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An extreme sport (also known as an action sport)bursted on the scene in the 1990s — brash, risky new sports and older activities done with a high-octane twist. Snowboarding, skateboarding, BMX riding, wakeboarding and similar pursuits became infused with a counterculture credo of making up rules and pushing the limits (CBC archives). Extreme Sport, is a somewhat hazily-defined term for any of several newer sports involving adrenaline-inducing action. They often feature a combination of speed, height, danger and spectacular stunts. Levels of danger vary widely, but there is always an element — an "extreme" factor — that causes an adrenaline rush which keeps participants loyal to their sport. Some participants termed 'adrenaline junkies' develop an obsession with their sport and even claim to be "addicted to adrenaline". (This is the result of a misnomer, since often the high obtained is a product of increased levels of dopamine endorphins and serotonin). In contrast to the regulation of conventional sports, extreme sports arec haracterised by a relative lack of regulation and a customary refusal by participants to follow regulatory codes. However, commercialization and competition have led to a need to establish some codes and boundaries.Kristi plummer

Outdoor adventure travel is reaching new heights, according to the Outdoor Industry Association. The trade groups say it expects 164 million Americans to participate in outdoor adventures this year -- the more extreme, the better. Getting the most attention from newcomers are whitewater sports including rafting, kayaking, and canoeing. Mountain biking, rock climbing, trail running and camping are also hip. "It's all about gravity. We're all getting dictated by gravity," says Willy Cunningham, head of expedition planning for the National Outdoor Leadership School in Lander, Wyoming (CNN Student News). Extreme Sports is growing rapidly and is continuing to interest new people each day. It's the thrills, the spills, and the chills that are attracting so much attention from so many different walks of life. From skateboarding to cliff jumping; what used to be hobbies are now turning into competitive sports and adrenaline packed activities. Although it is a slow process, the more sponsorships, and the more recognitiona given to extreme sports, opens a number of doors to young Americans who have never had the chance to participate before. New dreams are born every day, and more lives are fulfilled with the adrenaline packed action of extreme sports.Grant richardson 21:37, 30 Oct 2005 (Pacific Standard Time)

This isnt to say that basketball, baseball, and football players dont feed off of adrenaline, but an extreme sport adds a special twist because with a mess up in one stunt or one decision could result in fatality or serious injury; which is not the case with mainstream sports.--Mreaves 09:24, 19 Oct 2005 (Pacific Daylight Time) Baseball, basketball, football, and where the most injuries are soccer are an adrenaline rush. The difference is; when was the last time someone was killed in one of these sport matches. There are numerous fatalities in extreme sports such as ski diving, surfing and base jumping. There is way more of a risk and that is where the most adrenaline comes from life and death. According to Josie Appleton who wrote the artical "What's so extreme about extreme sports" makes a point that safety is getting better so it is less extreme. I would like to see him jump out of a plane with 20 year old equipment on. That doesn't make it less extreme. --Jrue34 09:39, 19 Oct 2005 (Pacific Daylight Time)

Extreme Sports seem to have an advantage on mainstream sports, but still must deal with the sam controversies from society. Grassroots extremes sports partcipants are not institutionalized with governing bodies; they have no eligible team rosters, established pracitces times, or coaches. Their activity is closely aligned with the precepts of 'play.' Alternative athletes in some Extreme sports wear unique street apparel, uniforms by group consensus, not imposed form outside. Sometimes the apparel refrences urban streetwear, hip-hop, "gangsta rap," or grunge fashion. Drug-taking, alternative music, guns, and violence have been linked stereotypically to alternative sports participation. (Rinehart and Sydnor, To the Extreme). Even though these sports are relatively new, they still face the same historical controversies as the mainstream sports that have been around for decades. --Mreaves 10:00, 26 Oct 2005 (Pacific Daylight Time)

