this week, and a fan page that has recently exploded, we have high expectations that this week (#22) may be the one where we break through the roof and start giving away all that free Parkour clothing that our fans have been seeking for so long. Join our cause this week, and let’s see if we can make it!

Week 19 of the 1,000 Interaction Challenge has closed with 630 total interactions. Overall this is a lot of interactions but not enough for the 1,000 mark needed for us to give our free Parkour clothing to our fans.

Even though the Take Flight Facebook page has grown steadily over the past 4 months the interaction rate through our page hasn’t. Analysis of this trend had us looking for an explanation. To bring the problem into light, for example in week 8 we had 3,100 fans and experienced 864 interactions. Now in week 19 we have over 6,300 fans but only 630 interactions in the week.

Week 8 was an exceptional week when we had all the fans really working for the 1,000 mark which explains the high interaction total. But it’s still confusing to see a smaller total when we have more than twice the number of fans this week. Unfortunately this isn’t a consequence of fewer posts by us, it’s the cause of a Facebook control which limits how many times our posts show up in feeds! Even though we have 6,300 fans, our posts don’t appear to any more people than when we had 3,100 fans.

Even with more Take Flight fans Facebook controls the impressions and our posts are still seen by relatively the same amount of people. This is discouraging because it doesn’t allow us to share Parkour news, videos, and articles with as many people as we hoped. However we are working on new ways to share and bring this information and inspiration to people through Facebook so stay tuned. And in the meantime we are going to continue our commitment to bringing free Parkour clothing to Traceurs around the world through the 1,000 Interaction Challenge. Sooner or later we’ll make it, so keep interacting and keep spreading the Parkour news through Facebook and beyond!

Part of our Take Flight Social Network includes our Twitter feed. For the past few months we have simply had our logo on this page for the image background. Unsatisfied with this background for multiple reasons we recently redesigned it to our current background seen below:

We spent a lot of time working on this Twitter background. Even though our Twitter background is only a very small reflection of what Take Flight is and what we stand for, in our minds that gave us all the more reason to spend time on it! The new design encompasses our logo and the web addresses of our website and social pages. Also, and most importantly, the design features Parkour clothing (the Vault Man Tee – Cardinal and the Original Parkour Pants – Gray) a Traceur, and our slogan “Jump. Fly. Dream.”

Prominently or insignificantly, our Twitter background reflects who we are, and because of this we wanted to make sure it povided a comprehensive snap shot that accurately reflected Take Flight. With our logo, slogan, a Tracuer, and Parkour apparel now all incorporated into the design we feel we’ve made it just that.

A commercial for Vittel starring David Belle. Check out a short behind the scenes look at the advertisement as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yc676fL_zIc

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x98ea6

Following is the video transcript of the video I Jump From Rooftop to Rooftop which exclusively featured and was exclusively orated by David Belle:

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Parkour is a method of training which allows us to overcome obstacles, both in the urban and natural environments.

It’s a weapon in disguise. We train… and when one day we encounter a problem, we know that we are able to use it.

It can be the art of flight, of the chase, of helping someone with a problem, something ordinary. It happened to me that I’ve had to climb up to the second floor because some guy forgot his keys. It’s stupid, because he’s right there. He knows that his window is open. He doesn’t have his keys.

He says to me, “Can you… uh…”

And I’m like, “Of course,” and I climb into his place just to open his door. And if he was able to do it… Well, it wouldn’t have been a problem for him.

I believe that the end result of Parkour is to become entirely autonomous in life. And to be able to say all by yourself, “Well this here… I don’t have the distance, but I’ll train for 15 days, drilling 50 jumps in the morning and at night. In a month, I’ll have it.”

That’s knowing yourself. Setting goals and attaining them. Because if we don’t have goals, we’re just floating in the wind and we don’t know why we’re moving. And when we have found a reason for what we’re doing, even if we move into other areas that are not Parkour – artistic areas or in life – well, we will already be in the habit of finding meaning.

All the questions that they ask me about Parkour… They ask, “Why are you doing this? What is the…” As though it’s hidden in the philosophy, or in the movements that you are working on.

But if you look at a monkey… If you were to stop him at the moment he ‘s in the middle of doing a jump, you press pause and then you ask him, “Why are you doing this? Why are you moving?” I think the monkey would answer, “And you? Why are you NOT moving?”

The thing that is really amusing, in the idea of urban Parkour, is when you realize that humans are moving on things that are not made initially for this purpose. Which is to say that the guy who built the little barriers on the sides of staircases to go this way or put this wall here, he didn’t say to himself, “Oh yeah, so he’s going to jump here, so this is at the right distance. Or maybe…” They build it and we came and found… the way…

Like a game… a game of society… A little… a little… You will look and see what’s possible, what’s not possible. And the more you look at it correctly, the less risk you take.

