CODE OF CONDUCT
Parkour is built on honesty — with the environment, with the movement, with yourself. ADAPT's Code of Conduct asks everyone in our community to bring that same honesty to how they show up for each other. These are not rules imposed from the outside. They are the standards we hold ourselves to — and why we hold them.
Who this applies to
This Code of Conduct applies to all ADAPT-certified coaches, all candidates attending ADAPT certification courses, and all organisations hosting or delivering ADAPT courses. It applies in sessions, on courses, in written and digital communications, and in any context in which someone is representing ADAPT or operating within its framework.
It is not a comprehensive legal document — ADAPT's separate policies on safeguarding, coaching standards, and incident reporting cover those requirements in detail. This Code is a statement of the values and behaviours that define what it means to be part of this community, and a clear signal of what is not acceptable within it.
Core principles
Specific guidance will never cover every situation. When you encounter something that isn't addressed below, ask yourself which of these principles applies — and act accordingly.
People first
The welfare, safety, and dignity of every person in your session, on your course, or in your organisation comes before every other consideration. Before the session plan. Before the performance goal. Before protecting the reputation of the coach or the organisation. There is no context in which this principle is suspended.
Honesty
Be honest about what you know and what you don't. Be honest about your own ability and the limits of your scope. Be honest with participants about risk and about what you're asking them to do and why. Be honest when something goes wrong — with yourself, with your colleagues, and with the people you're responsible to. The parkour community's reputation for directness and integrity is one of its greatest assets. Protect it in everything you do.
Respect
Every participant deserves to be treated with consistent respect regardless of their ability, background, age, body, identity, or how long they have been training. Respect also means respecting the spaces and environments we work in — and the communities, landowners, and practitioners who have built relationships with those spaces. How we behave in public determines whether parkour is welcomed or refused.
Responsibility
Own your decisions and their consequences. A coach who deflects blame, minimises harm, or avoids accountability when things go wrong is not protecting themselves — they are betraying the trust of the people in their care. Parkour demands honest appraisal of reality. That applies to coaching relationships just as much as it does to movement.
Inclusion
Parkour belongs to everyone. The discipline was built by people who found something in movement that no existing structure was offering them. That spirit of radical openness must run through every session, every course, and every organisation that operates under the ADAPT name. Exclusion, discrimination, and the casual narrowing of who this is "for" are not compatible with what parkour is.
Courage
Speak up when something is wrong — even when it is uncomfortable, even when the person involved is senior to you or respected in the community, even when silence would be easier. The willingness to challenge poor practice is not an optional extra. It is a collective responsibility. The parkour community has a strong culture of calling things honestly. Apply that culture here too. Silence protects the wrong people.
Coaches
As an ADAPT-certified coach you hold a position of trust and real influence over the people in your sessions. That influence is a privilege — and a responsibility. The following standards apply in all coaching contexts, regardless of setting, level, or whether anyone from ADAPT is present.
- Treat all participants consistently, with dignity and respect
- Communicate clearly, honestly, and constructively
- Maintain professional boundaries at all times
- Put participant welfare above session objectives
- Create genuine permission to hesitate, question, and decline
- Acknowledge mistakes and take corrective action
- Support and credit other coaches without disparaging them
- Report concerns about participants or colleagues appropriately
- Uphold ADAPT's standards whether observed or not
- Represent the discipline with care in public spaces
- Pressuring participants to attempt movements they are not ready for
- Using humiliation, ridicule, or fear as coaching tools
- Forming inappropriate personal relationships with participants
- Private communication with minors outside sanctioned channels
- Discriminatory language or conduct of any kind
- Misrepresenting your qualifications, experience, or scope
- Coaching under the influence of alcohol or drugs
- Knowingly coaching in unsafe environments
- Concealing incidents, injuries, or safeguarding concerns
- Conduct that brings ADAPT or the parkour community into disrepute
Power dynamics in coaching are real and persistent. Participants — especially beginners and young people — often defer to coaches in ways that make it genuinely difficult for them to push back or decline. A good coach does not simply avoid misusing that dynamic. They actively dismantle it by creating conditions in which hesitation is respected, questions are welcomed, and refusal is normal. That is not a reduction of the coaching relationship. It is its highest expression.
Course candidates
ADAPT certification courses are serious learning environments that demand openness, commitment, and genuine engagement. Candidates are expected to bring their full attention and to contribute to a culture in which everyone on the course can develop.
Engagement and conduct
- Engage honestly with all learning activities — including the difficult ones
- Support the development of other candidates generously
- Treat tutors and fellow candidates with respect
- Ask questions, challenge ideas, contribute your experience
- Be punctual, prepared, and physically ready to learn
- Respect the venue, the host organisation, and the community around the training space
Integrity
- Submit only your own work for written assessments
- Represent your experience and supervised hours accurately
- Accept outcomes honestly — use the Appeals process if you believe a genuine procedural error occurred
- Do not put other candidates in a position that compromises their own assessment integrity
Representing ADAPT
- Only represent yourself as certified at the level you have been awarded
- Do not coach independently before you meet the requirements for your level to do so
- Carry this Code of Conduct into your practice from day one — not when you feel ready
Host organisations
Organisations that host ADAPT courses carry a shared responsibility for their quality and integrity. Every candidate who travels to an ADAPT course hosted by your organisation deserves the same standard regardless of where in the world you are. The following is the minimum expected of all host organisations.
Safe environment
Provide a venue that meets ADAPT's environmental and equipment standards for the course being delivered. Ensure all equipment is safe, appropriate, well-maintained, and fit for the movement demands of the course. Have a written risk assessment in place for the space. See the Hosting a Course page for full venue requirements.
Insurance and compliance
Hold current public liability insurance that covers the hosting of coached parkour activities. Ensure compliance with local safeguarding legislation and have a named Designated Safeguarding Lead. All staff and volunteers with regular participant contact must hold appropriate background checks for your country.
Culture and reporting
Maintain a written safeguarding policy and an environment in which concerns can be raised without fear of retaliation. Any incident, injury, safeguarding concern, or conduct issue arising from an ADAPT course must be reported to ADAPT promptly. Cooperate fully with ADAPT in any subsequent quality assurance or investigation process.
Accurate representation
Represent ADAPT's qualifications accurately in all marketing and communications relating to hosted courses. Do not imply ADAPT endorsement of activities, products, or claims that fall outside the scope of the qualification framework. Do not use ADAPT's name or branding outside the context of a formal hosting agreement.
Breaches of this Code
ADAPT takes breaches of this Code seriously. Where a concern is raised about the conduct of a certified coach, course candidate, or host organisation, we will investigate and respond proportionately. Depending on the nature and severity of the breach, outcomes may include written guidance, conditions placed on certification, suspension of certification, or permanent withdrawal of certification.
Raising a concern in good faith is always the right thing to do. ADAPT will not penalise anyone for raising a genuine concern, even where investigation does not substantiate it. The seniority or reputation of the person concerned is not protection from accountability — and the absence of previous complaints is not evidence of good conduct.
If you witness or become aware of behaviour that concerns you — in a session, on a course, in an organisational context, or online — contact us. If you are not certain whether something is serious enough to report, contact us anyway and let us help you think it through. We would far rather hear about something that turns out to be a misunderstanding than not hear about something that matters.
Where concerns relate to the conduct of coaches or organisations outside ADAPT's direct remit, we will direct you to the appropriate body — including national governing bodies, statutory safeguarding authorities, or law enforcement where relevant. ADAPT will cooperate fully with any external investigation involving a certified coach or host organisation.