In North America,mainstream and dominant sports include football, basketball, baseball,hockey, even soccer.Generally, those are the sports that people consider dominant,mainstream, highly engaging—the so-called real sports. They exist in contrast to more expressive sports like skating, diving,and gymnastics (Rinehart 29:3 2005). However, there is are new sports starting to take over; ones that are more exciting, more dangerous, and require more doctors than ever beofre. Welcome to extreme sports, where the adrenaline flows like wine and injuries occur more often than STD's on a colleg campus.--Mreaves 09:44, 24 Oct 2005 (Pacific Daylight Time)

But there are also forms of sport that typically privilege maledominant parameters of physical fitness. The maleness, the ability of a preponderance of males to defeatmany females in these sports, although it may be biologically driven, is also culturally constructed (Rinehart 29:3 2005). There are not to many sports in which females can compete with that of males on the same playing field; be on equal terms. In most cases for the mainstream sports it is highly improbable to see that of a female dominate men. This is strictly due to physical maturity. Men overall have superior physical maturity than that compared to women. Extreme sports helps break down this barrier that seperate men from women. In fact, it demolishes any such barrier. Just watch a 15 minute stent of the X-Games, an annual event that showcases talent in many different extreme sports. Here it is not uncommon for one to see a female jumping off the same 18 foot vert ramp as all the other men witht the likeness of BMX pro Rob Niquiest or see a female such as Vanessa Torres attempt a Tuck-Knee YOYO in the freestyle street run. Gender has no prevelance when it comes to competing. If you are wondering if you can participate in extreme sports, there is only one question you must ask yourself, Is it in you? --Mreaves 09:44, 24 Oct 2005 (Pacific Daylight Time)

Extreme sports are most often pursued by young adults who wish to push their own limits of fear and physical ability. In doing so, it helps push the limits of their sport as a whole. Because of this youthful demographic, extreme sports often attract their own kind of youth culture with associated clothing fashions and music. Indeed, the distinction between an extreme sport and a conventional sport is often as much due to marketing as the level of danger involved or the adrenaline generated. For example, snowboarding has a more extreme image than skiing mainly because it is newer, even though skiing is a faster and at least equally dangerous way of getting down the mountain. A sport like Rugby Union, though dangerous and adrenaline-inducing, is disqualified by its traditional image.

The term gained popularity with the advent of the X Games, a made-for-television collection of such events. Advertisers were quick to realize the appeal of the event and competitors and organisers are now flooded with sponsorship. The high profile of extreme sports and the culture surrounding them has also led people to invent jokey parodies, such as Extreme ironing, urban housework, extreme croquet, extreme unicycling, 'house gymnastics', and extreme wheelbarrow.

Purists often reject the stereoypical "adrenaline junkie" image and enjoy their activities for many diverse reasons. Practioners might enjoy developing their physical and/or mental skills, seek mastery of inhospitable environments, look to escape from the mundane rigours of day-to-day existence, or simply love the wilderness environment in which many of these sports take place. 'Bob Drury', a paraglider pilot says "We do these things not to escape life, but to prevent life escaping us". Or, alternatively (anonymous quote), "All who live, die. But not all who die have lived."

Several extreme sports, including snowboarding, were included in the 2002 Winter Olympic Games.

Some extreme sports have been around for many decades and the proponents span many generations, often including well known personalities. For example rock climbing and ice climbing has spawned such immortal names as Edmund Hillary, Chris Bonington and more recently Joe Simpson. Another example is Surfing, which was originally invented centuries ago by the native inhabitants of Hawaii.

