Austintown teens’ passion for parkour lets nothing get in way

By Melinda Gray

TheNewsOutlet.org

A teen boy runs into

view from the far side of the gym. He plants his foot solidly on the wall and flips himself over backward, landing safely on a mat.

Two more teen boys flip and fling themselves into a foam pit as parents watch.

Austintown residents Nate Keeling and Jordan McGee say You Tube videos first interested them in the sport known as parkour.

Parkour, sometimes called free running, means using the obstacles in one’s path to find a quicker, more efficient way through a landscape, be it urban or rural. Conceptualized in France, it gained international popularity over the last eight years via You Tube videos.

The teens attend open gym at Ohio Gymnastics Institute in Austintown to learn more about a sport, and then they hit the streets.

“We take what we practice here and do it outside,” said Keeling. Though, he says, there are very limited outdoor options to applying what they’ve learned.

Though countries such as the United Kingdom and Sweden are more used to and more lenient to the kids using the urban setting for fun, it’s not so accommodating here, yet.

Valley young people trying to “run” on the YSU campus are usually met with a police warning.

“They just tell us that we can’t do it there because if we get hurt, it would be their fault,” McGee said.

The Youngstown police are less strict, McGee added. “We basically try to ‘trick’ off of everything in sight.”

He said the police usually watch them for a short time and then move on.

Kathy McGee says that her son learning parkour is wonderful and exciting.

“I love it. It’s a great outlet for him, and very positive.”

OGI has open gym Friday and Sunday evenings. Ron Ferris, trainer and son of owner Ron Ferris Sr., said they are considering specialized parkour classes.

“We would set up the obstacles and practice the basic movements,” he said.

Parkour is commonly an underground activity, explaining why accident and injury statistics are almost nonexistent.

Kathy McGee said that she is not impervious to fear for her son’s safety. She finds her heart skips a beat when he jumps from a roof.

Parkour has been the confirmed cause of death for a 14-year-old Latvian boy who fell while trying to jump from one roof to another. A Sacramento teen’s deadly fall is being investigated as a parkour-related death.

Locally, doctors said they have not yet seen any parkour-related injuries. But participants should be careful, warns one doctor, to practice the basics and build strength before jumping from one roof to another.

“A young person feels invincible,” said Dr. James Brodell, a Warren orthopedic surgeon. “They feel they can’t get hurt.”

The NewsOutlet is a joint media venture by student and professional journalists and is a collaboration of Youngstown State University, WYSU radio and The Vindicator.