So, starting and managing a parkour (something I’m interested in) club at school would be viewed more favourably by the admissions officers than the traditional option of holding down positions in a dozen more boring clubs?

Yes. But don’t sotp there. Get good. Once you have access to this insider world look for insider opportunities that to the outside observer are particularly unexplainable. For example, you might end up scrounging together financing to hang out in France trying to film your own parcour video. Etc. See my article on “The Art of Activity Innovation” for more information on take the focused idea and making it shine…

[...] I received an interesting e-mail yesterday from a rising sophomore at a top 10 university. He described his high school years, modestly, as “pretty busy,” noting that he was, among other things, a magazine editor, president of the National Honors Society, a nationally ranked debater, and the recipient of a 2300+ score on the SAT — the standard snapshot of a student who gets into a top school. (Remember, of course, that just because it’s standard, doesn’t mean that it’s the only way.) [...]

[...] Getting into Harvard without Getting An Ulcer Find out why a Bob Dylan with good SAT scores would make a perfect Harvard applicant. [...]