Nobody Knows About Parkour In Arkansas (Springdale & Fayetteville)
- Ezra Schroer
- Jan 8, 2018
- 5 min read
About a year ago I was chatting with this urban explorer in the UK (Lexplore) and we were asking where exactly we live, and when I said Arkansas, he asked me “What state is that in bro?”
To people not living in the US, Arkansas isn’t really a known area. We don’t have any amazing parkour gyms or parks, and nobody has heard about any spots. But there are two gymnastic gyms, one trampoline park, a climbing gym, and tons of great training spots in the North West area where I live.
Springdale
Springdale is my hometown and where I train the most. Here is a list of some of the better spots: (There are links to maps of the spots if you click on the pictures)
High School
There are three main training areas at the Springdale High School. We first have the main area, 'famous' for it's massive gap and dive kong, also a great place for flips and other challenges.
On the other side of the school we have the 2nd spot. It's cool for some small runs, OK pre's and some cat leaps plus flips.
The final spot of the High School is a newly constructed area and now looks a little different than it's picture.
Here's one of my YouTube videos that goes to all three areas of the High School spots:
Phat Tire
Phat Tire is mainly one area. It was a small fun spot at first, and then a new park was built and it became one of the best in Springdale. It is perfect for flips of different height, vaults, some pre's and tons of oppurtunities perfect for epic runs.
Here's another one of my videos that shows part of the spot and what you can do at Phat Tire. Check out more of my videos to see more:
The Jones Center
Bit farther from all the other spots is the Jones Center. If you want to go play basketball at their indoor or outdoor courts, go swimming in the indoor pool, lift weights, or even go ice skating, you can do all that and train! There are some very good spots around the area with different types of training styles, from bars, to pre's, to perfect runs.
There's one bar setup to do some lache's if you enjoy that, and it's also a great place to meet and warm up.
Next we have one very large running pre up, and you can also standing it downwards. The other part of it is a bunch of small pillars/walls that are great for a series of standing pre's and practicing sticking. Oh yeah, and one ginormous concrete chair (I don't know why it's there, it just is).
Next we have a spot with some low walls that get higher in some parts. There are places to jump and flip large "gaps" over sidewalks onto grass. Good for some runs, pre's; more of a fun spot really.
The best spot is this one. It has great walls, rail strides, and is the place to film runs. This is the main Jones spot so definitely go there.
Final spot doesn't not a lot to offer really. It has some widely spaced rails and couple walls that aren't crazy for runs. It still is a great place to end a day of training and just chill doing flips with friends.
Here's a YouTube video of the Jones Center:
There are other great spots in Springdale, here are some photos of the better ones:
The only gym that could be used for parkour is the Ozark Climbing Gym. They have a sprung floor, mats, and climbing walls. You could technically have a good session there, but last time I went there they didn't really like parkour so it's kinda hazy, but yeah...
Fayetteville
Fayetteville has a different style than Springdale. While Springdale has more grass and places to flip on, Fayetteville has more concrete and jumps; more parkour spots than freerunning. But there are some legendary spots to train at:
Youngman Power Gap
The name for the Youngman Power Gap was inspired by the Man Power Gap in France, which is really nothing like this at all, except that's it's a gap with a drop in between. It also has some great walls for runs and things. Great for training pre's, vaults, and height confidence.
Video at this spot:
Archillect
Interesting architecture staircase. Very cool place to do some runs. Some other similar things nearby. Good place for being creative with a spot, as well as sticking and height confidence.
YouTube video here:
at& wallz
A personal favorite of mind, just some small walls and some grass. Good for cat leaps, vaults, and some chill training.
Video at this spot:
Fayetteville Library
Great, gigantic library, that also has some great spots around it! Pretty chill training area, good for vaults, pre's, rail strides, acsents, descents, and all sorts of stuff!
Video:
Dixon Street Church (Jesus Christ It's Freerunning)
One of the best spots in Fayetteville, a grand chapel near Dixon Street. Great walls and pre's and flips and it's just really a great spot just go there go there now right now do you here me stop reading this and go there right now.
University Of Arkansas
Like all universities, the U of A offers amazing spots. It possibly holds the best spots in Arkansas, with all sorts of challenges at varying levels, including the the iconic "Teenman Power Gap," among others. Good for training basically anything...except maybe lache's (these are hard to find in Arkansas). It is also the meeting place of the annual Revival Jam in December and is a favorite of the locals.
Video riiiiight here:
Just like Springdale, there are some spots that I didn't include that are still good to train at, here are some photos of those:
The gym in Fayetteville is a proper gymnastics gym, Gymnastic Joe's. It has tons of mats in varying shapes, a sprung floor, something-similar-to-an-air-track, a foam pit, and two extremely bouncy trampolines. It doesn't have any solid areas like some parkour gyms, and surprisingly has no bars, but has a good small community and is a great place to train and try new things, especially in winter. They offer both gymnastic and parkour classes, I currently attend the advanced parkour class on Wednesdays and it has massively helped my progression. Open gyms are normally two to three days a week, and they have more in the winter. Their website can be found here. I made a video here.
The parkour community in Arkansas is growing stronger, for example, the first Arkansas parkour jam was on December 26th, 2017, with only five people showing up (some couldn't make it or where sick) but it was better than no people. More jams in the summer might be happening, and the winter Revival Jam will be an annual event, now on the American Parkour event page. Part of the reason I wrote this blog was so that more people could know about Arkansas and hopefully more people would visit this area to train. A sequel will be coming soon for Bentonville and Rogers, once I have explored all of the area and found the best spots. Be sure to share this to your fellow freerunners and spread the word of Arkansas!
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