When Steve DiGirolamo walks around, whether it's in the woods, a park or an urban landscape, he sees opportunity.
He sees the opportunity to vault, flip, climb and perform any number of maneuvers that are part of the sport of parkour, in which participants look to quickly, efficiently navigate a path through nearly any environment.
“I really liked the freedom of it,” said DiGirolamo, 24, owner of Steel City Parkour in Murrysville. “There's nothing like this around, and I wanted an alternative for kids that's similar to gymnastics, but structured differently.”
DiGirolamo saw his opportunity in a former gymnastics facility on Borland Farm Road. This weekend he will be joined by two of the sport's premier practitioners, Shawn Bautista and Alfred Scott, who was the winner of the “Best Trick” in the 2015 Red Bull Art of Motion parkour competition.
The pair will help DiGirolamo conduct youth clinics during the day and a freestyle session for adults in the evening.
“There's no competition,” DiGirolamo said. “It's just a way to have fun, and the side effect is you get in great shape.”
Christian Winchell, 23, recently moved from his hometown of Mahopac, N.Y., to Export to take a job at Steel City Parkour, which he has practiced for the past seven years.
“I always loved hiking and rock-climbing as a kind, so parkour and free-running is a way for me to sharpen those skills, while continuing to play as I did when I was young,” Winchell said.
Andrew Obenreder, 25, formerly of Penn Hills, was invited to Mexico City in 2014 to participate in an international parkour event, and loved it so much he decided to move there.
“The community here completely opened its arms to me. I just fell in love with the people,” he said. “Here in Mexico City, the (parkour) community is one of the biggest I've ever trained with … there's also 24 million people in this city, and that makes for a lot more people who might be interested than in Pittsburgh.”
Obenreder, who organized the Pittsburgh Parkour Association in 2005, said a lot of people get caught up in the physicality of parkour, when for him it is more about problem-solving.
“Parkour concepts are fundamental things we all use,” he said. “It's not limited to a specific environment … it can be a park, a tree, a bench or a table, but you can train anywhere.
“You can absolutely do it anywhere,” Obenreder said. “The idea is overcoming obstacles, whether they're physical or mental.”
DiGirolamo discovered enough interest to start up Steel City Parkour, where he emphasizes practicing the sport in a responsible way.
“It's teaching people how to land safely,” he said. “If people want to do flips, we show them how to do them safely. Everyone can find something they're good at, whether it's the flips or the climbing.”
Obenreder agreed that being safe is paramount to proper parkour, and admitted he's come a long way since watching parkour videos in 2003 and being entranced at “watching a bunch of guys jumping off balconies.”
“Safety is at the forefront of what we're doing,” he said, emphasizing its inclusionary aspects. “You don't need special shoes, pants, gloves or equipment; you're born with the tools.”
Winchell said he loves that parkour can be different for everyone who tries it.
“The skills I practice and enjoy can be completely opposite from the movements my friends are doing, and that's awesome,” he said. “We always inspire each other to see our surroundings differently and enjoy moving to stay fit.”
Patrick Varine is a staff writer for the Tribune-Review. He can be reached at 724-850-2862 or pvarine@tribweb.com.
