Jakarta is Indonesia’s capital city and with that title comes a great many things. It’s a mishmash of cultures from all around the archipelago and a mixing bowl of international flavours and interests. From sports like parkour to rock climbing, or thousand dollar collections for toys and games, Jakarta is an interesting city and we’re here to showcase the very best of it.
The World Freerunning and Parkour Federation (WFPF), yes there really is a whole organisation dedicated to freerunning and parkour, defines Parkour as deriving from the French word parcours which translates literally to “the path”. It has its origins as a training programme for the French Special Forces before it was adapted by David Belle, the “inventor” of modern day parkour and his team of traceurs, the Yamakasi.
Most people know about parkour from films or online. One of the first films to feature it was Yamakasi, inspired by the Yamakasi traceurs, in 2001 and its popularity has been growing ever since.
Strictly speaking, parkour is the art of getting from point A to point B as efficiently and as quickly as possible. There are no flourishes and no random gymnastics which often makes it look quite boring. Along the way, Freerunning was developed. No longer being chased by anyone, practitioners of Freerunning are able to add those flourishes and random touches of gymnastics.
If you want to read more on the history of Parkour and Freerunning, we’ll leave you with this link right here.
Parkour in Jakarta and beyond
While most of us don’t know it, there’s a huge community of Parkour enthusiasts, often called traceurs, and Freerunners right here in our backyard. In Jakarta, they mostly practise around the the Senayan area where there are numerous urban parks and obstacles to overcome.
We’ll leave a list of the Parkour communities in the Jabodetabek region at the bottom of the article, but first recommend you to watch our short coverage on the growing popularity in a video that we made recently. If you want to find out more about subcultures in Jakarta, we recommend you head to our YouTube page where you can find other great videos.
How to get started in Parkour in Jakarta
Head to one of Parkour Jakarta’s weekly meetings for a crash course in Parkour and Freerunning. It’s completely free and open to the community as long as you’re over the age of nine (9 yo+) and able-bodied. They meet up at 8:30am and start warming up and training at 9:00am.
You only need to pay the entrance fee to the park which is IDR 5.000 on weekdays and IDR 6.000 on weekends and public holidays.
Wear comfortable gear and a good pair of trainers/sneakers and don’t be afraid to do things you’ve never done before. Everyone starts somewhere so don’t be discouraged if you’re not jumping from building to building in the first session. Hang in there.
We suggest you park just outside of the Taman Kridaloka gates. It’s a one-way street so you have to come in from the main stadium. You do have to drive around the place a little bit but it does save you a long walk – and a long walk is the last thing you want after you’ve exhausted yourself.
The community is very friendly and open to newcomers. There are little kids, fresh graduates and young professionals all coming together to support one another. We recommend you try parkour even just once. It’s really fun and costs next to nothing to do. Plus it has an added benefit of being helpful if you’re ever running late!
Where: Taman Kridaloka,
Jl. Stadion Senayan,
Senayan, Central Jakarta
When: Every Sunday,
8:30am meet, 9:00am start
(No Latecomers)
More Info: parkourjakarta@gmail.com
Facebook: Parkour Jakarta
Instagram: @parkourjkt
Urgent Inquiries: +62856 9218 6113 (Yunan)
Other Parkour Groups in Jabodetabek:
Bogor: Parkour Bogor
Depok: Kongaroo Team
Tangerang: Rangers Parkour
Bekasi: Parkour Bekasi
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