What is an extreme sport?

So, you may be wondering… what is an extreme sport?

Don’t worry, You’re not alone.

There are loads of extreme sports and it may be challenging setting them apart from stereotypical sports.

I have spent a significant amount of time practicing some of these sports and the culture that is held within them. This has led me to here so I can help those who are looking to get involved or just curious to what all the hype is about.

Let’s dive right in!

To answer your questions, an extreme sport is defined as action
/adventure sports with a perceived element of risk. A few examples would be cliff diving, parkour, mountain biking, skiing, etc.

What is the reputation of these sports?

Often, people that partake in these sports are viewed as:

•  Reckless
• Stupid
• Thrill seekers

Now, I can understand why many people may think this. However, is this true? The short answer is no.

Why is this?

With extreme sports becoming more popular by the minute, this increases the standard as well. Content creation is massive in the world of extreme sports, and its only a matter of time before one post goes viral and millions of people see it.

This begs the question; can the viewer see the full story from a 10 second clip of someone doing a crazy stunt? Most likely not.

So… What are they all about then?

Like any competitive sport, it’s all about pushing yourself to see how far you can go, the only difference in extreme sports is its largely not competitive. A lot of the time, these “death defying” stunts seen online are the product of very experienced athletes, with hours of mental preparation before. This is the unseen side which is a much more accurate representation rather than these so-called leaps of faith we may think they are.

Next time you see a video like this, think about how they reached that level.