Parkour, skateboarding and breaking – what are they all about?

Sky Brown won bronze at the Olympics in 2020 for skateboarding

Reporting for Sky Sports News, former England Rugby International Heather Fisher learns more about parkour, and the Olympic sports of skateboarding and breaking.

They are rapidly popular and now Olympic sports – have you wanted to know more about breaking (also known as breakdancing) and skateboarding?

The streets sports are practised by thousands of people across the UK. To find out more, former England Rugby International Heather Fisher met some experts to have a go…

Skateboarding

From the streets to the Olympics, Skateboarding made its debut at the 2020 summer games in Tokyo, but originated from humble beginnings in California during the 1950s when surfers wanted to pass time when the waves were flat.

Riders mainly stand on a flat wooden board with wheels, and with a combination of momentum, balance and footwork, perform tricks.

Entering its second time in the Olympics, the world’s greatest skateboarders will go head-to-head in two disciplines: Park and Street. Athletes must carry out their most impressive skills and to find out how all this works. Sky Sports News sent Heather Fisher to meet Skateboarding star Joshua Mayson.

“When people put Olympics and Skateboarding together, that’s pretty sick right…?! But what has it done for the sport overall? Fisher asks.

Mayson says: “It’s set it off on a whole new trajectory, I guess. One of the biggest things I think right now especially in Olympic skateboarding is that is has appealed to the masses on such a level that kids get introduced to it much younger and you can see it as the younger generation is quite frankly dominating competition skateboarding.”

At the age of 13, Sky Brown became Great Britain’s youngest Olympic medal winner of all time when she won park bronze at the Tokyo games.

Great Britain’s Sky Brown during the Women’s Park at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

“Skateboarding seems pretty gender neutral?” Fisher asks. Mason feels the sport has changed and is inclusive.

He says: “It’s always been like that in the scene I would say from what I’ve grown up with. But it just wasn’t appealing to females in a bigger way, but it was definitely always accepting of any gender that wanted to be involved in it really.”

For more information on how to get involved with Skateboarding, please visit https://skateboardgb.org/

Breaking set to make its Olympic debut

Breaking also called b-boying, b-girling or breakdancing, made its way to the scene in the United States. Tied to hip-hop culture, it is characterised by body movements, stylised footwork and key roles played by the MC and DJs during battles.

The sport is making its debut this summer at the Paris Olympics. The competitions are comprised of two events, one for men and one for women, where 16 B-Boys and 16 B-Girls will go face to face in solo battles.

Athletes are expected to use a combination of power moves, such as freezes and windmills. Essentially, they will need to improvise dance moves to the beat of the DJ’s tracks and will then be judged on their ability.

Breaking will make its debut at this summer’s Olympics in Paris

Heather Fisher met Olympic hopeful, professional dancer and breaker Roxanne Milliner also known as B-Girl Roxy.

“I think people are going to be seriously blown away when they see what it has turned into”, says Roxy.

“It’s really, really crazy especially the level since it’s been announced into the Olympics. Now that there’s been loads of funding given to the breakers all around the world, it’s literally mind-blowing seeing the difference in level now that people can focus fully on breaking only.”

For more information about breaking and where you can try it safely please visit – https://breakinggb.org/

What is parkour all about?

How much do you know about the sport of parkour? Also known as free running, it was originally founded in the 1980s in France. The origin of the sport is widely attributed to a group of nine individuals who named themselves ‘Yamakasi’.

Individuals train to move freely through any terrain using only their body, such as running, jumping. Although parkour is currently not part of the Olympic programme, Sport England statistics showed 85,000 people tried the sport in 2022 in England.

The sport aims to build confidence and encourages self-improvement on all levels within any terrain or environment.

It is a sport that encourages self-improvement on all levels, revealing one’s physical and mental limits while simultaneously offering ways to overcome them.

“It’s not part of the Olympics yet, but could it be a hopeful?”, Fisher asks Lynn Jung who is one the sport’s leading female athletes.

Jung says: “I think we’re still a little bit away from it to be ready for the Olympics because I think we still have to work out a very fair way of judging because it is a young sport, it’s very informal or subjective.”

How does the sport work? Are there separate categories for gender, weight or age?

Jung says: “There are no categories other than men or women’s categories, usually some competitions will put everyone together, you’re not limited by what your allowed to do.”

Around 85,000 people took part in parkour in England in 2022

For more information on parkour visit: https://parkour.uk/

Heather Fisher tried these three street sports under the guidance of trained professionals who have considerable training. To find a safe way to learn about street sports please visit the respective websites to find the safest way to take part.

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