Hello!! And welcome to this new blog series I’m writing for Free Your Instinct aiming to give you an insight to better understand Parkour and the benefits of it.
My name is Will Fraser-Coombe and this blog is introducing you to who I am and what experience I have both with Parkour and Mental Health. Currently I’m a firefighter and a Coach of various sporting disciplines and a volunteer with FYI. I still actively train and coach Parkour as well and hope my insights will be of use to you.
I have been doing Parkour for 9 years now and coaching for the best part of that as well. For most of that time I was a part of the London Parkour scene; training with some of the best athletes in the world and even living with one for a few years. I have been to many international events and met hundreds if not thousands of practitioners throughout that time. I have also coached a variety of ages and abilities and learn as much through coaching as I do from training.
As well as having a vast experience with the sport; I have also a deep, personal understanding of mental health issues. I am personally dealing with Bipolar Disorder. Finding a way to deal with my own struggles has lead me down the path to helping others with theirs; which has led me to coaching. Now coaching the sport for me is the best way I know how to help others and is also in turn a way of helping myself.
Now that puts me in a position of strength to assist with FYI; who I whole heartedly believe in. My role with them is simple, help out with their website and write content like this! My experiences with both aspects of what they deal with (mental health and Parkour) will hopefully mean I can put out great and insightful content for those reading this!
If anyone reading any of my blogs has any questions on the topics I write about, feel free to contact me at will@freeyourinstinct.org and I will always be happy to help! I hope you enjoy the blogs.
For more information on Bipolar Disorder and my experience with it, head over to my old blog where I talk a lot more about that side of things: https://beingbipolarweb.wordpress.com/
Thanks,
Will
