Chongqing - After a leap to take off and arms swinging up, Zhang Enrui, wearing head-to-toe black, took a 360-degree backward rotation mid-air, and landed on his legs. The 12-year-old kid beautifully performs a backflip.
Zhang Enrui performs in a competition. (Photo/J.F. parkour club)
Enrui, a top-tier tween parkour practitioner in Chongqing, discovered the game when he was eight. "I was impressed by a backflip in a parkour clip. So I tried out a training session and enjoyed it immediately. I was always running around and playing, and parkour means I can do it in a wider space while accomplishing all sorts of moves," said Enrui.
What he loves most about parkour is the challenge. As a former break dancer, Enrui quickly learned basic parkour moves. The first and biggest challenge so far was the butterfly twist, which features a 360-degree twist in the air while keeping the body horizontal. Lacking the solid core strength required for the move, Enrui spent most of his time exercising. There were falls and injuries before he was thrilled to finally master the move.
"To practice, make a breakthrough, master a move, and face the next challenge, those are the fun of parkour," Enrui said.
Kindred spirits were his inspiration. In his first national competition, Enrui met Fu Jinhao, a rising star in the parkour community of Enrui's age. Enrui had watched his videos before and saw him as a model. "We talked and clicked at the competition. I learned from him and practiced his moves after the competition, but I found him still better than me. I want to surpass him," Enrui smiled.
Enrui struck his coach, Bai Lv, as a goal-oriented, committed kid who always has learning plans and does extra practice. Given his passion and skills, Bai said he has the potential to become a professional parkour athlete.
Enrui's heroes are top parkourists in the country, such as Teng Gaozheng, "They are capable of excellent moves and have represented China in winning games. I want to be like them," Enrui said.
At Enrui's parkour club, 11-year-old Zhang Xinyu excelled in a recent national competition. For her, parkour is a game that reshaped her mindset.
Zhang Xinyu performs at a competition. (Photo/J.F. parkour club)
A pivotal lesson she learned from the game is to stay focused. Having participated in multiple competitions, Xinyu found that competitive nervousness helped her concentrate and consequently improved her performance, even for some moves slightly beyond her reach during training sessions.
One example is the Kong Vault, which requires an athlete to move over a long object and land on the other side. "The barrier was high, and I always hesitated during training, unsure if I could jump over it. But in competition, all that was on my mind was to jump over it, and I made it for the first time," Xinyu said.
She had a hard fall when trying to land a jump from a high place and took a long time to recover. Instead of being deterred from the game, she saw it as a lesson that "teaches you how to protect yourself so you can land properly next time."
"I was inclined to give up on something I might not be able to do well, but now I will stick to it and try my best," Xinyu said.
(The original author is Guo Shuyu from Liangjiang New Area Media Center)