Parkour for a 9yo girl?

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

Dd needs something to get her wiggles out. She's completed all the swimming levels offered at the local pool and was interested in Gymnastics but our local leisure centres are all closed (high risk covid area).

There's a private "urban gymnastics" place nearby that is putting on an intro to Parkour session.

Does anyone else have a child of this age doing a hobby like Parkour?

Why not? Sounds like fun! It's more of a boy's thing but so what? Girls sports can be too sedate for many girls and it will give her some amazing skills.

My daughter would love this! I'd Definitely sign her up

My son is a couple of years older but has been doing parkour/free running since that age. He hates competive team sports so the collaborative nature of parkour really appeals to him, as does the "challenge yourself" mentality (as opposed to competing against others). I should say it's overwhelmingly boys at his club, but that's not because girls aren't welcome it's because they tend to choose gymnastics instead of parkour.

All the clips I can find online are of boys

Yes well not all girls want girly sports doing co operative girly things. I hated netball with a passion. Don't push her into lame shit she doesn't enjoy just because something she enjoys is 'for boys'.

She might only want girly things. Or she might want the fun and competitiveness and pushing herself and edge of parkour. She's your child - ask her.

We once had a local trampoline park offering this. DD and DS both loved it

Oh she can be as involved in choosing as much as possible- budget allowing. I am certainly not the type to only allow stereotypically "girls" sports. Far from it.

DD is 10 and does martial arts. She loves it. It’s demanding physically (she comes out of class beetroot in the face and very sweaty), and the face pace and dynamism of it appeals to her.

@BlackberrySky collaborative nature of parkour really appeals to him, as does the "challenge yourself" mentality (as opposed to competing against others)

What a great way to immunise your daughter against the bitchy competitiveness of girls as she gets to 'that age'. Learning this stuff creates successful and confident adults who live for more than their next selfie. Collaborating (as opposed to co operating which basically means doing as you are told) and challenging yourself which means thinking about your own grown as opposed to worrying about being the 'most pretty' the most studious. The cleverest. And all that other toxic shit girls are still spoon fed from birth.

Fast pace! No idea what a face pace is.

A friend of mine’s daughter did this at 9, she really loved it and when on to join the cadets. The parents are really pleased because until then she wasn’t really interested in anything outside the home.

Climbing might be a good one too

Good shout. She's done clip n climb so something a bit less commercial with more instruction would be good.

DD did Parkour for 2 years and loved it. It was such a good activity for her.

There were loads of girls in DS's old parkour class, female instructors too. They even had a family class. She'll love it and I agree, there's something unique about the non-competitive nature of parkour. It's brilliant for all DCs.

Yes mine got into it after enjoying clip and climb. There are quite a few indoor climbing centres around and our local ones are open now albeit with some extra Covid rules.
They organise outdoor sessions too.
It’s really good for fitness and self esteem

Although I'd look for a parkour club affiliated to parkour UK rather than a fancy 'urban gymnastics' group - it'll be cheaper and probably better.

Parkour is an extremely good sport, it's a brilliant ABC sport which are generally the best all round sports as activities for general health.
I think much better than gymnastics as an activity as the focus is on all on limiting risk, injury, recovery from mistakes etc. - e.g. you never try and land in a pose which shows of your strength and control, you land in the way that limits forces on your joints and risk of injury.

As others have said, with the goal very much being about self improvement and challenge it's a good environment. Seen plenty of young girls doing it.

Also climbing and parkour are so different! Ones that buzz of running and jumping the other is more the strength of climbing and focus. So I'm not sure I would consider climbing for a child that needs to run and move. A lot of children wouldn't be suited to both so it would be a case of seeing which she likes more.

Parkour and Climbing have very similar physical requirements, they are very complementary sports and someone who is physically right for one, is likely to do very well in the other, climbing isn't really about strength, it's about body positioning, movement, balance, coordination - exactly the same demands as parkour.

Also similar in the nature that it's about self challenge and growth, rather than competition, but obviously you can still enjoy different things in both and so prefer one or the other, but I think the overlap of children suited would be very, very high.

There's plenty of dynamic climbing and slow parkour though.

At our gym club they do a freestyle gymnastics class which is essentially parkour.