Sports Parents

Extreme Sports are the latest craze in our culture and kids as young as four and five years old are fascinated with it. As a parent of a 16 year old who has been skateboarding and surfing since he was seven, I can tell you that it does make you nervous when they do the crazy tricks. Some people hate extreme sports and some people think they are a blessing, let’s take a closer look.

The positive side of kids being involved in extreme sports in that they are out getting exercise and the television in your living room is starting to collect dust, plus your electric bill is lower. You have probably been hoping for this to happen for awhile but you aren’t sure about the choice of sports. Although skateboarding is probably the first of the extreme sports, it is only the beginning. Some of the others that kids are really getting into these days include BMX biking and trickblading.

BMX bikes are like a regular bike on steroids, they are built heavy and tough to be able to take the punishment of all the jumps and tricks, plus they have special pegs for the feet and padding to protect the biker where they are most likely to come in contact with the bike. These bikes are designed mainly for tricks and racing and are mostly used on dirt tracks and courses.

Trickbladers use the same parks as skateboarders and wear specially designed roller blades with smaller thicker wheels and have an added feature called a grind plate to help them do tricks like sliding down rails. I know, it makes my skin crawl just thinking about it! The idea is to be able to do a lot of the same tricks performed by skateboarders.

Skateboarding is thought of as the original extreme sport beginning in the 1960s when surfers put wheels on short boards to give them a way to cross train when the surf wasn’t up. These early skateboarders are probably amazed at the way the sport has developed with the huge half pipes and long rails that you see skateboarders riding today. It just makes me cringe to watch as they slide down a handrail while standing on a skateboard but incredibly my son has done it for over nine years and never broken a bone.

If you are like me, the first time that you watch your child go sailing through the air on a jump or paddling out in eight foot surf you will feel like your heart is going to pound out of your chest and you will be cringing every time they fall but as long as they have the right safety gear and are always with a buddy they will be fine, injuries are far more common in traditional sports. Encourage your kids, these days it’s hard to get them to like anything.

For those who like the adrenalin pumping as they push their bodies to the limit many people take up some form of extreme sport.  We know most of them from television and video games, the main ones being skateboarding, skydiving and the nauseating bungee jump!

The fun doesn’t stop there, people can do most extreme sports anywhere but like most sports they have their true home, places which are perfect for that sport.  Like Wembley is to Football and Wimbledon is to Tennis there are places all over the world that are considered the Mecca of extreme sports.

Skateboarding is a common extreme sport you will likely see people in town centres performing tricks and doing jumps but the modern skateboarding scene has descended from the skate parks of California.  The home of world class skaters like Tony Hawk, California has many dedicated skate parks with both street setups as well as vertical sets like half-pipes. 

If California is too warm for your sport of choice then there are always the mountain ranges of Europe of which there are plenty.  Ski slopes are dotted all over Europe with the Alps as well as other European countries in the north like Norway.  Norway is a popular ski and snowboarding area with thousands of people learning the sports as well as seasoned pros cutting their way down the slopes.

For the more death-defying extreme sports nut New Zealand can help out with skydiving and white water rafting available in a picturesque country last seen in the Lord of The Rings films.  For those who are extra daring there is a bungee jump location in Taupo, New Zealand which hangs over a giant gorge to a river below.  It’s this river that you end up dunked in at the bottom of your fall, but don’t worry, you’re flung out of it and will surely dry out with all the bouncing around you’ll be doing!

As you can see from this brief overview that there are plenty of locations dotted all over the globe for extreme sports.  extreme sports magazine websites are your first port of call to find out where’s the best location for your extreme sports holidays.  Once you’ve decided what sport you want to try out and where is best then you should be able to begin making preparations.  So check out an extreme sports magazine today and find your extreme sports haven!

Extreme sports like street luging, skateboarding on rails and ramps, and snow boarding off nearly impossible jumps are hotter today than they have ever been before. The athletes who pursue these challenging activities often become as dedicated as Olympians and spend hours every day practicing and improving their technique in order to be able to enjoy the thrill that only making the perfect ollie or dropping a hill on a buttboard can bring. Extreme athletes often refer to the adrenaline rush of competing as being “amped,” and many say that there is no other feeling in the world that is as satisfying. For most of these rough and tumble athletes, part of the appeal of extreme sports is the danger.

Unlike sports that are regulated by official certified judges and require the athletes to wear protective gear and perform with ship shape equipment, extreme sports competitions sometimes include relatively unprotected athletes competing on somewhat ramshackle paraphernalia, like luge boards made out of skateboards with plywood additions. These conditions lead to greater thrills for many of the participants, because the more dangerous a situation is the more adrenaline the body produces, leading to the feeling of being “amped.” However, the long term damage that results from the kinds of injuries that many extreme athletes endure often leaves these enthusiastic men and women feeling less than thrilled. Whether or not the excitement of extreme sports is worth the danger is something that nobody can decide but the athlete who is putting his or her body on the line. However, if you or somebody in your life is thinking about joining the hardcore world of extreme sports, it is a good idea to do some research into what common injuries are, and how they can be prevented.

Often, wearing a helmet or certain kinds of padding can make the difference between ending up in the hospital after a wipe-out and walking away with a few pesky bruises. The hazards of every sport are unique, so the kinds of kneepads that a skateboarder favors might not be very much help to a street luger. The only protective gear that will really help an athlete is the gear that is specifically appropriate to his or her sport, so before you put any money into protective gear, read as much as you can about the hazards you are likely to face, and try to get some firsthand advice from experienced athletes in the field you want to be a part of. Many extreme athletes don’t bother with the kind of protective gear that they should be wearing, in part because they worry that kneepads or elbow pads will decrease their cool factor. However, taking care of your body is as important for an extreme athlete as it is for any athlete, if not more so. Even if chucking bales might not seem as exciting with a helmet as it is without one, if you protect yourself you can always be sure that you will have the chance to take another crack at your favorite extreme challenge.