The New Mainstream “IN” to Parkour
The childhood game that’s been played for who knows how long (seriously, I can’t find any official origin of tag) is now one of the largest Parkour events in the world!
World Chase Tag (WCT) “was formed in 2011 by brothers Christian and Damien Devaux, after a game of Tag between Christian and his son, Orlando, in their back garden.
The guys set to work on designing the ultimate course dimensions & scale of obstacles in order to perfectly balance the chase between the Evader & Chaser. This playing arena is known as The Quad.
The Devaux Brothers staged extensive test sessions to experiment with the effect of changing small elements of each Quad design to measure how it impacted an athlete’s ability to evade a tag. In doing so they were able to develop an ‘EQ’ calculation (a term coined by Jason Matten) which, by adding or removing certain elements of any Quad design, could tweak the level of difficulty. This has enabled them to create multiple Quad designs at a variety of sizes which can be adapted easily to switch between a professional competition standard, or to accommodate lesser abilities of amateurs & children while still delivering an evenly balanced chase.” -https://www.worldchasetag.com/about
Most recently, the first US competition was held in Atlanta, Georgia. I remember seeing all of my friends post on their Instagram stories clips of them quarantined in hotel rooms and I thought “What in the world is going on did I miss a jam or something?” I replied to one story of my friend, Frank Mejia, and asked what was going on. He told me he and multiple other teams were in Atlanta to compete in the WCT championship! I couldn’t believe I missed it, but much like many of you, my focus was torn away from Parkour and my training during the first few months of COVID-19. I may have missed the opportunity to get a team together for the first US competition, but seeing so many of my friends compete on live television doing what we love, is amazing.
What’s more, this sort of event and public broadcasting is HUGE for Parkour. Parkour has always been steadily growing, but shows like The Office, or gimmicky game shows, always give the sport a sort of weird vibe to the general public. That, or viral videos of some of the most extreme examples of Parkour scare people away from trying it. Tag, however, anybody can play that! That’s why this is so special.
For example, I held a Tag competition at the Maine Warrior Gym a couple of weeks ago and not only did a handful of my students enter and compete, but multiple kids, teens, and adults all came out of the sticks to compete! I had never seen half of the people at the gym before that competed that night. Everybody had a blast, and the feedback was very positive. For our first event, it was definitely a success in terms of fun, safety, and competition.
I believe World Chase Tag is going to open a lot of doors for people looking to make money in the Parkour world as this is the type of event I can see large sponsors getting behind. (Think along the lines of Adidas or Nike having athletes run the quad in their shoes or apparel!)
Even homegrown Parkour brands like my friend’s own can benefit as more people will be exposed to them and their brand. I don’t see any negatives, and I don’t find WCT to be gimmicky at all like another tag show I know of…….
Thank you for taking the time to read my first post on the blog folks. I hope you enjoyed it, and remember you can find World Chase Tag on NBCSN or HuluTV!
Don’t get caught!
Episode 1 – Thursday, Nov 12th, 2020 – 11:00 pm (Eastern) – World Chase Tag
Episode 2 – Saturday, Nov 21st, 2020 – 11:00 pm (Eastern) – World Chase Tag
Episode 3 – Friday, Nov 27th, 2020 – 11:00 pm (Eastern) – World Chase Tag
Episode 4 – Saturday, Dec 5th, 2020 – 11:00 pm (Eastern) – World Chase Tag
Episode 5 –Thursday, Dec 10th, 2020 – 11:00 pm (Eastern) – World Chase Tag
Episode 6 – Friday, Dec 18th 2020 – 10:00 pm (Eastern) – World Chase Tag
Episode 7 – Friday, Dec 18th, 2020 – 11:00 pm (Eastern) – World Chase Tag
-Caleb Demmons
