In this blog series, we interview two different athletes for each instalment, and offer their answers side by side. The focus is on the small. We’re not talking the farthest, highest jumps or coolest stories. We might stumble into big topics, but the starting point is the everyday. The small stuff. We ask all the parkour practitioners the same questions and leave it entirely up to them how they answer, apart from a request to keep things relatively short.
For some context to the questions, you can check out the first introductory part of the series here: https://www.parkouroutreach.com/new-blog/sweating-the-small-stuff-pt1
We’re so grateful to everyone who gave up their time for this and look forward to hearing what you, the reader, get out of these wee nuggets. Maybe you’ll be introduced to new perspectives or ideas. Maybe you’ll find some wisdom or advice. Maybe you’ll totally disagree with someone and rage at your screen! Above all, we hope these interviews might help you feel you’re not alone out there.
This week, our interviewees are both Scotland based. Emily trains in Edinburgh, and Scott is based in Glasgow. Emily has been doing very chill parkour for a decade, having gotten into it intending to research it for drawing and writing stories. If you want to check out parkour clips or art from Emily, you can find her on instagram @katagiriemily
Emily Katagiri
A picture of Emily in her natural habitat, sticking out her tongue and pulling silly faces with a friend. She’s got dark hair, dark framed glasses and is wearing a dark coloured top. Emily has her elbows on a table, with her hands either side of her face. Her friend is resting their arms on Emily’s shoulders and flashing peace signs.
Scott Reynolds
An action shot of Scott upside down, part-way through rotating in the air. He’s wearing a yellow beanie, a grey jumper and jeans against a blank grey sky. Scott is spotting his landing underneath him, stretching his head back, with his torso arched, and legs folded over behind him
Scott says: “I work at Movement Park, I coach parkour, and I’m aiming to work as a youth worker / activity coordinator as part of my community to be useful! I love to learn new things, be it Movement or just information in general. I will always take part in different challenges just for the social, or fun side of it! I’m a dog person (Dogs are too good for us really) and won't lie when I say I’m a wee cheeky geek for patter, and conversation!” His instagram is @Sr_vstheworld
[INTERVIEW STARTS]
What’s the small thing you always do while out training, or should always do but forget?
Emily: Forgetting to warm up for long enough might be something I can do better… That, and cooling down. I definitely forget to do cool-down stretches, even though I've regretted forgoing them in the past.
Scott: The thing I do when I'm out is try to make sure I have fun, and I enjoy my day with no real goals in mind unless my curiosity gets the better of me. What I always forget is my bottle of water that I leave ceremoniously on someone else's couch or on my own (it's a thang.)
What small thing do you always make sure you have with you?
Emily: While out training, I've begun making sure I have with me: a first aid kit, water, extra pair of socks (Scotland is *damp*), some space left in my bag, but most importantly, MY KEYS – the number of times I've had keys in my pocket while doing jumps, rolls, messing about – only to find out on my way home that I dropped them some time in the scuffle… is hilarious in hindsight, but so disheartening when you're exhausted after training and you have to double back. I have those baby-proof safety pins on them now, and I clip my keys to the inner fabric of my pockets.
Scott: Ma wee brain, haha. Really, I always try to bring my phone along because It's not so much about likes and views for me, more that I love messing about with my cam, and editor! 😁 Through PK I gained a major love for photography, filming, and just piecing it all together! (should really do more, for a PK guy I'm mad lazy. 🤔)
What small thing do you know will always affect your training?
Emily: I guess my glasses will always be a key thing that affects my training? I can put in contact lenses, but it's made me notice just how much my bad eyesight affects my training, at a fundamental level. Jumping with glasses is a seesaw of hilarity and anxiety, with the frames bouncing on my nose and effectively blinding me mid-jump. Contact lenses are my favourite thing, but I do need to find better eye drops to help with dry eye after a couple of hours – so, even if it's not necessarily a thing I'm constantly thinking about, my style and confidence probably changes depending on whether I wear glasses or contacts that day.
Scott: In a positive light? Someone who shares my fun loving side of just finding new challenges and having a laugh! That's why I got involved in the first place, The community aspect of things. In a negative way? I would say watching other people train instead of focusing on my own ideas (always love to be social, and feel observing others movements make certain movements clearer for me!)
What small thing do you focus on or try to remember when you hit training plateaus?
Emily: Training plateaus are rough… I don't know if I've ever really gotten good enough to hit that level yet, when I think about it. Maybe I was getting there, when I broke my ankle in 2020. From experience (of a bunch of ankle injuries), it's better to come back to a daunting challenge another time if I'm rushing it because the group wants to move soon, or I'm too antsy to break that new thing in just for the sake of it. My measure of whether I'm physically and mentally ready to try breaking a jump is: if looking at the challenge makes me go ‘actually, that looks smaller / shorter / easier than I thought…’ and I trust my instincts for that month, I'll go for it. In increments.
Scott: “Right, move onto something else and when we're feeling 100, we'll be back! There's always another day!" I try not to let myself stay on the same thing for too long, I'm easily frustrated with myself.
What small thing has helped you cope with injury in the past (or now)?
Emily: Right now, I'm slowly regaining mobility from an ankle fracture that happened back before lockdown (February 2020). What helped me during post-op early days was the mental side of the parkour training, I think. And in between transitioning to rehab, it was brilliant to have my parkour instincts to fall back on for sudden bouts of bad balance or weak muscles, relying on quick reflexes to bail gently and slowly. Once I was back out and training, I didn't feel as much internalised pressure to do the massive jumps when I wasn't feeling it. So drilling basics and finding creative uses for simpler stuff has brought me a lot of joy recently.
Scott: Remembering that if Bruce Lee can teach himself how to walk again after severely breaking his back and being told he'll never walk again (as well as PK athlete Tomas Zonyga! What a legend btw shout out to him! ), I can overcome my mind set, and my issues with determination and focus! 👏👏
What small thing has helped you cope with the pandemic in the past year?
Emily: The social side of our local parkour group has been such a boon. They organise game nights online; and recently, we've been having ‘micro jams’ in accordance with social distancing guidelines, which lets us share creative ideas and find new spots that are better suited to small groups of two to three. It's also helped me spend more time one-on-one with my close friends, so I'm getting to know them even better.
Scott: I'd say movement in general is what kept me sharp and kept my mind away from the almost infinite negatives that was 2020. Walking around and working on photography has grown on me again after watching Zeno’s many amazing shots he gathers of his adventures! And using my time to be constructive, also TRYING to be more social! I'm terrible. 😅
[INTERVIEW ENDS]
Next week, we have another Glaswegian, but also someone living on almost the opposite side of the planet. Jem and Evie talk coffee, unlearning toxic societal norms and some of the positives in their experiences of the pandemic.