Julien Vigroux

CO-FOUNDER, THE MOVEMENT PLAYGROUND

Industry : Business

Julien, a parkour athlete and coach, turned away from the finance industry and his native France to open The Movement Playground, Thailand’s first parkour obstacle gym. With 20 years of experience as an original traceur (parkour practitioner), he aimed to encourage Thais to embrace this form of exercise, which involves moving from point to point in the most fluid way possible without equipment. Parkour typically includes activities like running, climbing, vaulting, jumping, and balancing. Julien is not only dedicated to promoting parkour as a physical activity but also shares this athletic discipline with underprivileged children through the Move 4 Life project in collaboration with Pho3nix Kids. In addition to providing free meals to kids at Klongtoey Youth Centre, he believes that parkour is an excellent life skills exercise that helps develop cognitive abilities such as perception, attention, problem-solving, and creativity—skills that can directly translate to facing life challenges. The outreach program is set to expand throughout Thailand in the coming years, with the ambitious goal of reaching over 100,000 kids.