I'm halfway there! (kinda)

What’s New Since Last Month?

40 coaching hours completed!

I did it! The ADAPT Level 2 certificate requires a candidate to complete a coaching assessment and a performance assessment. Before either of these can be taken, though, the candidate needs to complete 40 hours of reflective coaching.

My 40th hour was completed on May 20, 2026! 🎉 

Reflecting on every class has been very useful, so I’ll continue this practice well past the 40 hours. I’ve already done it for hours 41 & 42, and plan to keep doing it for the last classes of the Spring 1 session.

Also, there’s that! There are only 2 more weeks left in my first program year of coaching at the Door County YMCA! How exciting 🥰 

Outdoor Classes at the YMCA!

Outdoor classes got approved for this summer at the Door County YMCA!

Sam and I shot some video of me doing basic parkour movements around the backyard of the Y to showcase what I might be able to teach the students. She edited and produced a 2-minute showreel that I gave to the leadership at the Y, and they gave it to their insurance partner.

Without anything more than a simple caveat (i.e., “as long as you’re not engaging in anything riskier than what is being taught in the gymnastics gym setting”), they approved us! “Parkour in the Park” is officially launching at the Door Count Y for its first season from June 19th - August 14th on Fridays at 6:00pm-7:30pm, behind the Y in Peterson Park.

Completely Abandoning “Door Parkour LLC”

This was something that I had a hard time coming to terms with, but the plan to launch it 2 years from now didn’t make any sense. Part of it is due to the approval I got from the Y to teach parkour classes outdoors, and part of it is I don’t know where I’ll be or what I’ll be doing in 2028. Maybe the Y will give me everything I need to spread parkour further in the county. Why bother going through all the trouble of starting my own venture and paying for my own insurance when the Y can give me all the support I need?

It just felt like a no-brainer to focus on the present and what I’m currently building at the Y instead of splitting my resources between the Y and a venture that might go nowhere and has no current social capital in the community.

I tore down the website https://doorparkour.com and am going in to close the business checking account this week. It was a nice idea, but I don’t think it’s the best way forward right now. Maybe it will be someday, in which case I’ll start everything back up again. Thankfully I was careful that this “mini adventure” didn’t cost me much money while I was pursuing it.

Parkour Meetup in Madison

On May 23rd, Shelby Copeland hosted a parkour meetup at Steenbock Library on the UW-Madison campus! I went and got to meet her and a couple of other traceurs from the Madison area, as well as meet up with my old friends, Joey and Alissa, from Wisconsin Parkour.

I was sore the rest of the long Memorial Day weekend! Plenty of good times were had, and I’m excited to have some support from WIPK for my new outdoor classes at the Y this summer. They’ll share some curriculum with me from back in their coaching days and I’ll do my best to apply it to the Y classes.

ADAPT Level 2 Performance Assessment Training

I managed to get some baseline measurements for the benchmarks I’m expected to hit as part of the ADAPT Level 2 assessment, and long story short, I have a lot of work in front of me to prepare my body for that assessment lol

My 5k needs to be about 50% faster, my QM 25% faster, and I need to get 12 more push-ups in a 90-second window than I’m currently cranking out. I also need to be able to do 10x more climb-ups than I’m currently able to do. A lot of this is fat loss, but there’s just as much muscle to be gained here.

Exciting stuff! I’m training all of these things at least once a week now just to get myself into a routine. Success is a habit, after all.

Grant approved!

These precision trainers from last month’s post are officially funded and being ordered! I got to talk to Mark Toorock on the phone about the intended uses of it, and it turns out we get to be the first customers to receive the latest upgrade to the precision trainer!

Oh, and we got approved for 4 of them!

We’re currently expecting these to arrive before my outdoor classes start in June.

Reading about parkour history & philosophy

I’ve been reading Ciné Parkour to learn more about parkour’s history and the founders’ philosophies of parkour. It’s a book recommended by Joey and written by the most famous filmmaker in the parkour scene.

Julie Angel has personally met and interviewed all of the Yamakasi, as well as plenty of other people close to them. It’s been a truly eye-opening read and a book that I wish I’d started reading 10 years ago when I was still fully immersed in the community.

What’s Next?

Right now, I’m just gearing up for a 2-week vacation Sam and I are taking out to California and Oregon from June 8th to the 16th. That means helping my coworker (and friend) get up to speed on my team’s work so she can cover for me, and continuing my ADAPT Level 2 training. It also means planning how I want classes to look for the first outdoor session at the YMCA, because right when I get back, Friday the 19th will be the first class!

Lots to do between now and June 8th. Thankfully I’ve got a couple of weeks. Looking forward to reporting back on the early success of those classes!