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By William Shaw
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Words William Shaw
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His parents don’t have a clue
The boardwalk, near the Gemini Beach Bar, Brighton beach
Chris stands, arms outstretched, knees bent, ready to spring. He squints in concentration, winding himself up into the moment.
Other traceurs stand waiting, watching. Heads at nearby tables turn. A couple pushing a buggy stop, wondering what he’s doing there, shirtless, muscled, swaying.
Every Saturday morning they come to Seafront Freestyle, the biggest parkour jam on the coast. Anyone can join in. This morning they met up at suicide wall, just past Burger King.
When Chris first saw the BBC advert featuring David Belle vaulting over rooftops it was electrifying. Wow. That’s what we’ve been doing! Ever since Chris was little, he and his mates from Peacehaven had been jumping up off playground equipment, walls and railings. Now there was a word for it, parkour. It is about getting from A to B as efficiently, as gracefully as possible – not letting obstacles stand in your way.
That’s when it took off. Three traceurs from Brighton started Seafront Freestyle over a year ago. There were only a handful of them then. Now it’s, like, thirty people. You don’t need equipment. They use what they find, doing kongs over railings, tic-tacs along the side of walls, and the bone-saving parkour roll when they hit ground. Sometimes there’ll be couple of hundred people watching them.
It makes Chris feel so good. He practices every day after work – at work too, swinging off the scaffolding when his boss on the building site isn’t looking. His parents don’t have a clue. "You’re nuts, all that jumping off buildings."
After the jam, the traceurs make their way down the seafront, just doing moves, backflips, front flips, handstands, hanging out, showing off.
Ready now, Chris springs into the air, legs jerking apart, the momentum of his limbs spinning his body round in a full circle before he lands with a crunch on the shingle.
Yes!
That’s the first time in his life he’s ever managed a 360 degree front flip. You know you’re good when you can do something like that.
He moves back to the boardwalk to see if he can do it again.