Rohnert Park gym aims to provide safe place for parkour

On his fifth try, Zack Kleinfeld nailed the warped wall. The 10-year-old from Santa Rosa ran up the 15-foot quarter-pipe painted to look like a wave, palmed the top edge, pulled himself up and looked down on the faux-urban landscape inside Flying Frog Academy, Sonoma County’s only gym dedicated to the budding sport of parkour.

“It’s fun to try and get up there,” Zack said. “When you get it, it’s a good feeling, like you can finally do something you’ve been trying to do.”

The goal of parkour practitioners, known as traceurs, is to move through an environment such as a playground, parking garage or obstacle course as fluidly and efficiently as possible, like a ninja in a movie.

Started in France 20 years ago, the sport has exploded in popularity recently thanks to widely viewed online videos of people running up walls, jumping between buildings and flipping, twisting and spinning through urban environments. (Purists would call those flourishes “free running,” a showy offshoot of parkour.)

In Sonoma County, groups of traceurs began practicing at Santa Rosa High School, outside the Rohnert Park Library and at other places with concrete features. Eventually, Rohnert Park Gymnastics began offering parkour classes.

“In April, we had a ‘come-to-God’ moment,” said Erik Taomage, who ran the parkour program at Rohnert Park Gymnastics. “We saw this thing taking off and thought, ‘Do we have what it takes to open our own facility?’?”

Taomage, whose background is in gymnastics, and some partners in the local parkour community found a 6,000-square-foot warehouse in Rohnert Park and opened Flying Frog in September. The membership has grown to more than 140 students, who learn skills in a safe, controlled environment, Taomage said.

“We’re teaching respect for the sport and discipline,” he said. “It’s not about getting crazy.”

Christian Fairfax, 23, a co-owner of Flying Frog, grew up doing gymnastics in Rohnert Park, but once he discovered parkour, he was hooked and started teaching classes.

“Gymnastics was getting old for me,” he said. “I thought parkour was the coolest thing and looked way more fun. It reminded me of Jackie Chan movies.”

On a recent morning, two dozen kids ages 6 to 14 swung from bars, mounted padded obstacles and flipped into a giant foam pit. Jeff Ledger, a Santa Rosa parent of two boys, said the gym is a great place for his kids to practice the moves that they have seen online.

“I didn’t realize a place existed where they could come and flip through the air,” he said. “This is awesome. I’d much rather they come here, where they can be supervised.”

Last year, a Maria Carrillo High School student was in a coma for several weeks after falling off the roof of Montgomery High School while practicing parkour, authorities said at the time.

Deborah Carter-Hope, who is a nanny to three kids looking for something to do on their school break, found the gym to be a great place for them to expend some energy. “All kids should have something like this,” she said.

Flying Frog offers a three-day winter kids camp next week from Monday through Wednesday. The rest of the year, classes are offered on weekday evenings and Saturdays. The gym also hosts birthday parties.

Justin Wray, 25, started doing parkour five years ago. Now, he shares his love of the sport with younger students.

“My favorite thing is seeing students succeed in something they’ve struggled with,” he said. “When they first get it, that excitement is great to see.”

You can reach Staff Writer Matt Brown at 521-5206 or matt.brown@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @ MattBrownPD.