General Information:
Play On! 2025 will be the second annual competition held at Playgrounds. It is an opportunity for our athletes & athletes from other parkour gyms to compete in events for skill, speed & freestyle!
Dates: March 21st - 23rd, 2025 (March 21st features the pre-competition Gym Jam only. All competitive events will be held on March 22nd & 23rd).
Location: Playgrounds Movement Training Centre - 907 Frederick St. Kitchener ON
Competition Categories: Play On! includes categories for Ages 10 and up, with separate categories for Femmes and Thems ages 10+. Athletes are required to register in the appropriate bracket based on the age they will be on the day of the competition.
Registration Fees: $25 for the first category, and $15 for each additional category*. Athletes registered to compete can attend the pre-competition Gym Jam on March 21st for free! Proof of registration will be required to attend for free. Otherwise, the entrance fee for the pre-competition Gym Jam is $20. This open gym is available for all athletes ages 10+. No rebates will be offered if athletes register to compete following the Gym Jam.
Want to stay & watch your athlete compete? The cost to attend is $15 per person, or $40 for a family pass (up to 5 immediate family members). You can purchase either single or family spectator passes here under "Spectator Passes".
Prizes: Medals will be presented to athletes in each category who place 1st, 2nd & 3rd. First place winners will also receive a Playgrounds t-shirt!
*Discounts apply to each individual registering in multiple categories.
Important Information for Competition Days
For Athletes Competing:
Check in starts at 8:30am on Saturday March 22nd, and at 9am on Sunday March 23rd! Staff will announce and provide instruction for each age group. Warm ups for Saturday's events will take place in our Original Space; our staff will guide each group to this space when it is their time to warm up for their upcoming event.
Please check in with staff no later than 30 minutes prior to your scheduled event's start time. Once you have checked in, you will receive a bracelet indicating which age category you will be competing in. If you leave the building and return you do not need to check in again (you can just show us your bracelet as indication you have already checked in), but you are responsible for returning in time to compete in your upcoming event. If you are competing in events both Satuday and Sunday, you will be required to sign in again on Sunday. A new bracelet will be provided to you upon your sign in on Sunday.
Please note, the schedule is subject to change based on number of participants, but we will do our best to run events as closely to the assigned schedule as possible.
For Spectators:
Doors open at 8:30am on Saturday, and 9am on Sunday! Upon arrival, check in with or register at the front desk at our front entrance. Please note that seating & standing room is limited, and spectator passes will be sold on a first come first serve basis. You can purchase single or family spectator passes in advance here under "Spectator Passes".
SKill
The skill category is designed to test athletes' ability to execute challenges with precision and control. All challenges must be completed with a stick landing for three seconds.
During the preliminary round, athletes will compete simultaneously. Competitors will attempt 8 challenges that must be completed within 20 minutes. At a maximum, the top 8 athletes will be selected to compete in the finals. If there is a tie for how many challenges were completed, then ties are broken by how fast the competitor was able to complete the challenges. The number of athletes that qualify for finals will depend on the total number of athletes competing, and how many athletes complete all challenges.
Athletes that qualify for the finals will then have three challenges that they must complete in three attempts or less, and will be assigned points depending on which attempt they are able to complete the challenge. For example, completing it with your first attempt awards you 3 points, second attempt awards 2 points, etc.
Speed
The speed category tests athletes' ability to complete two preset paths as fast as possible. Athletes will have a chance to practice the courses together, but will compete individually. During the preliminary round, athletes will go in alphabetical order. The total time taken to complete both preliminary courses will determine the preliminary rankings. At a maximum, the top 8 athletes will be selected to compete in the finals, where they will complete one final obstacle course challenge.
The number of athletes that move on to the finals will depend on the number of athletes enrolled in that particular category, and/or in the event of a tie. During the finals challenge, the athletes will go in their ranked order from the preliminaries, from fastest to slowest.
Freestyle
The freestyle category tests athletes’ ability to creatively improvise a combo of skills as a form of artistic expression. A combo is defined as 3 skills linked together (5 for finals) without taking more than two steps between skills. Athletes will be given an hour to familiarize themselves with the tricking space and come up with two preliminary combos and one finals combo which they will compete later that day. Three designated zones will be used during the freestyle event: two zones for each preliminary combo, and a third zone for combos during finals. These zones will be announced at the beginning of the event.
During the preliminaries, athletes will take turns performing their combos and are judged based on difficulty (type of skill, type of floor, obstacle interaction), execution (cleanliness of landings, flow between skills) , and creativity (use of skills in unique contexts). Following the first round, the athletes are scored and the second round begins. Athletes will be able to see their scores from both preliminary rounds, but their scores from both rounds will be combined to determine the overall score ranking of the athletes.
At a maximum, the top 8 scoring athletes will be selected to compete in the finals, where they will compete their 5 skill combos against each other. The number of athletes that qualify for finals will depend on the total number of athletes competing.