COLÉGIO “TYTO ALBA”

PROF. JAMIL OCTOBER/ 2013

JUMPING ACROSS CITIES

Forget about expensive gyms, the new sport in cities is free-running. Since it started in a Paris suburb in the 1990s, free running has attracted lots of fans in cities around the world. Instead of walking normally, free-runners jump over or around anything — cars, buildings, trees, or streetlights — in their way.

One of the sport’s inventors told our reporter how freerunning started, “It was boring where we lived, there was nothing for us to do after school. We had done playground games like football and basketball when we were kids but we wanted something new and exciting. We started learning how to jump and run between buildings — and we loved it. Walking is a waste of time. Free-runners have to use their imaginations. Everything — a tree, a streetlight — is part of our outdoor gym. We’re like children because we’ve never stopped playing in the street.”

The sport’s website has lots of rules, for example, don’t break people’s windows, don’t jump on flowerbeds and don’t be rude to people who want you to stop. Safety is also very important. You must start with the easy moves — you have to do thousands of small practice jumps before you try anything difficult. If you make only one mistake, you might hurt yourself badly.

A local person said, “It’s good that young people have something to do. But when they jump off buildings like cats they sometimes frighten other people.”

                                                                                                                      (Headway)

Don’t try this at home -  the basics of free-running

Blind jump a jump where you can’t see the landing spot.

Tic-tac run and put your foot on a small step, go forward and jump over the next thing.

Basic jump run and jump, land on two feet while bending your knees. To finish roll into head-over-heels.

Cat jump run towards a wall, put both hands on the top of the wall and jump through your arms.