Launching a successful parkour coaching service requires more than just a love for the sport; it demands a meticulously designed parkour curriculum. This guide aims to assist parkour entrepreneurs in creating a curriculum that not only defines the client journey but also influences the throughput of their business, ultimately fostering a culture of learning and personal growth while sustaining a thriving business.
Defining the Client Journey
The parkour curriculum serves as the roadmap for the client journey, guiding students through a step-by-step experience within the business. Each level of the curriculum acts as a milestone, providing students with a structured progression as they develop their skills and understanding of parkour. These milestones contribute significantly to the client's engagement and love for the sport, forming the basis for a lasting connection with the coaching service.
Influence on Throughput (Length of Engagement)
Balancing the difficulty of the curriculum is crucial to retaining members for an extended period. If levels are too easy, students may progress rapidly, potentially shortening the client journey and overall length of engagement (How long they stay members with your company). Conversely, overly challenging levels may lead to frustration and a higher likelihood of dropout. Striking the perfect balance ensures continuous engagement, member satisfaction, and longer-lasting memberships, shaping the Length of Engagement (L.E.G.) with the coaching service.
Level 1 - Foundation and Basics
Level 1 focuses on laying a solid foundation for students, making movements achievable while instilling the value of parkour techniques. Emphasis is placed on the jumping continuum, including bounce back, overshooting, and sticking precisions. Movements in Level 1 are deliberately simple and low to the ground to ensure ease of understanding and safety for beginner-level students. These foundational movements include 2-foot precision jumps, strides at floor height, basic vaults, under bars, and various safety techniques. The goal is to build a strong and safe starting point for students, introducing them to the fundamentals of parkour. Although simple, level 1 should also be FUN. Many students build their foundational love for the sport within the beginning levels of parkour.
Focus on making movements achievable with a solid foundation.
Emphasize the jumping continuum, including bounce back, landing techniques, and sticking precisions.
Movements should be simple, low to the ground, and include:
2-foot precision jumps with landing emphasis.
Strides at floor height, emphasizing landing techniques.
Basic vaults (Step vault, butterfly vault, Kong up).
Under bars, shimmy along a horizontal pole, climb up/down a vertical pole.
Lache and swing safety, re-grabs, and falling safety.
Balance on floor level railings, cat hang traversing.
Tick-Tacks on walls, wall climbs, safely climbing down from a wall.
Parkour roll, safe landing from jumps, introduction to Ukemi.
Note that this list does not provide all possible movements. It's meant to provide an idea of what movement ought to appear at this level of coaching. Specific movements that may appear on your company's curriculum are dependent on your facility's access to equipment and the competency of your coaching staff.
Level 2 - Practical Application of Foundation
Level 2 transitions from basic moves to their practical applications. Building upon the foundational skills developed in Level 1, this stage introduces more challenging movements such as precision jumps to a low-to-the-floor railing, plyometric jumping, and more difficult vaults. The focus is on turning controlled movements into instinctive responses. Students learn to apply their skills in various scenarios, enhancing their overall understanding of parkour and expanding their repertoire of movements. Transition from basic moves to practical applications.
Introduce movements like:
Precision jumps to a railing (low to the floor).
Plyometric jumping.
Jumps and strides at knee or hip height.
More difficult vaults (kong, dash, 360).
Cat-hang to climb up, lache-precision to the floor.
Cat leaps to precision targets (low to the floor)
backward parkour shoulder rolls.
Cat 180s to a precision target. (low to the floor)
Top-out on a wall
1-hand dyno.
Level 3 and Beyond - Customization and Complexity
As students progress to Level 3 and beyond, customization becomes key. At this stage, students often have a clear idea of their interests and strengths. The curriculum should avoid gatekeeping movements (movements that are much more difficult than other movements at this level, keeping kids stuck and feeling frustrated) and encourage exploration of different aspects of parkour. Movements introduced at this level include Kong-precisions, Tic-Tack precisions or cats, vault combinations with flow, and more nuanced movements. The emphasis shifts towards customization, allowing students to focus on what resonates with them, avoiding a one-size-fits-all approach. Customize based on individual interests and strengths.
Avoid gatekeeping movements.
Introduce movements like:
Kong-precisions, Tic-Tack precisions or cats.
Vault combinations with flow.
Lache precision to harder targets, swing 180 regrab.
Parkour rolling in challenging settings.
Strength requirements such as multiple climb-ups, bar pulls, cat hang traversing for more distance.
Cat leaps to nuanced surfaces (vertical bar, pole cat).
Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Growth
The overarching goal of the leveling system is to foster a culture of learning and personal growth. By the time students reach higher levels, they should feel empowered to take ownership of their training. The curriculum should encourage the exploration and refinement of skills, adding complexity, distance, and height to fundamental movements. This approach not only builds skill but also nurtures a lifelong love and appreciation for the sport of parkour.
Creating a parkour curriculum is an intricate process that requires a delicate balance between progression, engagement, and personalization. This comprehensive guide provides entrepreneurs with the insights needed to develop a curriculum that not only defines the client journey but also ensures the long-term success and growth of their parkour coaching service.
Seek professional help to create your million-dollar parkour curriculum
Creating a powerful parkour curriculum can add a ton of value to your coaching service. However, there are so many nuances and variables separating an average gym curriculum from an incredible curriculum that will prime your members to stay members for as long as possible while feeling so excited about your program they refer their friends at each stage of your client journey.
Please book a free call with us here on this page and we would be happy to give you a free consultation call to help you dial in an effective revenue-generating and results-creating curriculum.
Connect with other parkour business owners
Connect with other parkour business owners from gym owners to equipment designers here in the "Parkour Business Owners" Facebook group.
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