069: Sebastien Foucan on pioneering free running

In this week’s episode I speak to a true innovator, pioneer and superstar of human movement – Sebastien Foucan. Sebastien was one of the founding developers of the discipline of parkour and later Sebastien stretched his practice to develop free-running – creative, acrobatic, exploratory, jumping, vaulting, rolling, climbing and interacting with obstacles and environments. Sebastien was also Bond baddy, delivering his art form on the big screen in a breath taking chase sequence with Daniel Craig at the start of Casino Royale! Sebastien has starred in Madonna video and toured with her. In this interview we discuss Sebastien’s early athleticism, the origins of parkour, the split to free-running, the assessment of risk against knowledge of his own physical capabilities, the founding philosophies and links to Bruce Lee’s doctrines and the demands of getting it right on stage and screen. We also find out who was the harder taskmaster Madonna or Bond! I’ve been in awe of Sebastien for many years and it was a compelling, deep yet fun conversation to have. Show notes Early origins of Sebastien's athletic ability Creation of parkour and the split with free running The philosophical nature of three running and the links with Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do  Evaluating risk and understanding of personal physical abilities when performing free running Importance of practice Feeling flow, in the zone, the importance of the environment Delivering free running on the big screen in James Bond Casino Royale movie The demands of touring with Madonna Sustaining performance as Sebastien gets older Mentoring others and being the Obi-Wan Kenobi of free running   Links https://twitter.com/SebastienFoucan https://www.foucan.com/   Supporting Champions on Twitter www.twitter.com/support_champs Steve Ingham on Twitter www.twitter.com/ingham_steve Supporting Champions on Linkedin, www.linkedin.com/company/supporting-champions Instagram https://www.instagram.com/supportingchampions/ A reminder if you’re keen to pre-register for the next wave of Graduate Membership enrolments then you can do so at https://supportingchampions.co.uk/membership/ If you’re looking for some coaching support or some virtual team development help to support you to get to the next level in work, life or sport then take a look at https://supportingchampions.co.uk/coaching-mentoring/ or drop us a note at [email protected] then you can sign up for a free consultation to explore which package is right for you.