And Glen’s contributions to Parkour Singapore (Since 2005). An extended info page for Parkour Singapore’s history and how Glen have been contributing to help shape how Parkour Singapore is, from then till present.
Remembering the history of Parkour in Singapore, by Glen Poh, local Parkour Pioneer: The following account reflects my personal general recollection of the history to the best of my knowledge. If you have any doubts/uncertainties and would like to personally investigate Parkour Singapore’s history further – we encourage you, the reader, to seek the perspectives from the multiple individuals within the Parkour Singapore community who have been involved – Glen. The purpose of this page is to help preserve the oldest history of Parkour Singapore that have had very little recognition before, and to further expand on the details of Glen’s contribution to the Parkour Singapore community (as additional info extension of his Parkour Profile).
Year 2002 to 2004: There wasn’t any established community (in the sense of an official community-entity presence) was known. During this time, there were very few Parkour practitioners who started practicing Parkour.. one of them is Ashton, who is a Parkour coach and partner with our Academy, and a good friend with Coach Glen.
Year 2004: Birth of the official Parkour Singapore community in Singapore.
During this time, the practitioners in the community communicated through an online forum (now defunct of course) called; le-parkour.sg . There were about a few hundred practitioners. Parkour was still largely “underground” and not well known, especially in Singapore. Media coverage on Parkour in Singapore were almost entirely non existent. Random trivia: Glen once saw a small group of practitioners (likely to be the ones in the video just below this) practicing at a ramp in Tampines, to what our local practitioners call “Shino’s ramp”. Shino was a nickname of one of the practitioners during that time. Within the community, there have been a constant push for all practitioners to practice traditional Parkour only (which aims to overcome obstacles in the practitioner’s running path in the fastest most efficient way, and to build a strong mind and body.. – this is the type of Parkour that Coach Glen wants to preserve up till this day and into the future).
Year 2005: Glen decides to start his journey in Parkour. Back then, it started off just playing and experimenting around with friends, and eventually, things started to get more serious.. and Glen started to get involved with the community from around the 3rd quarter of 2005, and became completely serious in Parkour training.
Year 2006: There was a steady very gradual increase in interested people wanting to practice Parkour. Practitioners from other countries start to fly into Singapore more. Parkour is starting to get more media attention in Singapore – though at this stage, Parkour was still relatively “underground”.
Year 2007 to 2009: Murphy starts practicing Parkour, and also well known local and international parkour practitioners/professionals that people would normally know in present times – start practicing Parkour at this point of history. The community gradually started to put out more events to educate the public about Parkour, etc.
Year 2010 to 2012: The start of where Parkour is becoming more mainstream, as Parkour grabs more of the media’s attention. More and more people started to know what’s Parkour about. Parkour is still relatively treated with disdain and there were low acceptance from the local public due to a lot of misconceptions (but that will slowly change over time). Right after Glen’s national service, he got very involved in the contribution of the Parkour community, assisting to conduct workshops for free, events, discussions in core matters of Parkour Singapore.
Year 2013 to 2019: At this stage, Parkour is pretty much decently recognized, and the public have a more accurate view of what Parkour is about. Glen was one of the administrators of Parkour Singapore, and was put as one of the In-Charge of managing the community’s official website, core matters, social media, etc. The newer generations have been very active in spreading Parkour and training Parkour.
Year 2020 to present: Due to shifting responsibilities in everyone’s lives – Newer generation took over Parkour Singapore and expanded the Community into more – establishing an association, etc. Facebook became mostly inactive, and other social platforms were used. Parkour Singapore became a more diverse hub of not just Parkour, but other things as well. The establishment of the Skatepark at lakeside (where Glen was initially contacted for consultation for the development of the park, but due to personal reasons, Glen willingly referred the responsibility to others). Training by Glen Academy is putting in increasing efforts to preserving the practice of traditional Parkour for function.
Some of Glen’s key contributions: Crucial directive key decision making and implementations with board members for important events and milestones such as; National day parade parkour performance segment, national workshop training events, the expansion of the Parkour Singapore.
Serving as Co-administrator of Parkour Singapore – From 2006 till 2019. Consultation for the Parkour Park in Lakeside Garden. Continuously advocating for the proper training of Parkour for function, longevity, with strength & conditioning and the education of Parkour in Singapore to the public – Since 2006.
Click here to go back to Glen’s Parkour profile page.