Running up to the wall, senior Andrew Shaw flips over and lands like a cat, perfectly on his feet. Practitioners of Parkour aim to get from one point to another in a complex environment, without assistive equipment and in the fastest and most efficient way possible. Senior Andrew Shaw went to Washington, D.C this summer and received his license from American Parkour Academy. Shaw has been doing Parkour for two years.

“When I was little, my and I friend would watch YouTube videos, and one day we came across a parkour video and thought it looked super awesome,” Shaw said. “So eventually, it got to the point where [I] had decided that [I] wanted to keep going, but my friend didn’t, so I went to a gym with this guy I knew and he started teaching me.”

Shaw teaches at Empire Cheerleading. He has seven students per class and 50 total signed up. It costs $55.00 per month to join, and each class is 60 minutes.

“Right now there aren’t many people in Arkansas that know about Parkour, so I have to teach it at Empire Cheer gym,” Shaw said.

When Shaw first started teaching Parkour, he taught with five other people, and now he teaches with two. The youngest student Shaw has taught was three-years-old, and the oldest was 16.

“A lot of my kids are younger, and they want to be on American Ninja Warrior, so I tell them,  ‘This is the class for you,’” Shaw said.

Shaw says that wearing the right attire, such as athletic clothing, is important in Parkour. Not wearing the right attire could result in shin splints or hernias.

“I have had many injuries and faced a lot of difficulty trying to get moves,” Shaw said. “I have broken my wrist,  [and it] was broken for six weeks.”

Performing Parkour also requires athletic abilities.

“A lot of [Parkour] is about moving swiftly to the next move, and in order to do that, you need good coordination,” Shaw said.

Places that are open and have many close buildings are best when performing Parkour.

“You could do [Parkour] at the school, the parks [and] little rock is also fun,” Shaw said. If you’re interested, come sign up. I’d love to teach you.’’