Who We Are
CRAWLEY PARKOUR C.I.C is a community-minded company that is passionate about coaching and developing people interested in Parkour and functional fitness for almost all ages.
Our mission is to provide benefit to a wide variety of ages, backgrounds and abilities in and around Crawley with the provision of affordable, accessible, inclusive physical activity programs - all within a welcoming environment. Crawley Parkour C.I.C. has taught a range of ages from 3 all the way through to 65, with a focus on trying to get people active and happy with their exercise regime. We will provide fun and safe coaching sessions for schools, youth clubs, scout groups, disabilities, males and females, ethnic minorities, strengthening community spirit and cohesion through all that we do.
Parkour or Free running, now an official sport as recognized by Sport England, is the art of overcoming obstacles in all their forms. Using your environment as a tool and a platform to achieve amazing awe-inspiring feats of physical fitness, and the mental discipline required to perform Parkour to help achieve mental well-being.
Opening of Traversal, 2018
OUR HISTORY
Crawley Borough Council’s Arts Development team received funding from The Arts Council of England in 2004 for a Parkour and dance project to engage boys with dance and physical activity.
In 2006, Crawley Borough Council (CBC) began working with The Urban Playground (UPG) team, a Brighton-based company which has provided a range of Parkour workshop programmes at K2 Crawley and in community settings around Crawley.
UPG, in collaboration with Crawley Parkour were commissioned to design the Parkour Training Area (PKTA) in the Pocket Park on Breezehurst Drive, Bewbush. The PKTA, which opened in 2009, was one of the first Parkour training parks in the country at the time and has proven to be a hit with young people in and around Crawley.
Young Crawley resident, Drew Ratcliff was on the first UPG workshop programme in early 2006. Aged just 13 at the time, they were practicing Parkour, having seen it on the internet and were “hanging around” the streets, but by their own admission they were not practicing safe Parkour.
Drew and Josh have moved on since then, leading many Parkour training workshops at K2 Crawley and Bewbush PKTA since 2013, having attained level 2 and level 1 official coaching accreditation respectively, with the national governing body for the activity, Parkour UK. Drew and Josh have been continuously supported by Freedom Leisure and CBC to deliver workshops in Crawley and to set up a local Parkour committee in 2015, in order to sustain long-term development of the activity.
Drew received a £175 award, for being one of the best coaches in the County for a Sportivate project (a Sport England funding initiative administered by County Sports Partnerships, which aims to engage with “non-sporty” young people aged 11-25 years). This enabled him to subsidize the cost of attending a strength and conditioning course, which helped him to personally develop his coaching and fitness levels further, and which he now teaches weightlifting classes to a variety of people.