Steel City Parkour! Part 1
Parkour.
You’ve seen amazing tricks in a movie or from a YouTube video your son showed you but you didn’t know what it was called. You may have even been walking down the city street and watched a group of talented youth making jumps that seem impossible. It’s a phenomenon that has a rich history that goes beyond the scope of this blog. Luckily for you, it’s come to the Pittsburgh area and can be safely trained at Steel City Parkour.
I took the time to discuss the Steel City Parkour Gym and the art of parkour with its owner, Steve DiGirolamo.
When did you first get into parkour and what was it that got you into it?
I started doing parkour right after I graduated high school in 2009. When I was younger I always had a trampoline and taught myself how to do some basic tricks on it.
Was there any formal teaching during this phase of your life or were you entirely self taught?
When I started parkour there was no formal teaching. Eventually I wanted to learn these tricks on the ground and learned how to back flip and front flip. Someone saw me doing some flips and asked if I was doing parkour. I had no idea what they were talking about so they showed me my first ever parkour video on YouTube.
For video with audio: http://www.dailymotion.com/ video/x4ngcd
After seeing this I was hooked and wanted to learn everything in the video. I started college at a Penn State branch campus and started a parkour club. Eventually I found a gymnastics gym that was trying to teach parkour. The first time I went I was the only one there and none of the coaches knew how to teach what I wanted to learn.
How frustrating was it to go there to learn and discover no one could teach you what you wanted to learn?
I did not find it frustrating that there were no teachers; however, I was frustrated that there were no open gyms. Open gyms all over Pennsylvania required you to be a gymnast enrolled at their gym. I just wanted a soft place to practice. Even if there was an option to have a coach I would rather have taught myself. Most other people in Parkour feel the same way. They would rather learn through watching videos than formal instruction.
After going to the gym for a few months they offered me the job to coach Parkour and Power Tumbling. During my time there I learned new skills, how to tumble, but most importantly how to coach. I began to read about Parkour gyms opening up such as Tempest Freerunning in Los Angeles. I saw a potential career; I could use my skills to go into stunt work or one day open a gym. I changed my major from engineering to business and started to research how to open a gym. While working at the gymnastics gym the owner and I learned that their insurance would not cover Parkour. We found that the most popular Parkour organization, The World Parkour Freerunning Federation was offering insurance and a certification program. I went to Florida and took their course and became an official certified coach. I was also asked to coach the first ever Parkour week at Camp Woodward where I got to work with some of the best athletes at the time.
What year was this? Who were some of the athletes at Camp Woodward?
The certification that I went to in Florida was in May of 2012. The athletes that taught the certification were Marvin Ross, Danny Arroyo, Ben Jenx, Justin Shaeffer, and Robbie Corbet. The first time I coached at Woodward was August 2013 and I coached there in august of 2014 and 2015 as well with Athletes Tim Shieff, Ben Jenkins, Kie Willis, Jesse La Flair, Cory Demeyers, and Team Farang.
Tell me about your best trick or two?
It’s hard to say a best trick since some are easy but really scary, while others are technically very difficult. Also I use many different apparatuses such as trampoline, springfloor, walls, ledges, etc. So a best trick is almost an impossible question to answer. If I had to choose I would say Gargoyle gainer. It’s not a common trick, and it’s extremely scary.
What's a trick you are currently trying to master?
There are no tricks I am currently trying to master. I am just getting better at working on bars and getting stronger.
How did you get started in this business?
When I graduated from college the gym I was working at informed me that a gym was going out of business and looking for new ownership. The gym was called Flip City Gymnastics and I quickly saw my opportunity. The owner was struggling with bad coaches, scandals, and was focused on the cheer gym that she had started. Originally I wanted to partner with her since I had no money and was just fresh out of college. She cut me a deal and let me take over the lease and buy all the equipment off of her at a very low price. My friends and I had a month to build whatever we could and start running classes, and that is how Steel City Parkour was born.
The official start date of SCP was November 1st 2014. We have been adding new parkour obstacles every few months since we opened. We like to have an area that is constantly changing. The primary people are Christian and I. Assistant coaches are Regis and Emiliano.
