One of the most difficult phases in any athlete or artists’ life is the time when injuries occur. I have had two surgeries in the last four years. One for my ACL and one for my foot when it had multiple dislocations and small bone fractures. These have been testing times for someone for who training is a part of life. I like to train when I need to think, I train when I am happy, I train to get away from things. But injuries make me re-evaluate the difference between overcoming the injury and bruteforcing my training or giving it the time needed for recovery and then getting back to 100%.
With my knee surgery It took me a year before I could do a proper jump again. With my foot it looks like it will take longer.
At this time, I had to depend on my team mates, therapists, friends and family to support. It was the goodwill and kindness of many people that helped me get through a difficult time in life. I am eternally grateful and thankful for that.
Parkour is generally considered a solitary sport where people who want to excel by themselves gravitate towards. But it is the community that helps one grow irrespective of individual talent or skill. Working with people and finding the resources to support them in training and growth is what has created this community that I could fall back on.
The main take away from this experience is the true essence of parkour. I had to find it within myself to extend my comfort zone to train and support everyone around me without burning out. A lot of times helping others is a lot easier than helping ourselves. But in true parkour fashion, strengthening ourselves is what will give us the capacity to train and help others.
Parkour has always been about community. You only have to take a quick peek at the history of the Yamakasi (or even just watch the movie), to know that this is the case. Quotes like “be strong to be useful” are meant to remind people about this. I think the original conceptualisation of Parkour was quite idealistic, but had meaning beyond just doing something to be able to claim that one had done it, or to record a video and show it to the world.
Sometimes idealism is necessary to bring ideas and possibilities into our reality.