Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Whilst my daughter will happily spend countless hours drawing and creating enlightening messages personalised for all the members of the family, my 14-year-old son has a tendency to be continuously plugged into the latest computer game. Reaching him via Skype to tell him dinner is on the table has pushed me to the limits.
Luckily for my younger son, our compound is full with other eight-to-10-year-old boys, enough that they could create their own football team. He is constantly being entertained with his friends, out on their bikes, swimming or playing ball sports. Blessed be this compound life.
But unfortunately for my older son, he doesn’t have a like-minded teen of a similar age to hang out with on the compound. All three siblings will hang out peacefully together but sometimes the sibling rivalry becomes challenging and with toys or board game components flying from every direction I often have to step in as a referee.
With the weather becoming hotter and the football season coming to a close, I wanted to get the teen involved in another sport. All my suggested options were met with a stony silence but then courteous of a friend’s recommendation I actually managed some eye contact with the mention of Parkour.
Originally a French term for a sport known as the ‘Art of Movement’, Parkour is the older cousin of free-running which is the most efficient exchange of kintetic energy in order to get from one place to the next. The result is to be able to leap long distances, fall from a height and scale insurmountable obstacles, without doing yourself damage.
My son’s intrigue probably had a lot to do with Casino Royale’s opening scene where James Bond spends eight minutes sprinting after the Other Guy through a city, leaping from buildings and crashing through walls. Then there is also Matt Damon in The Bourne Ultimatum and having played Assassin’s Creed and Mirror’s Edge he has done Parkour, virtually, at least.
So I sent a reluctant teen off to his first class, at Bigup Parkour, conveniently situated for us, along the Budaiya Highway, by The Harley Davidson showroom.
I watched for the first few minutes but then had to leave, as a lone mum on the sideline wasn’t a cool look for the teen. What I saw was hugely impressive, Bigup instructors show each student how to explore and control their potential with a smart, disciplined approach. The instructors are super friendly with just the right amount of uber coolness.
But nothing compared to the greeting I got from my teen, bounding in the car grinning (and sweating) from ear-to-ear, telling me it was brilliant, challenging, but great fun.
Totally hooked, despite the next day body-aches, I think we’ve found a new sport.
