VIII . 2 Parkour - history
Georges Hébert
In Western Europe , a forerunner of parkour was French naval officer Georges Hébert , who before World War I promoted athletic skill based on the models of indigenous tribes he had met in Africa . He noted , " their bodies were splendid , flexible , nimble , skillful , enduring , and resistant but yet they had no other tutor in gymnastics but their lives in nature ." His rescue efforts during the 1902 eruption of Mount Pelée on Saint-Pierre , Martinique , reinforced his belief that athletic skill must be combined with courage and altruism . Hébert became a physical education tutor at the college of Reims in France . Hébert set up a " méthode naturelle " ( natural method ) session consisting of ten fundamental groups : walking , running , jumping , quadrupedal movement , climbing , balancing , throwing , lifting , self-defence , swimming . These were intended to develop " the three main forces ": energetic ( willpower , courage , coolness , and firmness ), moral ( benevolence , assistance , honour , and honesty ) and physical ( muscles and breath ). During World War I and World War II , teaching continued to expand , becoming the standard system of French military education and training . Inspired by Hébert , a Swiss architect developed a " parcours du combattant "— military obstacle course — the first of the courses that are now standard in military training and which led to the development of civilian fitness trails and confidence courses .
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