World Parkour

In October 2007, as the first Red Bull Art Of Motion was drawing to a close, and first world champion Ryan Doyle was lying in a hospital bed in Vienna with a shattered leg, the WFPF was born. For the previous year and a half, the yet to be named organization had been the brainchild of three American guys, Victor Bevine and David Thompson, who between them had spent over twenty years working with at-risk inner-city youth, and Francis Lyons, six-time Emmy Award-winning producer of MTV’s hit show MADE, which for years had been making the most unlikely kids’ dreams come true. The three men experienced quite a learning curve as they worked to understand the true nature of Parkour beyond the thrills and spills, to get some kind of concept of this phenomenon that had totally captured their imaginations.

In the end, though, it was the hard-won trust and commitment of the founding athletes, Ryan Doyle, Daniel Ilabaca, Tim “Livewire” Shieff, Pip Andersen, Phil Doyle and Ben Jenkin from the U.K., Daniel Arroyo, Michael Turner and King David from the U.S., Oleg Vorslav, the “Russian Climber”, from Latvia, that made the WFPF possible. These young men, all of them extraordinary athletes and amazing human beings, came together around the idea that they could more effectively and positively influence the direction of Parkour’s growth from “the inside”, rather than remaining underground and opposed to all commercial development. For their part, Bevine, Thompson, and Lyons listened attentively to the athletes, as well as countless freerunners from around the world, with the goal of doing something that had not been done before; looking beyond the conflicts in the community to identify shared values and support the growth of the Parkour movement worldwide.

The years following were filled with countless late-night phone calls, many trips across the Atlantic and the U.S., plans made and principles defended, minor disagreements and not a few major disappointments.

MTV’s “ULTIMATE PARKOUR CHALLENGE”

In February 2009, after months of creative negotiations, MTV gave WFPF the go-ahead for a one-hour special to introduce Parkour to the mainstream American audience. We were as worried as we were excited. Would MTV get it? Okay, it was a competition, and we knew there were a lot of people who would hate it on principal, no matter what. But what kind of a competition would it be? Would they try to turn it into AMERICAN GLADIATOR or would it be more like NINJA WARRIOR? Would the message of Parkour have a chance in the middle of all the hype? Under intense pressure, we stood firm in our commitment to represent Parkour authentically and responsibly. Eight freerunners were chosen to appear in the pilot, Ryan Doyle, Daniel Ilabaca, Michael Turner, King David, Tim “Livewire” Shieff, Brian Orosco, Daniel Arroyo, and Pip Andersen. Tensions were running high, but glorious “yes” triumphed over faithless “no”, and the guys boarded planes with nothing to lean on but their favorite Parkour shoes and a whole lot of trust. And MTV got it. Yes, you heard right. Not the first day, maybe, or the second, but as the week went by, and the athletes practiced Parkour just like they always do, everyone was watching everyone else riding a giant learning curve. And everyone was excited that they were involved in something totally new, something that might just make a difference. And audiences liked it too! We got emails from people all over the world, some who’d been sending us hate mail before the show premiered, telling us how we’d gotten it right. On the strength of that response, MTV gave the green light for a six episode summer series in 2010, adding Ben Jenkin and Oleg Vorlav to the line-up of athletes.

The KO Parkour Shoe, AOM and MTV’s “Made”

The show was an awesome, though not always a smooth experience. In the meantime, WFPF began working on other initiatives, first of which was providing freerunners with a good inexpensive Parkour shoe designed by and for the athletes themselves. And thus, the KO was born! Next, when Red Bull came to the U.S. to expand their Art of Motion franchise, WFPF partnered with them for the Tampa, Boston and Detroit AOM’s, introducing such innovations as community jams on the course and a Wildcard Round to give a chance to unknown up and coming freerunners. Always looking for new ways to expand awareness, WFPF once again partnered with MTV, showcasing the Detroit Art of Motion on co-founder Lyons’ hit series, MADE with WFPF elite athlete Daniel Arroyo as the “Made” coach.