This article is a part of the Public Parkour Park Roadmap Series
When local government begins looking at building a new park or public space, they always start with research. They look to community surveys, public meetings and engagement events, census data, and reports from park managers and steering committees in order to figure out if there is actually a need for new spaces, what to fund, and where it should go. Project proposals that have the greatest public reach have higher value and greater chance of success.
To assess and understand the need in your community for a new park space you should gather information on the larger Movement Market. The Movement Market is a group of users that participate in ‘alternative athletics‘ which include fitness-based, outdoor, and individual sports that tend to emphasize collaboration, community, and personal creativity over head-to-head competition.
There are many reasons this research step is invaluable:
In this article I have collected some initial information and data that can help you more fully answer the question of ‘who is my park for?’.
- Section 1 defines the Movement Market and the types of sports and activity groups that should be taken into consideration when looking at direct user groups.
- Section 2 collects some parkour-specific data on participation as well as for the larger collection of related athletics, with brief notes on gender, age, and income.
- Section 3 provides data on the decline of team and racquet sport participation and
- Section 4 looks at other important trends indicating industry growth such as public investment and partnerships, the growth of gyms, and governance.
Finally, I writing from an American perspective but a lot of this information and approach can be translated to other communities.
1: What are Alternative Athletics
Athletic Diversity
Parkour is just one branch of the family of Alternative Athletics — a grouping of sports that include a number of different fitness based sports, individual sports, and outdoor sports.
Closest related to parkour are fitness and outdoor industries such as Ninja Warrior and obstacle course race training, Movnat and ‘Movement Culture’ activities, buildering, bouldering, adult gymnastics, capoeria, calisthenics, and tricking.
Additional complementary disciplines that share some elements of skill, culture, or philosophy include breakdancing, slacklining, rock climbing, CrossFit, weight lifting, circus arts, modern dance, and martial arts.
(I am *explicitly excluding* skateboarding, which has such significant differences in risk level, skills, and relationship to the environment that lumping it together with parkour can potentially harm project success and confuse your audience.)
Most cities will have gyms, non-profit organizations, or informal communities around alternative movement practices. Climbing and parkour gyms, crossfit boxes, dance and martial art studios, etc. These communities often are deeply driven by collaboration and partnership and would likely be excited to connect with your project.
Key Take Away: Your park doesn’t just serve parkour but a larger ‘Movement Market’ and all of their subsequent students and participants — a number that can be sizable!
TIP: Start your research process by indexing the different communities, facilities, and organizations in your town or city. Reach out and try to collect data on membership and participation rates, as well as demographic information if possible (age ranges).
Sport-Sampling Behaviors
The average Alternative Athlete will actively engage in cross training and sport sampling. I lead a small community survey of parkour and climbing practitioners (n=85) and 100% of practitioners indicated they participated in at least one or more of the above activities outside of their primary sport. Furthermore, most gym facilities offer programs, space, or time for the practice of multiple Alternative Athletics.
Key Takeaway: Spaces for parkour and these alternative athletic practices can be both simple and multi-functional, and serve communities even if not explicitly designed for. High value / impact.
2: Participation Rates & Demographics
How many people are participating and what do they look like?
Participation In Parkour
There is very little large scale data collection on participation in parkour worldwide. However, Sport England has conducted an Active Lives Survey in the United Kingdom, providing insight into sports participation, including parkour!
Additionally, the Aspen Institute worked with King County, Washington to do a State of Play in 2018. In this study Youth said that they were most interested in trying non-traditional sports which included parkour, martial arts, and rockclimbing! Specifically 25% of respondents indicated their interest in trying parkour.
The United States Parkour Association is also working on an industry study for the US, to go live in 2020 with results in late 2020 /early 2021. At that time I will update this article with more expansive demographic information. If you are interested in contributing data, please contact me at Caitlin@ParkourVisions.org to be included.
Key Takeaway: Interest in parkour is growing, as well as the larger interest in ‘lifestyle’ sports, especially in urban communities. (And as noted earlier, increase in parkour participation will likely drive increased participation in other types of alternative athletics).
In Fitness-Based / Outdoor Sports
When looking to represent potential participation interest to local government, looking at larger fitness statistics can really help you build a far stronger case. According to the 2019 Physical Activity Council Participation Report:
Over 72% of Americans age 6+ reported in engaging in some form of physical activity on a weekly basis–a number that continues to rise every year. This is reflecting a rising interest in physical health and activity. Aspen Institute also discovered that half of all vigorous exercise occurs in parks (link).
There has been a 5%-6% increase in Outdoor and Fitness-based sport participation, with 66% of individuals age 6+ reporting participation in fitness based sports, and 59% in outdoor sports (which parkour would fall into). Alternative Athletics are primarily composed of Outdoor and Fitness-based sports.
*COMPARE THIS TO: only 22.6 % of the population reporting participation in Team sports (soccer, basketball, football, etc) and 13% in racquet sports (tennis, . This statistic is PARTICULARLY valuable since many governments have spent huge amounts of money on providing facilities and fields for racquet and team sports for this small sampling of the population and very little for fitness sport activity such as outdoor fitness parks.
