Extreme Sports: In Search of the Ultimate Thrill - Research Paper Example

Extreme sports Introduction The extreme sports are growing in popularity in the United States. It generally refers to the activities that are perceived to have lots of inherent danger. The participant of the extreme sports would also refer to it as adventure or actions sports. These kinds of sport are attracting and increasing amount of the participant and viewers (Bercovici, 2004). These kinds of activities would always involve traveling at extreme speed, height, being involved in high level of physical exertion and using highly specialized gear. The sport has currently has had impact to not only the world of sports but specifically media sports and has managed to attract huge corporate sponsorship. This paper will examine the emergence of the extreme sport and the entire industry players. It would further investigate the reason why people are so thrilled by the otherwise risky moves and the way forward for the sports. Backgrounds The literature of the adventure sports seems to agree with the vague definition that it has to include some form of risk taking (Brymer & Oades, 2009). This may not be far from truth considering that people have died or suffered permanent injury due to either mistakes or accidents that are bound to happen anyway. For example, sixteen people died in 1996 when they were climbing Mount Everest. In 1999, twenty people were reported to have died while on a dangerous canyoning trip in the Switzerland (Tomlinson, 2004). just statistics have some commentators to conclude that the people participating in such sports are have a high desire to take risky activities. On the other hand, there are a great number of people to be joining in the participation, much higher than the number of people participating in the traditional sports. The exact meaning and origin of the extreme sport is unclear, the sports activity gained publicity in the 1990 when it was picked by marketing companies and promoted in the X Gamers. It has further gained even more public attention by the introduction of television channels like Extreme Sports Channel (McDonald, 2004). The extreme sports have been traditionally been associated with people who are risk takers. As a developing sporting and adventure activity, researchers have noted that the activities that are classified under the extreme sports are very debatable. Although it is not an exclusively a youths sports, most of the target demography are younger generation. The extreme sports tend to be solitary with the exception of the paintballing and rafting that are done in teams. In most cases, the athletes in the extreme games would tend to begin their careers without the help of any coach, but would later hire coaches when to increase their competitiveness and skills. The extreme sports activities have also been categories based on the inherently uncontrollable variables tend to be used as opposed to the traditional sport that operates in a controlled environment. As a result, the environmental variables would not only include the weather and the terrain related but also snow, wind, mountains, and water. The game is made more interesting by the fact that such games take place in environments that cannot be controlled that affect the out of the activity or the event. For example, the snows affects the snowboarders, the athletes climbing mountains have to overcome rock and ice qualities on the mountain sides and tops. The surfers are also affected by height of the waves which they have to shows their professionalism and perseverance by overcoming. Another characteristic of the extreme sports is that the criteria that are used for judgment and evaluation are more subjective or based on aesthetic value. This is different from the traditional sporting that asses performance using objecting criteria like time, distance and score. The different extreme sporting activities with therefore reject a unified method of providing judgment meaning that different sports will not only employ their own ideals but the evaluation would evolve to adopt standards that resonates with new trends and development of the sports. Classification of activities as extreme sports As much as there is debate on the definition of the extreme sports, some researchers have proposed that for an activity to be an extreme sports, it has to be a sport in the sense that enable the participants to dispose considerable skills and it has to be extreme meaning that poor execution of the activity would result to in a considerable risk like causing harm and injury to the participant. Combing this definition, an activity like bungee jumping does not qualify as extreme sports. Extreme vehicles sports These are sports that require some kind of vehicle for that is used by participants. The Vehicle includes such vessels like the parachute, surfboard, motocross bikes and wing suit among others (Ewert & Jim, 2005). These extreme vehicle sports can further be divided into gliding and rolling sports. The gliding sports consist of games done over the air, in snow, in ice or even water. On the other the rolling sports include F1, rallying, motocross, skate boarding, free style biking and mountain climbing. The extreme Non vehicle sports include the free climbing, ice climbing, and canyoning among many others. The extreme sports participants have often been portrayed in the media in a negative manner as not caring for the family and friends and having unbalanced needs to take risk hence keeping their immediate family worried all the time. Recent research has however that the actions the participants of the extreme sports are motivated very different things (Loeffler, 2004). Commitment and skills All the extreme sports participants need to have very high level of training and preparation. For instance, one B.A.S.E Jumper was reported to have taken about ten years to master a certain skills (Singleman & Swan, 2008). An activity like mountain climbing that takes two days to done would take even five years to prepare, train and be in good shape. Participants in extreme sports understand that the any mistake may lead to death or injury. This drives them to put in more effort in conditioning their bodies to withstand the extreme pressure. It is important to note that participants are well trained individuals who are equipped with all the necessary skills to reduce the risk in the extreme activity they engage. Lack of the boundaries This is a very important aspect of the extreme sports. These activities are self motivated and are done in the natural environment making them to have uncertainty of the outcome. This is different from the traditional sports that have a predictable outcome where mistakes can result in small injury. On the other hand, when the accidents in extreme sports are not properly managed, they lead to death. For instance, activities like extreme skiing and high level solo mountain climbing have no chances of making mistakes. If one makes a wrong move during mountain climbing, it may be lead