Origins: Parkour was born in the banlieues (suburbs) of Paris in the 1980s, and is now one of the world’s fastest-growing sports. While often recognized in the fantastic images seen on YouTube or television, the sport is actually a form of movement that has roots in a wide variety of physical disciplines including: gymnastics, martial arts, climbing, and track & field. Practitioners, known as traceurs, train to develop strength, speed, endurance, precision, spatial awareness, dynamism, and creativity, in order to be as fluid, functional, and liberated as possible in physical movement; and to overcome physical obstacles. Traceurs also develop a way of thinking based on rigorous self-discipline, autonomous action, and self-reliance that allows them to overcome mental obstacles related to their movements. These skills  transfer to and benefit, everyday life, and a healthy lifestyle.

Parkour Generations Americas: Parkour Generations (PKG) was founded in 2006 with the goal of spreading the training and instruction of parkour/freerunning/l’art de déplacement while preserving the philosophy of the discipline as practiced by the original French founders.  Parkour Generations Americas (PKGA) was started in 2012 to continue the work of Parkour Generations introducing the American continent to the spirit of parkour with the same standard of excellence, and commitment to the founder’s spirit and philosophy.  PKGA uses parkour to help build diverse, positive, and active communities through a shared love of functional movement.

PKGA regularly runs larger workshops, ADAPT* instructor certification courses, and consults on park/facility design projects around North America.  PKGA branches currently operate over 100+ classes/week in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, and California for a variety of public and private schools, municipal recreation departments, and private organizations. PKGA performance team has been featured in various media campaigns; and is available for commercial bookings, brand promotions, and community partnerships.

PkGen Santa Cruz Senior Coach & Owner: Dustin Sharp was raised on the waves, and in the woods, of Santa Cruz, CA. He has led an active life ever since, spontaneously traversing the roof of his newly built two-story home at age 3**. A practitioner of many types of movement [ from power yoga to hang gliding] he’s pursued dance and parkour professionally most of his life; former program director, and team coach, at Vargas Academy for 8 years, ADAPT certified since 2011. As a member of the PkGen Americas national coaching team, he currently splits his time between developing classes in the region, and sharing his love of coaching and community at events and workshops throughout the U.S, and Internationally. As a coach helping people of all ages create healthier, happier lives, Dustin is driven to inspire everyone to move more, develop deeper self-knowledge & self esteem through movement, and to tap into the power of play.

* ADAPT (Art de Déplacement And Parkour Teaching) certification program; the only internationally recognized parkour instructor certification program that has been endorsed by Parkour’s original founders. ** Roof story fact-checked by Mom