When you live an art – it doesn’t matter which – completely, inevitably it opens up on other things. And it makes you understand things about life. The right middle ground…

Because excess kills. Therefore… It stays with me…

My grandfather used to say that to me: “You need to use it and not abuse it.”

These are phrases that come back to me all the time. In those moments when I ask myself questions, I tell myself, “But this settles it. I’ve was told.”

You can’t be a jackass all the time. You can’t … You can’t play with your body like that. There’s a moment when you need to follow rules. There are laws of physics. It’s fine to say say, “Yeah, I’m not scared” but you won’t jump 10 metres (33 feet). You can’t jump 10 metres.

So you’re obliged to follow a kind of training… And it’s in training that you can say, “I feel good. I can progress past myself.” And know just how far you are willing to go.

I realize that everything that my father gave to me, and everything that I learned on the ground… I realize now that he didn’t lie to me. That he didn’t say to me, “Here, go on, David. You jump from there. Don’t be afraid. You won’t do anything to yourself. You won’t get hurt. And…”

He would tell me to be careful with what I was doing. He would tell me to not do just anything. And… Look… I owe him everything in the end.

It’s not easy when you have a child, to see him jumping from a height, and to stay stoic like this and say, “Yeah that’s good, but use your legs a bit more, because right now that’s not going to…” and give him advice. But now all that I see is, “Be careful!” or “You’re going to hurt yourself,” or whatever.

I’m under the impression that fear is passed on. We can teach courage, but we also teach a lot of fear. And we’re in a society… today, where everyone is afraid. Everyone double locks their doors. Everyone is stressed. Everyone is… How are we going to trust people like this?

And if today, the new generation learns things where they learn a little to have courage and to have confidence in themselves… These are the future fathers of tomorrow. So these people, when they are 30 or 40 years old, they’ll be 40 years old, but people who will have done Parkour and who will have learned these values. So they will pass on other things to their sons. Other than “But not that! Be careful! Put on your jacket, you’re going to catch a cold. No! Not there you’re going to fall.” Because by doing that, we might as well just lock ourselves in our homes. And then nothing will happen to us. But life happens outside anyways.

So if we have two arms and two legs, it’s for… It’s for… for it’s for climbing to go see what’s going on. It’s not for staying locked up, otherwise we’d just be like trees.

There is no stronger or weaker. What is actually important… You’re strong in the moment when you go right to the end for the cause you are defending. Tomorrow, you get into a fight or there’s a confusion, if your cause is good, you will always win.

Even if physically you lost. The guy physically beats you down and broke your legs, you say “Yeah, you physically beat me down, but I will always have what’s in my head. You can’t get into my head and change what’s in my head.”

If I tell you it’s like this and I’m sure of it, you’ll never move that. And that’s what’s important.

So, now, with Parkour, you can hurt yourself, you can do whatever… but it’s not because… Even me, personally, tomorrow, I could hurt myself doing Parkour… it could always happen… but I will always believe in the same values. Because even animals fall down. They take a spill. They… Except when they fall, it’s not concrete.

It’s really similar to martial arts. In the method of training. In the willingness to drill a movement or a technique. Yeah, you could say it’s tied closely to martial arts. I think it’s really the same philosophy, the same way of… of learning things…

To look at an opponent and to say, “Okay this guy, he’s much bigger, so I need to hit him much lower because this or that,” or “this guy looks pretty fast, so I’m going to try to…”

So by following the opponent, we modify our technique, we know where we need to be careful, whatever, if we going to engage in close combat or fight on the ground.

So when you find yourself in front of an obstacle, it’s the same: “So what’s here? I’m going to grab there. But if I slip, where I can catch myself? Okay there’s this.” Boom boom boom. It teaches you to look.

It’s… It’s really the same… well for me… the same mechanism.

I think the fear will always be there. But there will be a moment when you will have the confidence, that right when you are about to do a jump, you say, “I’ve practiced this 500 times right beside, and in that 500 times I never bailed. Why am I now I worried that I’m going to fall?”

Because fear makes us lose our memory sometimes.

Like someone – I keep coming back to combat – the guy is there in his club. He’s done his drills all year. Hop. He made his display. One day he gets into trouble. There’s a lot of pressure. The other guy isn’t talking to him like his teacher because it doesn’t matter that he does martial arts, and he only wants him to know that if he doesn’t give him his wallet right now, he’s going to get messed up. And the guy, he panics.

You want to say, “Hey! Wake up! What have you been all year? Didn’t you train for this moment?”

“Yeah, but now I don’t know, because I’m paralyzed by…”

“Well you didn’t learn anything then. It’s useless.”

So I see it like that. So the training must be such that when you are in a real situation, you react right away. And the more you’ve trained in a situation that approaches reality, then the day you are confronted by reality, then there is no change. Because reality is when you’re confronted by reality.

That’s all.

It’s when you learn on something soft or whatever, that when all of a sudden… or you take hits in boxing gloves, and you think oh that’s a punch.

