Big island morning, 7:30am. I wake up to the so no pleasant sound of the phone's alarm. Immediately being overshadow by a much better sighting, as I slowly zipper the front of my tent down, the foot of the mountain, guarded by the trees. It is a chilly morning, I could still hear so many different type of birds. The place so quiet, the air so fresh. We get on our way to our destination. Trees to my left, trees to my right. Deserted roads and a nicely open sky. After a 40mins ride we arrive to Hilo. Driving around as we explore the area. Light breakfast and a desire for a quick pit stop led us to the parking lot of UH Hilo. Casually the same spot where I would meet Chiemi, active member of the Big Island Parkour community of Hawaii.
We meet and greet. A quick exchange of words and we get on our way for a short tour of the surroundings. I let my vision and creativity take over and my desire to move lead the way. Stairs, ledges. Walls and rails. Drive ways, trees.... so many opportunities. Safety assessment comes to mind. I shake this and that, look at people traffic and as a security figure approaches, Chiemi reassures me they are all very open and easy going. My green light to get the day started.
Sitting at a distance from the meeting spot, I see people arriving as I write down the notes I ended up never looking at again. 14 people present, some move on the spot, some jump here and there. I see smiles, excited faces.
A short introduction to break the ice. My heart beats. Yet I feel confident.
We start with a short run to the spot I had in mind. Stairs.... oh the fun they can be!
QM's, plyos and stretches. Movement under an awaking sun.
I nice warm up that awaken the playful in us.
And there we have it, a set of three rows of 8 steps each. Up and down runs, leaps, hops and crawls. Sun, sweat, moans and grunts. The dirt on our hands witness of out time spent. We drill the area for about 45 mins. Stances while small talk here and there. Angles, touch. What, why's and how's. I can see pleasure and pain on their faces. Eagerness to push themselves.
A short brake to lead to other drills. Balance, touch, sensitivity. A beautiful set of rails served us for what ended up being a collective recreation of the ideas in our minds. Inspired by their movement, we came up with some drills I had never tried before. Some that I hope I can share with many of you, reading this, some time.
A last break, water snacks, socializing. Everyone shares, some rest, some eat. Everyone interacts. It was also my opportunity to demonstrate other simple drills for future session.
We talk, walk and cat crawl to the next spot. My body feel cooled down. Time for a little bit more.
I lead an upper body session. On the spot crawls, planks and some of my very favorite variety of press ups. Some sweet and the heart pumping nicely, we stretch a bit more and head towards the drive way where we would execute footing and stride drills.
I can see the movement slowing down, it had been about 3 hrs since we started. Yet, I still see people attentive and smiling. A tired body and an awaken spirit.
As we cool down and stretch with some light yoga, the Q&A session gets started. A happily shared what I had been learning during all my time of training. My recent experiences. Hoping to only to awaken their curiosity, share important information about training. Inspire minds that will thirst for more.
It was my first time traveling outside my "home turf" to teach parkour and share my thoughts. Something that may lead to the next step on my evolution as a coach. I enjoyed this experience very much, I believe it to have left me with a bigger desire to share as well as many lessons and inspiring ideas. I'm hoping many other experience like this come my way for it is my pleasure to share whatever it I know that can motivates others to move, explore and play.
I thank all of you who participated and brought with you to the day something that could have not been the same with you.
I'm sure our paths will cross again.
Mahalo Nui Loa Chiemi for organizing the event.
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