The Mountain Athlete; Ammad Parkour

One thing that both life and sports have in common is that they both teach us discipline, focus and balance.

Life is not a game to be played aimlessly and for no reason, sports is also not something to be played easily; it requires your core purpose, sacrifice, hard work and focus. Athletes who pay attention to these basic but pivotal things succeed in both life and sports.

The newer and more unique the game is, the more dangerous it is. In this article, I will share with you the story of a dangerous game and a player who dedicated his life to this game and was called the son of the mountains.

Ammad Parkour was born on June 17, 1998 In Quetta, City of Pakistan. Ammad started school at the age of 5 at Universal Public High School in Quetta. At the age of 13 Ammad started playing sports. The first sport he joined was Wushu which he trained for 1 year and won a gold medal in the nationals of Wushu, soon after he was introduced to Parkour. Ammad proved to be extremely talented in Parkour and showed a high interest in the sport.

He joined a Parkour team that consisted of 12 other boys. Ammad finished his matric in 2016 and FSc in 2018.

Ammad has worked as stuntman for movies and ads such as Teefa in trouble (2018), Umru Ayaar (2021) Jazz (2019), Samsung (2021), Nestle (2018) and has performed parkour with his team in different ceremonies such as Army Wushu Championship (2015 – 2019 consecutively), Opening ceremony of all Pakistan T-20 Cricket cup Quetta 2014, Opening ceremony of Jiu Jitsu nationally games Lahore 2015, Opening ceremony of Wushu national games (2015 – 2021 consecutively), Opening ceremony of Football national games 2014,
2015, 2018, 2019, 2021.

Ammad has won Gold Medal in Wushu National Games 2014 and Silver Medal 2x in Jiu Jitsu National Games Lahore 2015.

Ammad’s journey was not as easy as it seems, Ammad said that he has faced numerous difficulties. The journey starts with self-conviction followed by family concerns and non supportive attitudes. For a dangerous sport like Parkour, there is a lack of basic facilities, education, training and health facilities, due to which the athlete himself and his family suffer from various problems.

Ammad said, “But to achieve your goal in life, you have to consistently perform at your best with hard work, sacrifice and focus. Mindset is the most important thing for a player. If they only look at their problems, they will not be able to improve their professional skills.

Ammad has become an inspiration to many new players who don’t let their limited resources and problems stop them from achieving their goals, but instead hone their skills through hard work and dedication and make a unique place in society.

A lot of work needs to be done regarding sports in Pakistan. In this regard, the government as well as the social society and the corporate sector need to work together.
We, as the nation, need to remember that an athlete is the ambassador of the nation, so he/ she represent not only his/her sport, but the whole country, so throughout his/her journey, the whole nation needs to support them.

Pakistan is a very fortunate country in the sense that there are players of every sport who can improve the image of Pakistan at the global level through sports and give a message of peace to the world by providing proper guidance and facilities. They can show the world a positive face of Pakistan. Ammad is an example that if we support our youth, they can achieve success at every level and make their country famous.

It’s very true for athletes, you cannot achieve success easily, and you have to pay the price of it. They have to go through many obstacles and barriers to break. They can only win if they have a winning attitude and right mindset.

Hardships of life and timely hurdles won’t be able to force you to lose, you have to have the spirit of never giving up, it seems very simple but athletes like Ammad can make it, you too can make your family and country proud.

Ammad parkour said that Gold medals aren’t really made of gold. They’re made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.”

Ammad parkour said that credit of all his achievements goes to his amicable wife Binafsha Didar.

Text and Pictures by: Syed Adeel Zaman