Feature: Street sport Parkour attracts more young Vietnamese

Among street sports that attract many young people in Vietnam, Parkour is seen as a newcomer, yet its popularity has already expanded rapidly, especially in big cities such as its capital Hanoi and southern Ho Chi Minh (HCM) City.

Parkour is a blend of sports, art, kung-fu and performance dance, which can be described as moving over, under, around, and through obstacles that exits naturally in the urban environment, elegantly, and with flair and efficiency.

A form of free running, Parkour is a holistic training discipline using flexible movements that have been developed from training on military obstacle courses.

Practitioners train how to move from one place to another in the most efficient way possible by using their body and the surroundings for propulsion, with the focus being on maintaining as much momentum as possible while still remaining safe.

First appearing in Vietnam in 2006, young Vietnamese players learned the sport through clips on the Internet. To date, there are many Parkour clubs across the country, but mostly in Hanoi and HCM City.

In Hanoi, groups of Parkour practitioners normally gather in the Thong Nhat Park, or on the campus of the University of Science and Technology, while in HCM City they practice at Le Thi Rieng Park in District 10.

According to Pham Viet Trung, one of the leaders of "Joker," a famous Parkour club in Hanoi, which boasts about 50 members, and one of the country's pioneering Parkour practitioners, Asians and Vietnamese people in particular, did not know much about the sport until recently.

"Actually Vietnamese Parkour players have earned a certain reputation among their counterparts in other countries and Parkour powers, such as France and Britain," Trung told Xinhua, adding that the sport focuses more on flexibility, agility and creativity, rather than physical strength.

Trung said Parkour players can be of different ages, but mostly young men, who should each have a good pair of shoes and a comfortable outfit. They can practice the sport alone or with friends, and perform such moves as speed vaults, obstacle running, climbing, swinging, vaulting, jumping, rolling, and quadrupedal movements.

While Parkour's young lovers said it helps them train to overcome fears and shyness, as well as keeping them fit and healthy, their parents sometimes see the sport dangerous and risky.

Nguyen Khanh, 65, a retired worker in Hanoi, said he felt worried about his son's Parkour hobby.

"My son has practiced the sport for more than two years mainly during the weekends with his friends in the park near my house. It 's true that he has become stronger physically, but he also faced several injuries, but luckily enough they were not all so serious, " the father said, adding that he only feels at ease when his 16- year-old son returns home safely.

Actually, one of the sport's utmost requirements is to ensure the player's safety, as it was originally designed to help soldiers steer clear from danger.

Le Son, a 20-year-old experienced Parkour practitioner, said that the local Parkour community wants to develop the sport into a street art rather than a risky sport.

"Parkour needs greater investment, better organization and coaching, along with more solid theoretical background, if we want to expand it further in society," Son told Xinhua, adding that most Parkour players train by copying clips from the Internet, or they share personal experience with one another, and collectively try to perfect moves that the individual or group has been struggling with.

Launched in France, primarily by Raymond Belle, David Belle, and Sbastien Foucan during the late 1980s, Parkour became popular in the late 1990s and 2000s through movies, documentaries and advertisements featuring those practitioners. Endi