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The Polarettes Gymnastics Club has long prioritized its coaches receiving certifications in the sport. Recently, the club鈥檚 two parkour coaches, Ewan Campbell and Jon Amos, travelled to Kelowna, B.C. to complete their level one and two parkour coaching certification.

Both Campbell and Amos have spent the past couple of years at university but are in Whitehorse for the current year. Campbell said the course was an awesome experience.

鈥淚t was time to really learn about the thing we were doing,鈥� said Campbell. 鈥淚t was super-interesting, super-cool to see.鈥� Amos is newer to the sport of parkour.

鈥淚 just came back from being at school for two years,鈥� said Amos. 鈥淚 used to coach when I was in high school and I loved it. I just started doing parkour before I went off to university. I didn鈥檛 know a lot about it. When Ewan and I went there, it was great to learn what we are teaching the kids but more in-depth.

鈥淓wan has a lot more background knowledge in parkour than I do so I was super-excited to do and learn the progressions to everything so I am feeling more confident.鈥�

The Polarettes Gymnastics Club has been offering parkour programming for five years 鈥� Campbell was involved in it the get-go before heading off to post-secondary.

Campbell said it is a sport that continues to gain popularity and having the certification will help all the groups.

鈥淭here is the core group that started five years ago,鈥� said Campbell.

鈥淭he beginner class is always full and fills up within an hour on registration day. So interest is very high.

鈥淭he course was really useful for the intermediate class to learn the progressions. The kids that have been here for five years are really advanced. So it was cool to be able to give them actual corrections like side flips which are really parkour-centric.

鈥淲e鈥檝e been figuring it out on our own, but the course showed us how to actually do it. Now we can watch people side flip and be like, 鈥楢h, try to do X and Y to make your side flip better.鈥欌��

Amos said he left the certification course feeling more confident about his coaching ability and that it will help the flow of the training sessions.

鈥淚t鈥檚 now nice to see what they are doing wrong and be able to correct them on how to do it properly,鈥� said Amos. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a fairly decent-sized group, so if Ewan is doing something and a kid needs help, usually I鈥檇 ask Ewan for conformation; now I feel confident in my answers.鈥�

Both Campbell and Amos said they had talented course-mates in the program, and that was helpful in their learning.

鈥淭wo of the kids who did the course with us were 16-year-old parkour athletes,鈥� said Campbell. 鈥淚t was really cool to see how good they were, being able to access a parkour gym and the level they were at.

鈥淥ne of the most useful things I found was when the instructor was checking his notes or doing something, the parkour kids would be trying this challenge and you could try it alongside them and learn a different style of movement.

鈥淲e can take the kids at our gym and get them to that level with this certification.鈥�

鈥淚t was nice to be able to connect with everybody there,鈥� said Amos.

鈥淚t was also nice that everyone wasn鈥檛 a top tier parkour athlete. It was a nice mix of everybody so you didn鈥檛 feel like you were getting left behind. I was pretty nervous going in. It was really inclusive.鈥�

This Friday, the Polarettes will be hosting their first-ever parkour jam.

鈥淲e are still trying to figure out the best way for things to work out so they can experience what a competition might look like in the future,鈥� said Campbell.

鈥淲e want to set up a speed course so they can run through that as fast as they can, as efficiently as they can. Then on the floor, we are going to put up a big jumble of boxes and have them come up with a run. That will be them looking at what the environment gives them, and combining all the skills they鈥檝e learned to come up with something creative.鈥�

Amos and Campbell said they are excited to see the athletes鈥� creativity in a competition setting.

鈥淲e do mini-versions of that, and it is always really exciting,鈥� said Amos. 鈥淵ou can tell before they go into it what they are thinking. It is fun seeing what they are planning to do. They are super-talented kids and doing things I couldn鈥檛 imagine doing.鈥�

鈥淲hen we are coaching, we focus their attention to a certain goal,鈥� said Campbell. 鈥淲hen you say, 鈥楧o what you want, be creative,鈥� they will come up with some insane movements. You鈥檒l see it and be like, 鈥榃hoa, I didn鈥檛 even think of that, that is so cool.鈥欌��