to death. The perception of risks by the participants The people that are involved in the dangerous activities have different personality traits that are completely different from the other people that engage in normal activities and run away from risks. Psychological research has revealed that the people that participate in the risky activities are motivated by the need to have personal transformation and overcome some fears in their lives (Muso, Hall & Higham, 2004). Risk is the likelihood of an activity to have a hazard effect when a mistake occurs. When compared to other sports, the extreme sports have more increased risk of not only injury but also death. The participants of the various extreme are aware of the risks but would still engage in the sports anyway. For example, the death rate of mountain climbers has been estimated by researchers as being one in one thousand participants (Brymer & Oades, 2009). The rate of death among the sky diving is been estimated to be even higher at the ratio of one death in every seven hundred. It has however been discovered that the participants of these extreme activities have a different interpretation of what is really extreme. The concern for safety is what makes them train vigorously and follow the rules. These activities like mountain climbing and extreme skiing are not dangerous because they operate on established rules that any person can use. While some have indicated that the comfort in the western world drives people into experimenting with danger, fear is a normal human and emotional reaction that is in-built to help in the survival mechanism. This is ingrained in the human and helps to protect by signaling that there is threat coming Motivation An activity like the snowboarder dropping off a cornice is one of the adventure activities that induce high level of adrenaline rush in participants (Tomlinson, 2004).It has been note that the desire to experience a higher level of thrill, sensation and adventure drives some people to engage in a challenge that has a high rate of risk and danger. It has also been established that the participants in the extreme sports require the high risk leisure and have lower need for security. The medical research however indicates that the rush of adrenaline is not caused by response to fear, but it is the result of increased levels in the endorphins and serotonin that is brought about by greater physical exertion (Loeffler, 2004). The participant and observers of extreme sports therefore are driven into participating in it due to increased recreation activity. As such, death or accident is only an outcome of mismanagement. According to Brymer and Oades (2009), the engagement in the high risk extreme sports is brought about by the need of the participants to have extraordinary human experiences that may be parallel to the experiences found in meditation. These activities enable the participants to move out of their comfort zones and experience a totally new life. Availability of resources and external pressure Literature has shown that there is a relationship ego, leisure and financial ability of the participants. The adventure sports have therefore emerged as important tourist activities that would enable them have a thrill and leisure at the same time. This is because it is only those with time and disposable amount of money can afford the commercialized nature of the extreme sports (Ewert & Jim, 2005). The cost of participation in activities like sky diving and mountain climbing would cost a lot of money in terms of the fees for participation and cost of the equipments. Activities like scuba diving would therefore only attract the individuals who are not only educated but have the resources. Marketing of extreme sports Marketing of the extreme sports activities in media and websites like extreme.com that led to more people turning the different activities. That is why despite the documented nature risks in high leisure activities like mountain climbing and sky diving, many people are joining in the adventure (Tomlinson, 2004). The high level of enthusiasm an interest in these activities have been achieved by marketing campaigns that draw people to either participate or just observe. This explain why for example, rugby is high adrenaline –inducing and dangerous sporting activity but does not attract the huge interest among people. This is because the rugby game does falls in the category of the traditional games. The media has effectively created the sensation in the extreme sports that has kept on attracting people. The level of involvement The level of participation in the extreme sports is very important in the consideration of the extreme sports development. Due to the dangerous nature, participants are required to attain a level of expertise and specializations (McDonald, 2004). More benefits is achieved in the adventure sports as one as one participates in the activities over a period of time and increases in professionalism. The desire to gain a given level of professionalism becomes a motivating factor after some time of participation. Conclusion The inherent danger in the extreme sports activities has not hindered the growth of the extreme sports in the USA. This paper has noted that the desire to experience a higher level of thrill, sensation and adventure drives some people to engage in a challenge that has a high rate of risk and danger but the participants of all the extreme sports participants need to have very high level of training and preparation. In addition, Seen as an adventure or actions sports, these activities are attracting and increasing amount of the participant and viewers. One of the common features among the extreme sports is that they are based on use of uncontrollable variables as opposed to the traditional sport that operates in a controlled environment. Marketing of the extreme sports activities in media and websites like extreme.com has also caused great interest in the general population as a popular sport. References Bercovici, J. (2004). Adventure Travel Comes in From the Cold. Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, 33 (2), 30-32. Brymer, E., & Oades, L.G. (2009). Extreme sports: A positive transformation in courage and humility. Journal of Humanistic Psychology 49, 114-126. Ewert, A., & Jim S. (2005). Early-Life Outdoor Experiences and an Individual's Environmental Attitudes. Leisure Sciences, 27 (3), 225-239. Loeffler, T.A. (2004). Photo Elicitation Study of the Meanings of Outdoor Adventure Experiences. Journal of Leisure Research, 36 (4), 536-556. McDonald, K. (2004). Just when you Thought it was Safe. The Safety and Health Practitioner, 22 (1), 26-29. Muso, G., Hall, C., & Higham, J. (2004). Tourism Sustainability and Health Impacts in High Altitude Adventure, Cultural and Ecotourism Destinations: A Case Study of Nepal’s Sagarmatha National Park. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 12 (4), 306-331. Tomlinson, J. (2004). Extreme Sports: In Search of the Ultimate Thrill. Hove: Firefly Books Ltd. Read More