Sell me on Steel City Parkour, why should people come here? What do you offer? Related to that, can you talk about your plans for expansion? Direction your business is heading for the future?
People should come to SCP because it’s a no pressure environment to learn whatever you want. You can come to learn big tricks or you can come just to work out. Doing parkour is an easy and effective way to lose weight and to work all the muscles of your body. The biggest thing people take away from coming to the gym is confidence. To do the skills of Parkour and Freerunning you need to trust yourself and your body. When you overcome a fear it gives you extra confidence in all the things that you do, in the gym and outside of the gym.
My goal with the gym is to give an opportunity to those that want parkour as more than a hobby. My goal is for the gym to become profitable enough that the people that I hire won’t have to work a normal desk job and that they can make ends meet just by coaching. I would like to expand and open other gyms but this is a risky move. The equipment is not what brings people back to the gym. The reason people come back is because of the good coaching. Good coaches are hard to find, I had to get two of my coaches from out of state. I currently have a chance to grow, however I am still not sure if I have enough coaches to take on expansion.
How do you go about finding good coaches in general?
I meet a lot of people by going to Parkour jams. I met Christian at Beast Coast in 2014. I also had mutual friends with him that went to Pitt University. After he graduated I heard he was looking for a gym to work at. Then a short time later he moved to Pittsburgh to work at the gym. I met Emiliano through some friends and the Steel City Jam in 2013. He just graduated college and also moved here to start working. Since I knew these guys for a long time and saw them coaching before it made hiring them easy.
What can you tell me about Ninja Warrior and Spartan Steve?
Ninja warrior brings a lot of people into the gym. People love TV and doing things they see on TV is a real draw. In reality parkour and Ninja Warrior have very little in common. Ninja warrior is like an athletic game show mostly based on the grip strength involved with rock climbing. Most parkour people don't like Ninja Warrior and have no desire to compete. Ninja warrior is more related to rock climbing
Spartan races are like 5k races with obstacles scattered about. The people who compete in races range from weekend warriors who want something different to do with their friends and families to super athletes who workout and train every day. The Spartan program is extensive though. Spartan Steve coaches people athletically and nutritionally. Spartan is more about a life change to a more fit and healthy life style. People focused on weight loss can greatly benefit from the Spartan program.
Where should people go to get up to date info on events, classes, pricing or simply to see some entertaining videos?
The easiest way for people to get information on the gym is at our website and our social media pages. We put up all events and activities on the website, facebook, and instagram. For classes and schedule the website is a great resource.
What is a something I should have asked but did not?
You should ask “What’s the difference between Parkour and Freerunning?” and “Are there are competitions?”
The argument of the difference between Parkour and Freerunning has been around for quite some time. The idea is that Parkour is efficient movement. The fastest way from point A to Point B. Freerunning is considered to be more stylish and has more acrobatics. Some people only practice Parkour and focus on jumps and climbing rather than flips. Most of what people see in "Parkour videos" is actually freerunning. The Parkour name just blew up so much that the general public view Parkour and Freerunning as the same thing. Even though Steel City Parkour teaches parkour, around 75 percent of what we teach is based more in Freerunning.
Competitions for both do exist. Most competitions are a mix of Parkour and Freerunning as there will be a speed competition, a style competition and a best trick. The most popular competition is the Red Bull Art of Motion held every year since 2009. Although it is not being held this year as they are trying to change up the format. Some athletes like competition while others hate it. There are efforts to make Parkour an Olympic sport. The FIG (federation of international Gymnastics) is trying to absorb parkour and get it in the Olympics as a part of gymnastics. The parkour community is fighting this and does not want to be associated with gymnastics in any way.
Please take the time to visit their website for information about class time, pricing, directions, special events, hosting birthday parties and to complete their waiver.
As Steve mentioned, Steel City Parkour is truly “a no pressure environment to learn whatever you want.” When someone is ready to learn, Steve and his coaches are there to guide them and give them the confidence they need to get to the next level!
Stay tuned for part 2 when I discuss parkour with one of Steve’s coaches!