Key Takeaway: Team sports are on the decline while fitness-based and outdoor sports are on the rise. Participation in fitness-based and outdoor sports significantly out-weighs participation in team and racquet sports. Most cities provide dedicated spaces for team and racquet sports yet there are limited dedicated spaces for the practice of fitness-based and outdoor sports (outside of hiking and cycling trails). Outdoor parkour and adult play spaces / fitness parks can service larger populations.
Income Impact on General Fitness Participation
Income is also strongly correlated with inactivity. The lower the income, the more likely for inactivity. Participation is blocked by cost of participation — field fees, race entrance fees, gym costs, etc. Outdoor and Fitness-based sports report the highest levels of participation among low income communities. (Aspen Institute State of Play 2018)
Key Takeaway: Having free and easily accessible public spaces for general fitness could contribute to increasing participation among these vulnerable populations.
Gender & Age in Parkour
Alternative Athletics tend to be ‘Life-style’ and Life-Time Sports, promoting community over competitive achievement, and creating space for participation beyond youth.
AGE
Parkour Visions, a Seattle based non-profit, has served students from 3 – 72, with our largest demographic being youth ages 7-12. Around the tween-teen age, students transition into community participation. There also is an active adult community that is independently self organizing. This is comparable to other cities and communities.
PK Move and Parkour Dance Company have served students into their 70s and 80s. At the annual Art of Retreat Conference, we have had participants from their 20s – 60s . At the Annual Womens Gathering, we have had participants from 12 – 60s.
Through an informal survey in Feb 2020 through community channels, just a quick look:
| Country/State | Youngest | Oldest |
| UK | 6 | 60 |
| UK | 5 | 68 |
| UK | 5 | 60 |
| Denmark | 9 | 19 |
| Belgium | 8 | 47 |
| Denmark | 22 | 72 |
| AUS | 3 | 65 |
| WA, USA | 3 | 72 |
| CT, USA* Youth Programs | 4 | 19 |
| DC, USA | 4 | 82 |
| UT, USA | 6 | 50 |
| PA, USA | 3 | ~50s |
| CA, USA | 68 | |
| PA, USA | 3 | ~60s |
| WA, USA | 5 | 51 |
| NY, USA | 5 | 50 |
| Argentina | 3 | 35 |
| France | 6 | 75 |
GENDER
Additionally, while practice has historically been dominated by men, the Sport England study shows that when provided with a degree of organization, governance, and instruction, near comparable participation rates are achievable. (55k-M to 50k-F split!)
Key Takeaway: Parkour is age diverse and capable of attracting near equal participation by genders.
TIP: Know Your Numbers
Most states collect and track location specific data on physical activity that could be valuable to making your case for your particular state or community project. For example, in 2019 the Aspen Institute completed a study for King County (Seattle) that revealed that youth are indicating that Parkour is one of the top sports they want to try! The Center for Disease Control and Prevention, The Physical Activity Council, The US Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Aspen Institute Sports and Society Division are great places to start, as well as your states Department of Health reports.
3: Decline of Team Participation
Did you know that according to a youth sports participation survey, 62% of kids quit organized team sports by age 11? Furthermore In 2018, only 38% of kids ages 6 to 12 played team sports on a regular basis, down from 45% in 2001.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Harvard School of Public Health also discovered that although almost three in four adults played sports when they were younger (73%), only one in four (25%) continue to play sports as adults. (Again, juxtaposed against the increase in participation in generalized fitness-based and outdoor sports)
4: Parkour Industry Evolution
Gym expansion, program reach, and the establishment of governance structures
PUBLIC FUNDING & PARTNERSHIPS
Parkour has continued to rise out of obscurity, with organizations securing partnerships and public funding for programs across the states. While there are many more examples, just a few include:
MORE ON GOVERNANCE
As of 2020 there are at least 28 national governing bodies internationally and 3 international world governing bodies vying for authority. In the United States, the United States Parkour Association formed as a NGB in 2018 and began on-boarding members officially in late 2019.
GYMS & PROGRAMMING
As of October 2019, there are at least 40 states in the US with dedicated (primary focus) parkour facilities and communities and 27 states with affiliated ninja gyms in the United States, with the highest concentration of establishments in New York, California, Texas, and Colorado.
There are at least 4 parkour non-profit organizations with established records and activity (1,2,3,4), dozens of national and regional annual events drawing between 50-250 participants, and an international industry leadership and education conference directly reaching over 50 organizations and 35 countries since 2015.
The Federation of International Gymnastics recently (and controversially) claimed ownership of parkour and is encouraging national gymnastics organizations to establish and field US parkour teams in 2020. There are also at least a hundred gymnastics facilities offering some small scale form of parkour, obstacle course, or ninja programming across the majority of the US, recognizing its ability to draw in male participation and increase revenue. It is safe to project the continued growth of parkour participation as it gains greater mainstream awareness.
In a similar vein, there has been an explosion of parkour competition platforms. The US has the West Coast Parkour Championships, fielding 8 competitions in 8 different cities in 2020, and the Midwest Parkour League, fielding 10 competitions in 9 cities and 5 states. The Sport Parkour League fields 7 competitions in Canada and the US. Finally, there is the highly controversial ‘world parkour championships’ being organized by F.I.G.
Recap & What You Need To Do
When advocating for a park project, one of the best things you can do to support the success of the project is to build and demonstrate community support. Your community is bigger than just parkour — it is the whole movement market.