Cordelia Storm is the embodiment of persistence, dedication, and discipline. Her daily training posts are something I look forward to seeing every day, and her skills and progression are truly inspiring!
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How long have you been training?
8 years
What got you into parkour?
I first saw parkour in a student documentary while I was attending Vancouver Film School. It was portrayed almost like a meditative/badass/modern-samurai lifestyle, and my nerdy self thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen . (It was actually Rene Scavington in the vid, I found out later.) Near the end of film school I actually developed an eating disorder, and so when I graduated and returned home to Seattle I tried all these athletic things to be thinner: running, weight lifting, karate, trapeze, and parkour. I was not athletic prior to trying parkour, so it was a big struggle to start, but still it captured my imagination and I fell in love with it. Later parkour became one of the main driving factors that taught me to love my body, and helped me get out of my eating disorder. So, on the surface level, I started parkour because I wanted a more adventurous life, but on a deeper level I stuck with it because it taught me to love myself more.
What do you do for a living?
I'm a coach: I have travelled all over America (and the world) coaching at various gyms and holding workshops, but currently teach in Seattle area at Parkour Visions and Movefree Parkour Academy. I also have my own online coaching company where I coach strength/mobility, nutrition, mindset, and of course parkour.
Do you have any other skills/passions besides parkour? If so, what are they?
I love problem-solving, so I really enjoy fixing people's muscle imbalances through strength training and mobility. I'm studying to become a nutritional therapist as well, which problem-solves peoples' digestive issues for instance. I'm also very interested in the idea of how to help myself and others step out of their own way to be who they see themselves a deep down, so I've studied mindset for a while now. Besides that; I'm a huge nerd so also video games I'd consider a passion too haha.
How do you manage fear when going for something scary?
Most of the time I work on breaking it down into more manageable progressions. But, if it's the case of something I can't create progressions for, I look at it honestly and think, "why it is important to me?" (if it's truly not important, I don't sweat it); and build excitement for how fun/cool/engaging it would be to try. I find focusing on what can go right instead of focusing on what can go wrong helps a lot. Also, if I do fall, I use it as evidence towards trusting myself: such as "I tripped but I caught myself with a roll: I'm so good at ukemi!". That took a while to stop being afraid of falling in front of others, but it's a mindset I've worked on a lot.
Do you have any obstacles that interfere with your training? If so, how do you deal?
I'd say my biggest obstacle right now is myself. Which is a pretty good problem to have, since it's something within my control. I have a bad habit of being inspired to train, and then finding my expectations of what it will be like to train don't match reality (like maybe I set out to work on rail precisions but have a harder time warming up to them than I thought I would). Which is fine, except that the bad habit comes in that I'll tell myself "no big deal, just do a little and I'll try again another day". So I really feel that I limit my potential by continually pushing back my goals. My current goal is to practice a stronger mindset of "if I saw the challenge, there's a REASON why I saw it: it's because, deep down I believe I can do it. So at least try your best at it." It's okay to fail if you try your best of course - I'm working on stepping up to the plate more.
What piece of advice would you give to someone starting out?
Be true to yourself - just do what you want to do! Regardless of what other people, or even your own rationalizing. If you're attracted to something (whether a specific skill or an overall discipline), be unstoppable in finding a support system for yourself to make it happen.
Who is a woman that inspires you and why? (in or out of parkour/freerunning)
Ummmm too many. Alyssa. Brandee. Kristine. Renae. Tam. Lorena. Sydney. Juliette. Luci. Actually one of my first inspirations was a lady named Janine Cundy . At the end of the day, I love seeing more women doing parkour. At times I get jealous (I admittedly selfishly want to be the best), but when it comes down to it, I really believe we all are pushing what's possible together. That's one of the reasons I do so many competitions for instance - they can be intimidating, but I'm happy I contribute to the amount of women there. I'm sick and tired of a world where women are generally looked at as less athletic, and I've seen how we all provide the next generation with inspiration. I can think of two 12 year old girls specifically that look up to me, and I never would have known except that they told me! I really believe we all inspire someone: maybe you can't inspire everyone, of even who you expected you'd inspire, but everyone does inspire SOMEONE. And that's the most important thing to consider. Never limit yourself because you don't know who you're helping just by being yourself.
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