Alex Morton: Jumping into the Life of Parkour Page 6

An insight to the up’s and down’s of training the high risk sport

For the general public, parkour is just adrenaline filled athletes jumping across high buildings, putting their lives at risk. But to Alex Morton it is way more than that, “it’s a very simple and primitive activity that allows you to reconnect with a type of movement that humans have generally moved away from using in their physical lives” he said. Thats why since the age of 12, Morton has religously trained to improve his acrobatic skills to excel in the sort despite knowing from an even earlier age that he had a love for the thrills and tricks that come as a part of the package.

With the movement still in its infancy as the 22-yearold started out, there were few English people excelling in the world of parkour. However, like many young people in the UK, Morton had the group, 3run, to look up too. Not only were they British but “they were pioneers of a style of parkour that involved a lot more acrobatics rather than just jumping” he said. The difffernce between his inspirations back in to 2013 to Jannis Schauer and Matthius Mayer, who he looks up to now, not only highlights how he has matured but

By Matthew Buckley

also the development of free running in both its size and impact it has on different people. Along side the development of the sport, are the positive impacts it has had on the parkourists knowledge and understanding of himself. He said, “parkour is more and more becoming a creative persuit and that interests me as I love to find new ways that the human body can move.” For Morton this has been vital as it both improved his skills and reduced the risk of injuries that he faced earlier in his career.

With such a long time in the sport, the Cheshire born athlete has had his fair share of up’s and down’s. The highlights for him all stem from the freedom and lack of structure parkour has. Most recognisably, Morton has found the unique lack of competition criteria or use of appauratus and facility makes free running produce special moments other sports can’s supply. He said, “it allow for the sport and community to grow in so many differert directions meaning everyone experiences the highs together”. His individul highlights have been the opportunites to travel the world doing what he loves with other practitioners who have the similar goals. With the highs, he has also had the lows which began at the early age of 14 due to the repetition of high impact landing causing him long term issues in his knees and lower back. A lack of warming up or cooling down has also attributed to the inability to prevent or recvover from his injuries. However he said, “My training now inolves alot more prehab and rehab activities aswell as mobility work like pilates and yoga.” This is all in a bid to allow his body to improve and strengthen for future training.

Most importantly for Morton, parkour has opened up a multitued of opportunities, both in the sport and outside of it. Whilst training in parkour the man from Great Sutton has had the ability “to maintain a playful and physical lifestyle from a young age” he said. On top of that he has had the experience of travelling the world and interacting with different communities allowing for him to have an early insight into the independance of adulthood. The confidence both in his body and with engaging with new people has oened the door to his career choice of working as a circus performer. He said, “I owe my love for circus to parkour and to the time i spent growing up dedicated to the sport.” Through free running Morton was introduced to performance, using the techniques of parkour but creating theatre and art instead of just practicing it fo its own sake. This led to him becomimg interested in the ability to use our physical bodies as a creative tool which opened his eyes to contemporary circus. This is as, like parkour, there are no real definitions or parameters, subsiquently drawing him into the circus even more. His career plan was also helped by his studies at Queen Mary’s college in Basingstoke followed by a year at Circomedia in Bristol where he was able to move away from home to begin his journey to joining the circus. After his year in Bristol, Morton began his University degree at The National Centre for Circus Arts in London. This is where he was able to use his skills in parkour and transfer them to his choice of degree and future career.

With parkour continuing to grow year by year, the 22-year-old can only see it going in a positive direction. He said “The sport is gaining in popularity and therefore is also gaining in commerialisation. For this reason I see parkour growing in two quite different directions at the same time.” He expects that there will be a side to free running that becomes very mainstream and coperate, ultimatelty resulting in forms of competition. The other side to the sport will be the athletes who reject competition and offcialisation, so stick to using parkour purely as a creative movement practice. With both them already in action he said “in the future i see them growing larger and becoming more well established versions of what they are today”. Morton himself is very much on the side of orginality where there is much less commercialisation in the sport but instead sticks to its roots of no competition. He, like many other free runners, grew up with sport loving it for its simplicity and freedom so for that side of the community there is only one way to continue enjoying and expressing themselves through the way they train. He stated, “for myself, i wont get involved in the competitions, but i can understand there is a pull to try and win them especially for the younger generations just starting out in the sport”. For Morton parkour has and will always be about how he can enjoy himself.