Vance Poubel: Parkour genius and Feet of Tomorrow ambassador.

VANCE POUBEL: PARKOUR GENIUS AND FEET OF TOMORROW AMBASSADOR.

Vance Poubel is one of those people who, just by meeting him, invites us to join the movement, whether through one of his millions of views on social media, or in a brief conversation. Internationally recognized for his work with Parkour, Vance is part of the Feet of Tomorrow ambassador team.

Talking to the athlete, one fact becomes obvious: the cinematic and risky jumps are a small expression of a brilliant and restless mind, which sees sport as one of the ways to channel its depth.

"A very common thing in Parkour is the risk of death, in a very common and intense way. You coordinate your body to run towards the abyss, but it is not an extreme sport, because ironically you do not do it for the adrenaline, since you are deeply focused" says Vance.

Unlike simple emotion, which is what is normally considered the motivation of those who practice Parkour, here is the secret that makes the sport magnetic: you face the present time like never before, developing focus – which is a balm for restless minds.

"Parkour makes you capable of learning anything, because it is a sport in which you learn how to learn. You are there, in front of that wall telling you that you can't, and you create a relationship there through your own body, connecting points that were made to be separated, playing cat and mouse with the architecture."

Vance's eccentricity even extends to his feet, which, due to their size and shape, do not fit into most sneaker models on the market. He even wrote to several international brands asking them to bring the appropriate technology to Brazil, but was unsuccessful. When he discovered FOT, it was an instant alignment of functionality and philosophies, since we share a passion for freedom in the power of the body.

"The freedom you feel in Parkour is not that of a flying bird, because the bird is in coherence with the laws around it. You feel free, because the architecture made to limit now becomes, by your decision, part of a movement."

May we challenge the barriers of "normal" around us that conform people to standards that disrespect our nature together. Thanks, Vance!