Pratama, a resident of Bekasi, West Java, and a professional parkour athlete, participated in the first series of the Brick Parkour Asian Tour 2023 in Tangerang, Banten, on August 12–13, 2023.
The competition featured three categories — speed, freestyle, and skill.
Pratama dominated the freestyle category with his fluid and graceful movements in moving through obstacles, such as flipping or jumping through walls, beams, and bars.
He finished ahead of Gavryel G. Denel (runner-up) and Husnul Mubaraq (third place).
However, for him, parkour is not about achievement.
His main goal in participating in the first series of the Brick Parkour Asian Tour was to promote the sport in the country so that it can be developed further.
"So the education of parkour can be developed more widely, not just locally," he said.
With the sport's development, new parkour athletes can emerge and relations with parkour associations overseas can be formed, in addition to making achievements in various competitions, he explained.
He said that rather than just bringing a gold medal home, a determination to make the sport famous in the country is also important.
"It is very important, in fact, the most impactful. (For instance,) we invite them for 'jamming' for pointing out good spots for skill improvement," he added.
Jamming is a gathering of parkour athletes where they share techniques and practice methods among fellow practitioners.
Pratama has been practicing parkour for a long time, as evidenced by several awards, one of which is the Best Trick award, which he won at the Lion City Gathering, Singapore, in January 2016 after defeating athletes from Asia, America, Europe, and Australia.
That time, he competed under his name because there was no Indonesian parkour federation. Currently, the sport is under the purview of the Indonesian Gymnastics Association (Persani).
"In my experience, I was one of the first (Indonesian) people to compete abroad who got the podium (victory). It was 2016 in Singapore, but I was still alone," Pratama said.
The 29-year-old expressed the hope that the implementation of the Brick Parkour Asian Tour 2023 will lead to Indonesian athletes competing in international parkour championships with the national Red and White flag.
He said Brick Parkour Asian Tour 2023 blessed not only him, but also his friends in the parkour world who welcomed the event with great enthusiasm.
He informed that an old friend from Malaysia came to the event, and another friend who is Singaporean, showed interest in the event.
Dedication in parkour
Pratama got interested in parkour in 2008 and joined the parkour community in 2009.
In the beginning, he learned a lot from Bruce, a parkour practitioner in Pasuruan, East Java.
A decade into the sport he loved, there was no official federation that managed it, but he did not give up. His dedication remained strong and he and his friends actively held parkour events independently so that the sport could reach a wider audience.
"We have hope in parkour because it has been too long, in 10 years (of practicing parkour), it has been 5 years that we are used to making our own events," said the self-taught athlete.
He often held parkour competitions and he spread information about them through his Facebook page with the offer of prizes from sponsors.
"That time, I share the information on Facebook and Youtube, where the community met there," he said.
Besides holding parkour events, Pratama has also been creating content and actively sharing the ins and outs of the parkour world through the #GiniCaraGue and #BelajarParkour hashtags on his Instagram handle @hamypratama.
Pratama said that he is proud of the development of parkour in Indonesia, with the sport growing quite rapidly because all people can participate, in it — not only adults, but also children, women, and old women.
He proudly introduces himself as a part of Indonesian parkour, and not a particular local parkour community.
One reason for this is that he has traveled to several regions and promoted the sport there. Once he lived for a long time in Lombok and created a parkour community there. He also formed communities in Sidoarjo, East Java, and Parepare, South Sulawesi.
So, if one asks him which parkour community he is from, he will say he is from the Indonesian parkour community.
Befriending fear
As the sport emphasizes efficiently moving from one point to another with movements such as running, climbing, swinging, rolling, and jumping, parkour practitioners are no strangers to injuries.
Pratama said the parkour world cannot be separated from injuries. An accident once left him with an elbow injury. However, it did not keep him away from the sport.
"Parkour actually does not erase fear, it befriends fear. Our friendship with fear is what keeps us safe. If we eliminate fear, we will be reckless, careless, and not consider our own abilities," he said.
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Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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