The key determinants of participation appear to be: terminal age of education (19+ students have high participation rates); marital and parental status (single people without children have high participation rates); and economic status of local community. Kristi plummer 09:39, 26 Oct 2005 (Pacific Daylight Time) (If you were to analyze the different extreme sports and who is participating you wont find to many people of color. One of the reasons you find this is because of opportunity, as discussed in class. African-Americans don't have as much opportunity in extreme sports becuase of the economical factor. Many sports such as snowboarding, kayaking, and mountain biking, cost a lot of money, thus limiting access to people in the lower classes of the economy.--Mreaves 09:24, 19 Oct 2005 (Pacific Daylight Time) African Americans are not able to participate due to the fact of being lower class and the lack of money. Another big factor is due to where they are located. The families in the lower classes are in the ghetto not near the beaches and the mountains to participate in these sports. A good example of this is the movie "Point Break," where they are adrenaline junkies that surf the biggest most dangerous waves around, they fight, they also ski dive regularly and then to top it off they rob banks. They are all white and live on the beaches of california.--Jrue34 09:53, 19 Oct 2005 (Pacific Daylight Time) There are, however, a fair amount of minorities that could be a part of this group. The hardest part is that they have no one to relate to. Unfortunately, we still live in a society that sees color. When a young black child living in a good neighborhood turns on ESPN, he sees African Americans playing sports like basketball and football. When he turns it to ESPN2 he sees white people in the X-Games. It's a rare occasion that a child will look past the color-line that everyone pretends to not see.Grant richardson 21:32, 30 Oct 2005 (Pacific Standard Time)

One could also argue that image could play some type of role in a person's involvement in extreme sport. Not only is sport an activity, but it's also a culture. From basketball to rock climbing, the image of the sport is marketed to athletes. Whether one decides to wear Nike basketball shorts or a Northface coat, there is an image that goes with the sport. Demographics can influence an athlete's choice of sport image. Age, gender, and race are strong influencers in a person's style and choice of activity. Taking into consideration economic and geographic factors, one should also analyze social pressures to fit a certain image. Krussell07 10:03, 26 Oct 2005 (Pacific Daylight Time)With a focus on the youth extreme sports is not only breaking barriers in sport, but in marketing as well. The Disney Corporation, ESPN, ESPN2, ABC, MTV the Discovery Channel, and large corporation such as Pepsi, Coke, and Nike have essentially appropiated and determined much of the electronice imaging of extreme sports to the world. Grassroot athletes are acknowledged by theses imaging giants, but rarely privileged (Rinehart and Sydnor, To the Extreme). Not only are these big corporations making an impact, but photographers and videography seem to be capturing the life of extremest athletes. "Filmers" and photographers "create the dream..." It sells the lifestyle (Rinehart and Sydnor, To the Extreme).--Mreaves 10:00, 26 Oct 2005 (Pacific Daylight Time) It makes sense to say that it's only a matter of time before all cultural groups dip their feet in the water of extreme sports, and the adrenaline rush catches fire, the same that it did with many of the mainstream sports. There's no denying one person the opportunity to have fun. As money goes into extreme sports, money and recognition comes out. Then, extreme sports are racially diverse competitions.*Rinehart, Robert E; Syndor, S. (2003). To the Extreme: Alternative Sports, Inside and Out. Albany : State University of New York Press. ISBN 0791456668.Grant richardson 21:15, 30 Oct 2005 (Pacific Standard Time)

The simple lack of scholarly writings that include ethnic and minority groups in extreme sports is a reflection of the scarcity of minority athletes in these sports. From skateboarding, to mountain climbing, to bull riding, there are few to no minorities competing. "Yet there is very little literature that has occupied itself with these increasingly popular sports. A few authors, mainly from the field of sport marketing have tackled the subject (Puchan, 171)." Generally, there is little writing as these sports continue to develop. There is also little to no sponsorship for minority athletes, which is clear when one turns on the television or reads literature regarding extreme sports. This could directly relate to opportunity given to minorities to learn to perform in these arenas. Talent and skill gets an extreme athlete a sponsor, and without years of work to produce these skills, the chances of being paid to perform are slim. [Puchan, Heike. Living 'extreme': Adventure sports, media, and commercialisation. Journal of Communication Management. London, 2004. Vol. 9, Issue 2. 171Krussell07 23:36, 24 Oct 2005 (Pacific Daylight Time)

List of some extreme sports

The following could be classified as extreme sports:

External links

de:Extremsport es:Deporte extremo fa:ورزش‌های مخاطره‌آمیز he:ספורט אתגרי pl:Sporty ekstremalne

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