Posted by Cadet Sharah Fayth (Doctor) in Side-Sim: Learning Parkour

Posted by Cadet Ashlyn Trenton (Security Officer) in Side-Sim: Learning Parkour

Posted by Cadet Sharah Fayth (Doctor) in Side-Sim: Learning Parkour
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻
(snip)

Trenton tilted her head from side to side while watching Fayth make her attempts at rolling. “The first time was pretty obvious, you forgot to tuck your head. It happens so don’t take it too hard. The second time you should have gone into a back roll which is far easier to do than a forward one. Move with the momentum you have until you find a balanced stop. The last one was great, but you had the momentum to do a second and tried to stop yourself. Don’t stop, just go until the balance is found. You’ll be surprised at what you can do when you follow the momentum. At the same time, don’t overcompensate yourself over the edge. Rolling twice is fine, three times is risky, four times and you’re probably going over the edge or lose too much forward momentum to get back up and keep running. The best long jumps are done from a running start, but if all your running space is taken up by rolling then you lose your momentum because you have to go back and restart your run on that surface. For example…” Trenton used her foot to trace out a large square in the playfield and moves a good distance from it. “Now watch.” She runs at the square and jumps into it, rolling once and getting back up into a run that she uses to launch herself at the end of the square. “See, with one roll there is plenty of running space for the next long jump. Now watch what happens if I get more than one roll.” She repeats the action but this time does two rolls to show the shorter running space and the resulting jump doesn’t go as far. Repeating it again with three rolls makes the long jump a standing one which covers even less space. The last attempt has her rolling out of the square. “As you can see, it’s your call on how much you want to risk, but if you find yourself stumbling just redirect the roll. That way you can at least stay on the surface. It’ll take time and practice to get used to it but once you do, long jumps get much easier.”

• Cadet Ashlyn Trenton, Security
  Sharah watched carefully. “Alright, I’m going to keep pracricing.” She went back and tried again. Eventually her rolls ending without her falling and then finally where she was able to keep her balance and take several running steps and stopping on her own without falling. She turned and grinned at Ashlyn. “Ha! Did it! What now?”
  Cadet Fayth, Doctor

Trenton took her time while Sharah was practicing to bring up multiple low platforms and walls in a short circuit. “Now I teach you vaulting. This time I want you to lay on your right or left side, then lift yourself up with your hand so you make a triangle with yourself and the ground. You want your weight on the outside leg because right now you’re going to practice the motion of moving the inside one from behind you, to in front of you. This will be an important motion to learn so you can keep your momentum going as you go over the top of other objects.” Trenton took her time to slowly show the other cadet the motion on both sides with her right and left. “Because you’ll want to be able to switch on the fly, do ten with one leg, then switch to the other. We’ll repeat this four times then go over wall positioning.”

• Cadet Ashlyn Trenton

Sharah watched carefully and then began the reps, 10 each side. These weren’t nearly as hard but really tested her balance. Luckily she didn’t fall this time. Once she was done, she stood up and grabbed a small amount of water and then rejoined Trenton in the practice area.
Cadet Fayth, Doctor

Trenton readied herself at the beginning of a small hallway like area with several objects in the middle. “This is where we put what you just worked on into practice. Here we want to keep moving using the motion of your legs to keep the momentum going. Only this time instead of balancing yourself like a triangle, you want to kick off the wall near the object you are tyring to go over the top of.” Ashlyn ran down the pathway at the objects and without slowing down, planted a hand on top of the object before throwing her body forward, running along the wall to keep going, then landing on the other side. “Don’t forget, if you lose your balance or fall, roll into it and keep going!”

• Cadet Ashlyn Trenton

Sharah watched and her face showed more and more disbelief. She was going to get so hurt trying this. “Okay....” She moved to the start of the run. How was she supposed to run up a wall? “This thing have low G’s or something?” she asked Trenton as she stared at it again. She started running as she reached the first object she put her hand on it, missed running up the wall. She rolled, right into the next object and came to a hard stop. She grunted as the breath left her. Why am I doing this? Oh, yeah, for fun. She stayed still trying to determine if she felt pain anywhere. She’d hit her back against some kind of corner, but she didn’t feel any significant pain. She rolled laying flat on her back and opened her eyes. “I told you I was graceful.” She tried to joke. She slowly got up. No pain, that was a good thing. “All good.” She walked slowly back to the beginning making sure she hadn’t hurt anything, but apparently it was only her pride. “Again?”
Cadet Fayth, Doctor

Trenton gave Fayth a light pat on the back for encouragement, taking the moment to change the objects from boxes in a hall to platforms at forty-five-degree angles with targets on them. “I think we’ll need to build up your coordination confidence first. Honestly, it was pretty graceful to vault over the box and miss the wall, but it was clear you didn’t know what to do with yourself next so we’ll get you confident in your motion first. This one is really easy and will get you comfortable with the wall running idea. The shoes you’re wearing have a strong grip design so they are more likely to stick rather than slip once the weight is applied. Trust in them and in your body. As you go, you’ll short jump from angle to angle, have a three-meter area to build up speed, and a box at the end of a ninety-degree turn. Your goal is to end up on top of the box. Watch me do it first so you have the visual idea in your mind.” Ashlyn took off again, easily navigating the angles and not slowing her pace at all. When she reached the wall, with smooth practice she stepped up the wall, then next to it toward the corner, then on the other wall and once more before turning in the air and landing on the low platform at the end. Ashlyn wasn’t expecting much as the platform was low enough that it could be stepped onto with a little jump, maybe a little over half a meter in height. The goal here was to get Sharah confident in herself and all the voices in her head were shouting encouragement save the one shouting something about a peanut butter sandwich. “Give it a go Sharah! You can do this!”

• Cadet Ashlyn Trenton