Parkour: Sport or Not, According to the Traditional Definition?

Below you will find a video featuring parkour. The term parkour came from parcours du combattant, an obstacle course used to train soldiers of the French military (What is parkour, n.d.). David Belle developed the practice of parkour out of lessons from his father's military experience combined with his grandfather's teachings of Georges Hébert's Natural Method (Parkour History, n.d.).

Video 2.1: David Belle SpeedAirMan.

 

So, is parkour a sport, according to the traditional definition? Remember Coakley's (2004) definition of sport is, "Sports are institutionalized competitive activities that involve vigorous physical exertion or the use of relatively complex physical skills by participants motivated by internal and external rewards." (p. 21)

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References

Coakley, J. (2004). What are sports? In Sports in society: Issues and controversies (pp. 21–29). Boston: McGraw-Hill.

What is parkour? (n.d.). In Parkourpedia. Retrieved September 5, 2013, from http://parkourpedia.com/about/what-is-parkour

Parkour History. (n.d.). Retrieved September 5, 2013, from http://www.parkourtrain.net/parkour-history