Event Write Up: Sunday 7th March

I woke up at 9:15am on Sunday 7th March to the piercing sound of my alarm clock. After rubbing my eyes and allowing myself to get to grips with the situation, I realised what today was and suddenly pulled the window blinds out of the way so I could see what the weather was like: dry - good; sunny - very good. It would seem we had been blessed with the weather that day - the sun was shining and it was was quite warm, the best weather in a while following the recent snow and rain.

By 9:45am I was fully awake and had just showered. I indulged in some breakfast... 4 weetabix, 75g of Muesli and 350ml of milk... all weighed and measured - a nice 113g of carbs, 20g of protein and 8g of fat. Perfect start to the day. Sam arrived shortly after at just gone 10am as I was cooking rice (after weighing it, of course) ready for the bus journey from Wigston to town.

We were on the bus at 10:55am, stopping outside the DMU at 11:10am. We walked over to Phoenix to find 2 guys already waiting, 50 minutes before the meeting time! Damn, I like eagerness :) Over the next 50 minutes, another 30 or so people turned up - all eager and ready to train, everybody creating a fantastic atmosphere.

We began shortly after 12pm with Dan leading the warm up which everybody seemed to find challenging but also fun, everybody united in a circle, smiles on their faces performing the exercises. Following the warm up we split into 2 groups: a beginner's workshop group and a group for people with experience who just wanted to train. The beginners group split into 2 workshops, each led by Tim and Dan - they headed off round to the back of the Phoenix, whilst the training group, led by Andeh, stayed at the front.

The two workshops shared two smaller training locations round the back with both working on routes involving vaults, underbars and jumps and also precision - including a fun precision game for Tim's group, which I'm sure they'll all recall!! The workshops were based upon the fundamental movements of Parkour - developing these movements correctly aswell as using them in combinations and routes. Everybody had a great attitude and all helped each other and congratulated each other - a fantastic atmosphere indeed!

I walked about between the workshops, helping out where necessary, and it was great to see how far the LPA and Parkour in Leicester has develloped over the past year. We have moved from a pretty much underground group of practitioners to teaching for Pedestrian Youth Arts, holding our first outdoor beginner's session and now our first monthly community session - along with a few other projects in the pipeline, things are shaping up and it's all looking very positive for Parkour in Leicester!

After Phoenix, we moved on to the empty Market in the city centre where we took a break from the workshops and training and thought it was time for a game. TAG! (Or Tig...) Two people were on and, obviously, had to catch other people. The game combined with the location provided fantastic opportunity for everybody to utilise their new skills and knowledge and proved to be great fun! With 30 seconds of the game remaining, it was decided that the two people on in the end would have to perform 50 push ups - either all at once or split into sets - either way, the race was on now!

The game ended with Ronil and our own LPA instructor Sam on. They each performed 50 push ups, much to their enjoyment! ;)

Our final location for the day was at DMU - before we posed for a group photo under a rather large wall!

The workshops had finished and now the session was all about everybody training (or jamming) freely, getting to know each other more and having fun! It was great to see so many people moving and having fun... everybody helping each other, giving advice and pushing themselves.

After a couple of hours here, we finished with a warm down. The weather was still beautiful as the sun shined with not a cloud in sight - we had certainly been blessed, not just in terms of weather, but also with the people and the atmosphere, what a perfect start to many monthly events!

With well over 30 people in attendance, ranging in age, gender and experience, it was a fantastic day! Everybody trained hard, learnt new skills and had great fun!

Thank you to everyone who made the event as great as it was! Well done to everybody too for all of the hardwork and for bringing such a great attitude!

Visit our forum at http://leicesterparkour.com for more information on the next event which will be in April!

-Joe

P.s. A video from local community reporter John Coster reporting on the Phoenix workshops: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xc4K-yb6mqY