Welcome to XtremePedia™ -- The Xtreme Encyclopedia

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Xtreme/Extreme Sports:
Extreme sports (also called action sports and adventure sports) is a media term for certain activities perceived as having a high level of inherent danger or difficulty and often involving speed, height, a high level of physical exertion, and highly specialized gear or spectacular stunts.

Overview:
Extreme sports are often associated with various youth subcultures. Extreme sports are arguably no more "extreme" than traditional activities played at a high level. The few generalizations that can be made about extreme sports is that they are almost always individual instead of team activities and that they often focus on performing tricks or stunts.

In 2006, the Extremity Games was formed for people with physical disabilities, specifically limb loss (amputees) or limb difference, to be able to compete in extreme sports. The College Park Industries, a manufacturer of prosthetic feet, organized this event to give disabled athletes a venue to compete in this increasingly popular sports genre also referred to as action sports. This annual event held in the summer in Orlando, FL includes competitions in skateboarding, wakeboarding, rock climbing, mountain biking, surfing, moto-x and kayaking.

Marketing:
Some contend that the distinction between an extreme sport and a conventional one is as much to do with marketing as it is to do with perceptions about levels of danger involved or the amount of adrenaline generated. Furthermore a sport like rugby union, though dangerous and adrenaline-inducing, would not fall into the category of extreme sports due to its traditional image, and it does not have certain things that other extreme sports do, such as very high level of speed and an intention to perform stunts. Scuba diving is not seen as an extreme sport these days, despite the level of danger and physical exertion, because of its primarily adult demographic. Also the fact that it is not classed as a sport, as there is no objective to the activity. Another example: compare the perception of demolition derby, not usually thought of as an extreme sport, to that of BMX racing, which is. Demolition derby has an adult demographic, BMX is a youth sport.

The definition of extreme sports may have shifted over the years due to marketing trends. When the term first surfaced circa the late 1980's/early 1990's, it was used for adult sports such as skydiving, scuba diving, surfing, rock climbing, snow skiing, water skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking, mountaineering, cave exploration, storm chasing, hang gliding, and bungee jumping, many of which were undergoing an unprecedented growth in popularity at the time. Outside magazine, not the X Games, epitomized the meaning of the term, and if there was a clothing style associated with extreme sports it was an "outdoorsy" look favoring brand names associated with mountaineering or backpacking such as The North Face and Patagonia, Teva sandals or hiking boots for footwear, etc. The term nowadays applies more to youth sports like skateboarding, snowboarding, and BMX and is closely associated with marketing efforts aimed at youth (e.g. the ad campaigns of Mountain Dew), and with their favored styles of clothing and music, especially the kind of urban baggy look associated with skateboarders, and loud, fast alternative rock. This shift in styles may also be partly a generational shift, as Baby Boomers and Generation X have aged and marketing efforts associated with extreme sports shifted toward the younger Generation Y demographic sometime in the mid to late 1990's.

The term gained popularity with the advent of the X Games, a made-for-television collection of events. Advertisers were quick to recognize the appeal of the event to the public, as a consequence competitors and organizers are not wanting for sponsorship these days. The high profile of extreme sports and the culture surrounding them has also led people to invent parodies, such as Extreme ironing, urban housework, extreme croquet, and house gymnastics.

The difference between the serious extreme sports and imitation or parody is not always obvious.

Adrenaline Rush:
A feature of such activities in the view of some is their alleged capacity to induce an adrenaline rush in participants. However, the medical view is that the rush or high associated with the activity is not due to adrenaline being released as a response to fear, but due to increased levels of dopamine, endorphins and serotonin because of the high level of physical exertion. Furthermore, a recent study suggests that the link to adrenaline and 'true' extreme sports is tentative. The study defined 'true' extreme sports as a leisure or recreation activity where the most likely outcome of a mismanaged accident or mistake was death. This definition was designed to separate the marketing hype from the activity. Another characteristic of activities so labeled is they tend to be individual rather than team sports. Extreme sports can include both competitive and non-competitive activities.

