PKTO: The begining
PTKO was created in 2004 when a group of people who trained together in Toronto felt the need to have a website in order to round up all the people who were starting to get into Parkour. 2004 is the year that Parkour really started to grow in the Greater Toronto Area and we knew it was a great time to make a site as we would indefinitely find more people to train with through it.
In the summer of 2004 we got tired of using UF's site to organize and a temporary site was launched which held brief info about us, some pictures we were taking and a couple community videos. We also had a forum, and I'll speak for myself by saying I used to load it a million times a day but I'm sure the others weren't that far off either. We were very proud back then, and every member that signed up brought along a new moment of sheer excitement to all of our eyes.
That fall saw the most people ever come out to meets, we had our first 'PKTO Rookie Meet' and it seemed as if we were all having a huge blast. We set out together to explore the city subway station by subway station. We slowly jotted down everything in the city this way and people made virtual maps of common security-free routes to train at and hidden gems within the city people may not have known about. This is how we originally started that community buildup and I still to this day think it was one of our best ideas. Anyone who ever asked what to do and where, we would have tons to tell them. It also made us realize it was a great city for Parkour and because of that we were inspired to put it to the best of use.
Not all was well though, as with growth comes certain problems. A couple attitudes within the original group changed, and there was a few disagreements. I personally found out the hard way back then that not everyone has the same views and same conceptions of Parkour, and some people do want to get certain egotistical things from it. Now a days it's the norm to me, and as Parkour has grown it's a common thing to see out there. Unfortunately, back then a few of us were very shocked and didn't know how to take this and it really hurt us.
This saw one of the main members of PKTO, and one of the originals that I first got into Parkour with leave the site and take the domain name he bought with him. His site still stands at PKTO.COM as a reminder of the difference of minds. It was sad, and I lost a lot of sleep some nights because of it. As I mentioned above I questioned why we couldn't just all work together as that's how I thought it should always be. I still think every community should be standing strong together instead of against each other. An offer still stands today to reunite the sites, but I think it might be an offer that will sit there forever. I took it very seriously back then, like something died. Little did I know it was a small hurdle for a big road ahead.
At that same time more and more people started showing up to the site, and more and more people wanted to start Parkour, so we slowly put that problem behind us and moved on. Essentially we had to! It's not that we wanted to hide this from people, I was always very open and still am about it, but it was that, people should never be focusing on anything negative when they get into a new passtime. This was a big big point I tried to make and try to get everyone around me to make. The happier you are and the more real you are with people, the more that positivity will spread around. If you smile and treat everyday of Parkour as you did on your first, you will always get that same reaction back.
I tried to run official rookie meets for new people myself every 2 month, and we made it clear all over the site that everyone was allowed to come out to all other meets which were happening 4-5 times a week. Emails were answered diligently, people were spreading the news, site names were writing on papers for people who saw us on the street. We limited no one and invited everyone.
That fall we had some great turnouts and even saw travelers from the UK, Vancouver, Montreal and Ottawa stop by to come enjoy the fun. This was totally wild to us, Parkour was growing out of thin air and we were meeting some of the greatest people because of it. The summer after that we just continued on with the same theme; no teams, no cliques, everyone can try, everyone is welcome. It worked out wonderful and a family type environment soon developed. We had a call out to everyone in North America to come out for a big jam in Toronto that summer and it was filled with memories that will never go away. That's what it's all about.
Fast forward to 2008 and it's overwhelming to an extent what this has brought the community of Southern Ontario.To myself the community has become literally a symbiotic thing to my life, where as it has it's ups and downs and I feel each and every one of them. Me and the community share our highs and our lows, and without it I don't know what I would do! My fellow original members I started the site with are gone now for the most part, all for their own reasons and I wish them all the best. Without them PKTO would not be here in the way it is today, and I'm so grateful for what I learnt from them through the years. They are always invited back without a blink of an eye, and I know they all know that deep down. We will cross paths again I'm sure.
Now a days to help I have a ton of eager volunteers at my side and even more leaders around in various communities sharing positive experiences and input with me to help the site along. I still run it with that original spirit in mind; communal input put into action. In order to do that because of its growth I travel around to place to place listening to what other people have to say, meeting the people that use the website, watch what they are doing and try my best to reflect it through events and other things on the website. We recently started a wedge system on PKTO where other cities can showcase what they are doing and those community leaders can organize their pictures, videos and more as they start up just like we did back in the day with PKTO. There is a ton of growing communities within and around Southern Ontario and I want them all to have an equal voice and the same potential for the future.
Where the time brings us from now on is always up in the air, but one thing will be for certain. Everything we do through the good times and the bad times at PKTO will be focused around the individual and giving them the most ways to get into Parkour with the best methods we can possibly spread throughout the community. Hand in hand I hope we continue growing, and the day that stops, is the day the site will close and I too will go merrily along my way like many have before.
It's all about the fun, the smiles, the excitement and the joys of treating Parkour as if each day is your first. The essence of PKTO is found within there.
-Danno