As a child Joshua Hill would be on the playground swinging on the monkey bars long after all the other children had left.

But as a teenager he started to put all that hanging around to good use by becoming a parkour enthusiast.

To define parkour, think Spider Man, but without the webbing. The 23-year-old climbs walls, jumps fences and scales things that really weren't intended to be scaled.

Parkour enthusiasts refer to what they do as a "sport" and do it for fitness and good fun.

Joshua will be teaching a workshop tomorrow during the Youth Culture Festival on the fourth floor of Bull's Head Car Park from 12 noon to 6 p.m.

There will also be skateboarders, BMXers, rollerbladers, graffiti, dance troupes and fashionistas.

Reporter Jessie Moniz met up with Joshua, a student at the Bermuda College, to learn more about parkour.

Q: How did you get into parkour?

A: I first heard about it when I saw a documentary called 'Jump London' which was about Sebastien Foucan who was one of the co-founders along with another guy called David Belle. They had a documentary about him going to London which is probably the second big city where it kicked off after Paris.

Q: So you were inspired by the documentary?

A: I was always the kind of kid who played on the monkey bars and kept doing it long after everyone else.

Q: So you took training in it?

A: I was 16 or 17 when I first heard about it, and living in Toronto, Canada. That period was right after Toronto had its first website about parkour for people to meet up with each other. Immediately, I found other people and was able to train and learn about it. It was kind of a long journey since then, six years later.

Q: Tell me about the workshop.

A: We are getting some wooden blocks made up to teach some basic movements. I will be doing a workshop every two hours, but I will be out there with people all day. I will teaching people things like how to dissipate the shock of a jump. How to get over low walls, say about three foot high, which is probably the most common thing in our environment. We will be looking at how to climb up higher walls. We will also be looking at how to jump between two different gaps, among other things.

Q: How do you know you're not teaching someone to break into a house or something?

A: It's hilarious, because a lot of people ask me that. It is a common thing I have heard in Toronto. A martial artist also teaches skills that you could use in a bad way. What helps is the discipline from learning it prevents you from being in bad circles. A person who dedicates himself to martial arts doesn't end up in street fights all the time. It's the same with Parkour.

Q: Have you ever injured yourself?

A: I have only ever had two serious injuries. I was actually vaulting over a marble staircases. It was winter in Toronto and there was a thin layer of ice that I couldn't see. As soon as my hands touched it... I hit my knee and fractured my knee cap. A couple months after that, I short jumped something and did something to the tendons. That was a four month heal time. After that I didn't have any serious injuries for the next five years.

Q: So people do get hurt sometimes?

A: Knowing other people who do parkour I have only seen a couple serious injuries. It is probably a lot safer than things like soccer in terms of injuries. It is because a lot of things can be done simply and you move up gradually from there. Most of the time you don't do something unless you know you can make it. More often it is the actual environment failing you like rocks breaking or a wall coming apart, that causes injury.

Q: Any restrictions to people taking part in the workshop.

A: Yes, you have to have a medical waiver when you sign up. The waiver form is online. If you are under 18 you need to have a parent present.

Q: When you approach something like parkour at the Bull's Head carpark, do you just start doing it, or do you have to survey the area first to think about how you are going to scale a wall ?

A: The general gist of parkour is getting from point A to point B as efficiently as you can using your body. Normally, I would think I want to get there, and I let my body figure out the best ways of getting there. I figure out naturally what I need to do. That comes from practicing so long. If someone was really chasing me, I wouldn't have time to think about doing this move and that move. It has to be ingrained. If it isn't second nature it wouldn't be useful if you tried to use it in an actual emergency.

Q: When you are practicing do you ever have people come and tell you to stop doing that?

A: In Toronto more so than in Bermuda. In Toronto it is not trespassing unless you are asked to leave and don't leave. Most of the time when someone approaches you you explain what you are doing and walk away. In Bermuda we haven't had too much of a problem because of how small it is. I try and be respectful. Most of the places I train at are only used during the day. So I try and train first thing in the morning or late evening. I have been stopped by the police once or twice. You explain what you are doing, and they usually just say, 'don't mess up the walls', or 'you shouldn't be here'. Then I just walk away. As long as you are respectful, they usually don't have much of an issue.