Parkour is a truly unique sport and a discipline so many people around the globe enjoy tremendously. Some people even turn parkour into a lifestyle and dedicate their lives to mastering the skills, tricks, and moves of parkour. If you’re a parkour enthusiast and enjoy practicing it, you can consider becoming a certified parkour instructor.

To obtain your certification, you’ll need to find a certification program and finish a course. We’ll help you understand what the course is all about and what can you expect. Let’s take a closer look at the process of becoming a certified parkour instructor.

1.     Gain Experience

We all know that experience is the best teacher. Gaining experience in parkour should be your personal condition before you decide to apply for getting certified.

This is because only through experience will you be able to understand:

• how to overcome fears, weaknesses, and obstacles
• how much practice do you need for each trick
• what’s the best way to do a trick
• how to approach a problem

“Your personal experience will help you understand parkour better and become a better teacher for your potential future students. That’s why you should practice and work hard before you become an instructor,” says Josh King, a parkour enthusiast and an editor at Studyker.

Therefore, push yourself forward and try practicing parkour as much as possible. Once you feel you’ve got the confidence, and experience necessary for taking it to the next level, go ahead and look for a certification program.

2.     Join a Course

The next step in becoming a certified parkour instructor is finding a certification program that will provide the course and certification.

If you’re not sure what to expect from a course, we’ll break it down together and help you gain a better understanding of what’s in front of you.

The certification program will most likely be held in a gym that is well-equipped with everything necessary for parkour training and teaching.

For example, the World Freerunning Parkour Federation certification program is a three-day course or a 20-hours course.

Every certification program that you take will teach you:

• how to demonstrate
• how to assist with practicing
• how to teach and explain
• how to break down tricks and moves to a step-by-step process
• how to encourage others
• how to guide your students to success

These are the most important things you’ll have to learn. Those skills will help you become a better parkour practitioner and instructor.

However, that’s not everything you’re going to learn. Let’s dig a bit deeper and see what’s covered in most certification programs.

3.     Lesson Materials

“Taking a parkour trainer certification course is valuable for you as a parkour practitioner, not just as a teacher. This is because the lessons the course covers are helpful, informative, and beneficial for your development as a parkour practitioner,” says Daniel Green, a parkour instructor and a writer at Subjecto.

The lessons will focus on several major areas of learning about parkour:

• parkour history, philosophy, and mindset
• basic parkour techniques
• different types of obstacles such as a wall, floor, vaults, bars, and trampoline
• breaking down a skill to fit the level of the students
• freerunning techniques
• adding your own tricks
• the pedagogical approach
• presenting a lesson to the students

It’s important to remember that the students don’t have to be physically capable of doing every trick. But, the instructor needs to know how to break it down to the students and help them practice the trick until they master it.

As you can see, the course will make sure you’ve got everything under your belt and know how to act, react, and position yourself in any given situation.

4.     The Test

Once the course is over, you’ll take a test to showcase your teaching skills. You’ll be judged based on skills such as:

• safety such as setting up the mats, spotting, and testing the equipment
• explanations
• demonstrations

The test will be a recapitulation of everything you’ve learned during the course and proof you’re ready to become an instructor.

5.     Go Advanced

If you successfully obtain your instructor certification you can take things a step further. You can take an additional course and get certified as an advanced instructor.

That means that you’ll learn how to teach technically advanced tricks and use all your previously gathered knowledge to teach more advanced parkour practitioners.

This will give you additional confidence to keep working on your parkour skills and teaching methods.

6.     Use Your Certification

Now that you’ve taken the course and passed it, you’ll receive your parkour instructor certification. As a certified instructor, you’ll be able to further work on your parkour skills and make deeper connections within the parkour community.

You can:

• get a job at a parkour gym
• advance further to become a certified judge
• teach and spread the love for parkour

Your certification will also help you establish contacts within the world of parkour. You’ll meet all kinds of people, share your skills with them and learn something new every day.

That’s the true essence of being a parkour athlete and a teacher.

Final Thoughts

Personal development and growth are important. Pushing yourself further and working on self-improvement is a part of becoming a better person. This is why you should consider taking your passion for parkour to the next level.

If you’re considering becoming a certified instructor, we suggest you wait no longer. Just go for it and make it your next challenge.

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Kristin Savage is a writer and a blogger who uses the power of the written word to inspire, motivate, inform, and encourage her readers. She’s skilled and passionate about her job, and enjoys covering topics that range from lifestyle to professional growth. She works as a writer at Top Essay Writing and
Classy Essay. She’s also an editor at Write Scout.

It can be easy for someone who is new to understanding the Free Running and Parkour Movement to overlook the practice to be just vaulting over obstacles or doing flips. However, over time it becomes evident to anyone who has trained Parkour that dedicating oneself to progressing in the discipline brings skills and benefits far beyond just this. Indeed, training Parkour and Free Running provides an amazing foundation of skills that can help you achieve good wellbeing regardless of your age and current ability. For example, skills such as coordination, balance, self-respect and confidence all come as a by-product of training Parkour in a safe environment and guided by an experienced coach.

However often finding safe places to train can be difficult to find, particularly in colder climates across the world in the winter months. Safe places to train and safe education on the best practices is essential to anyone looking to progress in Parkour and especially to beginners who are starting out. Therefore, communities and federations such as the WFPF academy become critical to the safe growth and expansion of the Parkour/Free Running movement as they provide worldwide infrastructure for a sport that continues to grow.

Since the formation of WFPF in 2007:

“WFPF is dedicated to the safe and responsible advancement of the parkour/freerunning discipline throughout the world, providing leadership, products and services that keep barriers to entry low and grass roots enthusiasm high. Together with our athlete partners, we strive to faithfully bring this philosophy of movement to the growing numbers of young people who believe that through camaraderie, self-expression and service to others, there is no obstacle that cannot be overcome.”

To help achieve this the WFPF Certification Program was carefully developed to encourage the creative, grass roots nature of parkour, while also establishing safe practices and a common vocabulary of movement for progressive instruction to students of all ages. As of 2019, WFPF has certified approximately 900 instructors around the Globe. The WFPF Certification Program, the only parkour certification developed in partnership with a major insurance underwriter, is the gold standard for the safe and practical instruction of parkour.

Furthermore, the WFPF also offers the opportunity for gyms to become a ‘A WFPF Parkour Academy Gym’. Providing, these gyms with:

• 8-Level Parkour curriculum, including our trademarked Parkidz and Ninjas
• Children’s Program, for students age 4 and up
• NO UPPER AGE RESTRICTIONS!
• Monthly curriculum and marketing updates for all programs
• Exclusive eligibility to host WFPF Sanctioned competitions
• Ongoing equipment consultation to fit your growing program
• Right to use WFPF and Parkidz and Ninjas branding in all promotional and business materials
• Regular Exposure on WFPF and USA Parkour social media platforms

Furthermore, WFPF Academy Gyms also Receive Discounts on:

• WFPF Instructor Certifications

• Preferred prices on WFPF and KO Parkour Shoes and Apparel

To find more extensive information on these services and relevant contact details please use the links below:

1) Where is my closest ‘WFPF Parkour Academy Gym’?:
https://gym.wfpfparkouracademy.com/locations/

2) More information on becoming an Academy Gym:
https://wfpfparkouracademy.com/become-an-academy-gym/

3) More information on WFPF Certification Program:
https://wfpf.com/parkour-certifications/