 |
|
| Zachary Cohn,
a third year
multidiciplinary
studies
major, practices
'precisions'
between rocks
outside of the
Field House. |
| Mathew Woyak |
Imagine being chased by a group of big mob goons because you
owe their boss money. You’d do anything to get away: Jump
over fences, slide down railings, and maybe even leap off a
building. If you were trained in parkour, your chance of getting
away would have grown exponentially. Fortunately, RIT has
its own group of individuals who have dedicated their time to
educate interested students in the art that is parkour.
“[It’s] all about moving from one point to another as quickly
and efficiently as possible, and efficient can be defined as
very fast or very safe depending upon the specifics of the
situation,” explained Zachary Cohn, a third year Multidisciplinary
Studies major with a concentration in Business Management
and Computer Management and founding member
of RIT’s unofficial Parkour Club. One can run, jump, vault, or
even crawl in order to overcome a certain obstacle. The club
won’t be leaping off buildings anytime soon, however. The
RIT’s Parkour Club emphasizes safety. “The very first day, if
someone’s new, we practice how to jump and land, not off
of a picnic table, big step, or a wall, but from the ground,”
said Cohn.
This issue of safety was brought up when the club was first
denied recognition. “[When] I met with the Senate, they pulled a bunch
of YouTube videos [showcasing] dumb people jumping off tall buildings,
and that’s not what parkour is about. Unfotunately, they label it parkour,
so we’re constantly trying to address [that],” said Cohn.
Although the Parkour Club has been denied acknowledgment by Student
Government time and time again, Cohn has decided to continue to fight
and has restarted the process to appeal the decision. “If we end up getting
denied, we’ll keep training and it’s not that big of a deal. But I really hope
we can get acknowledged because I feel like we can spread parkour much
more effectively with RIT’s support and help,” added Cohn.
In the meantime, Cohn and his colleagues will continue to meet every
Thursday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m. in the playground behind RIT’s
Margaret’s House as the only parkour club in the upstate New York area.
In addition, they will be teaching parkour to children between the ages
of eight and fifteen at Zenith Gymnastics.
For more information, check out http://www.rochesterparkour.com or check out the
Parkour - RIT Chapter Facebook group.
