Extreme sports news and challenges
Extreme sports have become quite popular amongst the youth of today. Any sport that has some level of danger attached with it can be put in the extreme sports bracket. These sports mostly involve a great degree of speed, dramatic stunts, specialized gear and a considerable level of physical exertion. Though these activities are not exclusive to the youth, it has been noted that the people participating in these activities do belong to the younger demographics. ESPN also provides all the news and happenings around these events through their programs.
Most of the variables in extreme sports action are beyond control. This could be one of the reasons why most of the extreme sports athletes begin training without a coach or considerable guidance and are mostly solitary in nature. Challenges not only extend amongst competitors but also to nature and environmental variables such as wind, snow, terrains and water. Some of the uncontrollable phenomena’s attached with extreme sports can be seen during events such as surfing, rock and ice climbing and snowboarding. The quality of ice and rocks, the heights of the waves during snowboarding or the snow conditions during snowboarding events are beyond physical control.
One of the biggest extreme sports sporting events is called the X Games. This commercial sporting event is organized and aired live by ESPN.. There are two such sporting events organized during the year, one during winter and the other in summer. The Winter X Games are held in the month of January and February and the Summer X Games take place mostly in the month of August. Both these events are conducted in the United States.
The participants vie for the gold, silver and bronze medals in the games along with the cash prize that is associated with it. However, judging an extreme sport event is quite different from the traditional games. While distance, score and time form a major part of the judging criteria for traditional sports, extreme sports participants are judged mostly on the aesthetics that they bring making judgment a lot more subjective. As a result of this each sport employs its respective dynamic ideals that evolve assessment with new techniques and trends set by the participants.
There has been some controversy surrounding the label of ‘extreme sports. As some people contend that extreme sports is nothing more than a marketing strategy giving viewers the perception of the high level of danger associated with it. These people say that a game like rugby or Demolition derby is not considered an extreme sport even though there is a level of danger and adrenalin rush that is associated with it. It is viewed more like the youth trying to reject authority and order and setting up a place of their own making the participating demographics of a much younger age group. Although initially adult sports such as sky diving, bungee jumping, mountaineering scuba diving etc were associated with extreme sports, now this term is more applicable to youth driven sports such as skateboarding, aggressive skating, BMX etc.