No! A punch with bones that go into your skull has nothing to do with that. When your head takes a shock and you no longer know where you are… Well if you’ve never taken a punch in your life, then you’ll never know what it is.

And I believe, there it is, it’s a little like that.

When you engage in something, you know the risks, and you aren’t surprised, because… “Oh yeah, it’s true. I tried Parkour and I twisted my ankle. I’m quitting this sport. It’s really dangerous…” You already knew. You already knew.

A hunter or a whatever, a guy from a tribe, he climbs in the trees. Of course, it’s happened that he’s fallen and torn himself up. But it’s like, “Yeah, but we have to go through there. If not, then we don’t eat. We have to climb in the trees.”

From the moment you leave your house it’s dangerous. When you go into the subway, it’s dangerous. You could be at the edge of your tracks with your briefcase. You think you’re safe. And here comes this guy who is running because his buddy is trying to catch him. He bumps into you and you fall on the tracks. You didn’t want to end up there, but there, it happened… At any point in the day…

So when you understand that… On the day that you’re supposed to go, you go. So right now do your thing, live your life and so stop living in fear: “Oh no! You shouldn’t do that because…” Or this guy, “No, I don’t have a car. I don’t drive because it’s dangerous. There are lots of accidents.” But then one day you’re crossing the street and you get run over. The guy who double locks his door so no one gets in, and there’s a gas leak and the building explodes.

There isn’t really anything you can do to protect yourself from danger or to avoid risk. Life is already a risk. Life is a permanent risk. We take risks all the time when we speak to people. When we engage with someone and trust them, we are taking a risk.

So the trick is to be aware of it and live with it.

People who are like: “Did you see? He’s on the wall of the school?” and everyone goes, “He’s not supposed to be there. Oh la la!” It’s people who are giving the impression thatyou’re doing something wrong.

But you’re like, “What’s the matter?”

If a cat comes along, or a bird sits up there, you’re not going to throw rocks at it. It’s a living thing. It has a heart beating inside it. Why then just because I am person and I can speak, well now you’ll say, “Oh you know you’re not supposed to be there, you know. What are you doing on that wall?”

Well, I don’t know. And you, what are you doing there looking at me? If you turn your head, in fact, and walk straight ahead, you don’t see me. I’m not inconveniencing you. So go on your way… If you were going to get bread, go buy your bread and go home. And… Why are you concerning yourself with my stuff? And when you talk to me and disturb me right when I’m about to jump, I’m at risk of falling because of you. Because you disturbed me to enter into this discussion. I’m concentrating on my thing. I look at you. I jump. Bam! I hurt myself. And then what do you do? Are you going to come and take me to the emergency room? So if it’s not… if what you have to say is not presently relevant to what I’m doing, keep moving.

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At Take Flight we are committed to spreading our vision of hope, inspiration, and movement around the world. That is why we have decided to officially form the Take Flight Street Team by sponsoring individuals and athletes dedicated to promoting Take Flight and our products and vision.

Below we have included more information about the process of becoming a Take Flight sponsored athlete. Please read it carefully, and if you have any questions let us know by posting comments below.

What: Get sponsored by Take Flight and become a member of the Take Flight Street Team.

Who: Becoming a sponsored member of the Take Flight Street Team is for anyone interested in representing our products and promoting our vision of hope, inspiration, and movement as embodied in our slogan Jump, Fly, Dream. As a Parkour based clothing company we intend to focus our sponsorships around Traceurs and Parkour teams. However, we realize that our products, vision, mission, and slogan, extend far beyond only the discipline of Parkour. For this reason we are more than open to adding athletes of other discipline to our sponsored team. And if you simply don’t practice a sport but are interested in being sponsored by us we welcome you to apply as well!

When: The current street team application is for the 2009 physical year. In 2010 we will extend new sponsorship offers to then current members, and release a new sponsorship application for that year. Applications will be accepted year round.

Why: Becoming a Take Flight sponsored athlete will give you unprecedented access to our company and products. A few of the benefits you will receive for becoming a part of the Take Flight Street Team include:

• Discounts on Take Flight apparel and gear.
• Having your profile listed on the Take Flight website.
• Receive insider access to unreleased Take Flight products and gear.
• And much, much more!

How: Fill out the application below (included in PDF format) and send it back to us at streetteam@takeflightapparel.com. Give us two or three weeks to review your application and we will get back to you.

Not enough can be said about this video, it just has to be watched. It is simply the greatest Parkour exposition by David Belle ever filmed and released to the public.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RynewKatl5M

The most anticipated Parkour featuring film in history, B13 – Ultimatum starring David Belle and Cyril Raffaelli, is being released today in theaters around the world. This is just a reminder to everyone to check your local theater listings and do everything you can to be the first to watch the film. You will not be disappointing by David’s performance we can assure you.

To watch the film’s official trailer click here. To see more incredible behind the scenes looks at the film not posted on MisterParkour.com click here.