Parkour developed in France in the 1980's. A very strong man called Raymond Belle was in the French military.He rescued people and was a hero.He taught his son, David, that it was important to be strong in order to be useful in life. At fifteen, David joined the military too. There, he learned to do obstacle courses, or parcours. He also remembered what his father had taught him. He and eight friends fromed a group called Yamakasi. Yamakasi is and African word.It means'strong spirit,strong person'.They began to use parcours in a very free way.They wanted to test and improve themselves through movement.They began to use city building as obstacle courses and Parkour was born