Reasons:
Some who enjoy extreme sports repudiate the stereotypical "adrenaline junkie" tag. The practitioners would claim they enjoy developing their physical and/or mental skills, seek mastery of inhospitable environments, look to escape from the mundane rigors 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"—even though accidents in these sports could be fatal. Many participants also don't think of their activities as either extreme or sports at all. To the most passionate purists, the sport label doesn't fit because they aren't competing to win anything. Worse, the extreme label has frequently been blamed for stereotyping participants in these activities as stupid, reckless, and even suicidal. Eric Brymer PhD (2005) also found that the potential of various extraordinary human experiences, many of which parallel those found in activities such as meditation, was an important part of the extreme sport experience.

Some of the sports have existed for decades and their proponents span generations, some going on to become well known personalities. Rock climbing and ice climbing have spawned publicly recognizable names such as Edmund Hillary, Chris Bonington, Wolfgang Gullich and more recently Joe Simpson. Another example is surfing, which was originally invented centuries ago by the native inhabitants of Hawaii.

X Games:
The X Games is an annual event with a focus on extreme action sports. The Winter X Games are held in January or February and the Summer X Games are usually held in August. Competitors perform as best as they can trying to win bronze, silver and gold medals,and prize money. The competition often features new tricks such as Tony Hawk's "900" in skateboarding, and Travis Pastrana's double backflip in Motocross. Concurrent with competition is the so-named X Fest—ultimate action sports and music festival, which offers live music, athlete autograph sessions, interactive elements. The location of the Winter X Games is in Aspen, Colorado through 2010, while the location for the Summer X Games is in Los Angeles through 2009. The X Games also has international competitions and demos around the world that are held at varying times throughout the year. The games are shown live on ESPN and ABC television.

Current Summer X Games Sports:
Freestyle BMX
Vert
Park
Big Air
MotoX
Best Trick
Freestyle
Step Up
Supermoto
Supercross
Racing-Introduced in X Games 13
Big Air
Street
Street Best Trick
Vert
Vert Best Trick
Surfing
Rallying

The Winter X Games:
The Winter X Games is a competition compiled of the greatest winter action sport athletes from around the world, all competing for medals (gold, silver, bronze) and prize money on an annual basis. The competition contains day and evening events including skiing, snowboarding, and snowmobiling. The first Winter X Games took place at Mountain Resort in Big Bear Lake, California in 1997. The following two years, the Games were held at Crested Butte Mountain Resort in Colorado. The two years following that, the Games were held in Mount Snow, Vermont. And since 2002 the Winter X Games have been held at Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen, Colorado, they will continue to be held there through 2010.

Growth - The Winter X Games are the leading winter action sports competition and tour in the whole world. The ratings, attendance, and participation have continued to grow over the years. In the Games’ first year, 1997, the actual attendance of the event was about 38,000 people. In 1998, the attendance dropped to about 25,000 people with the Games’ move to Crested Butte, but new sports were introduced including free skiing, SnoCross, and SkiBoarding. Women’s Free Skiing was introduced a year later and attendance showed an increase at its second stay at Crested Butte. A year later, the Games moved to the east coast for the first time and recorded a record attendance of 83,500 people in Vermont. Also in 2000, the Games added the Snowboard SuperPipe event. Again in Vermont in 2001, the Games posted another great fan turnout along with the addition of the Moto X Big Air event.

Current Winter X Games Sports:
Skiing
Snowboarding
Snowmobiling
Snowskating

Extremity Games:
The Extremity Games is a multi-sport, action sports competition, similar to the X Games, for athletes with amputations and limb differences. The Extremity Games was started by College Park Industries, a manufacturer of prosthetic feet, in the summer of 2006 in Orlando, Florida. Competitors perform in many different sports, categories and styles, trying to win bronze, silver and gold medals, as well as prizes and money. In addition to the competitions there are instructional clinics held in each of the sports in which trainers instruct new-comers on basics of the sport. Vital to the experience of the Extremity Games is the live music, interactive exhibit area, and featured demonstration sports that are operating concurrently with the competitions.

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