Adventure, urban, and extreme sport
Core elements of sport (physical exertion and/or skill, competition, rules, and organisations) may apply, but not in a traditional sense.
Adventure and urban sports often use elements of traditional sports (e.g. the performance skills involved with running, cycling, paddling, skiing, etc.), but in a modified format and in outdoor environments. The core elements of sport (physical exertion and/or skill, competition, rules, and organisations) apply, but not in a traditional sense. 25
Examples of adventure and urban sports include BMX freestyle, skate sports, adventure racing, parkour, urban climbing, and more. 25
Adventure and urban sports emphasise resourcefulness, cooperation, group-cohesion, physical fitness, and proficiency. There may also be an element of managed risk, and this usually adds to the appeal. 25
These activities often appeal to the non-conforming individuals, especially youth audiences, more than formal sports and may be popularised through being filmed or showcased on social media and YouTube. 25
Extreme sports
The public perception of ‘what is sport’ has changed over time. Some sport activities that may have once been considered ‘extreme’ have been modified and structured into mainstream sport. 25 Conversely, mainstream sports have been modified to become ‘extreme’ (e.g., ‘extreme skiing’). 34
Extreme sports usually involve speed, height, physical exertion, significant risk of death or injury, and may require highly specialised equipment. 35, 36 In many cases a sport is modified (to the extreme), so that new rules change the sport action into something new; or in some cases no rules apply. 35 Extreme sports are increasingly popular in terms of spectator appeal, media coverage, and corporate sponsorship. 37
Extreme sports may apply the three criteria of a ‘sport’—competition, rules, and organisational structure—but in different ways. Fewer or different rules are likely to apply, competition may be with oneself (rather than an opponent) or against the environment, and organisations (where they exist) generally sit outside mainstream international sporting federations or associations. 35, 37, 38
Two examples of different evolutionary paths involving extreme sports are:
- Sky diving, opens in a new tab. Once considered an extreme activity, over many years it has integrated itself into an accepted sporting code, ‘Sports Jumping’. Skydiving events for individuals and teams are now sanctioned by national and international federations. Competition events have rules, they are judged on athletic and artistic merit, scored according to judging criteria, and the results are recorded.
- Downhill ski racing was one of the original alpine disciplines recognised by the world governing body of skiing (FIS), and is an exciting, fast, and technical sport. 39 However, extreme downhill skiing, also known as ‘big mountain skiing’ has taken the risk to a new level. There are no ‘rules’ per se, no course, and no limit to the conditions which challenge extreme skiers to demonstrate what is humanly possible. 40
Further reading and resources
- How To Develop Urban Sport By Adapting The City Landscape, opens in a new tab, Paysalia, (18 July 2018). The boom in urban sport impacts every town and city and urban planning has to reflect this trend. To provide a framework for this transformation, the French Sports Ministry has published a report on the role of public authorities in the valorization of sport in urban environments. This is our summary.
- The Future of Australian Sport. The second report: Megatrends shaping the sport sector over coming decades - 2022, CSIRO/Australian Sports Commission, (December 2022). This report identifies six megatrends that will shape the Australian sport sector over the coming decade and beyond and provides a decadal update on the first ground-breaking report, The Future of Australian Sport: Megatrends shaping the sports sector over coming decades, released by CSIRO and the Australian Sports Commission in 2013. Several of the identified trends highlight the rise in modified, social, and virtual sport engagement. The Next Arena megatrend includes details of the recent, and likely continuing, rise in adventure and urban sports.
- Editorial: Understanding Extreme Sports: A Psychological Perspective, opens in a new tab, Eric Brymer, Francesco Feletti, Erik Monasterio, et al., Frontiers in Psychology, Volume 10, (January 2020). A new class of sport has emerged in the last few decades, variously called extreme, adventure, action, and lifestyle sports. These activities are revolutionizing the notion of sport, exercise and physical activity and overtaking many traditional sports in terms of participation, and influence. They have developed into a significant worldwide phenomenon with considerable social and economic impact. While participant numbers in many traditional team and individual sports such as golf, basketball, and racket sports have declined over the last decade or so, participant numbers in so-called extreme sports have surged. The current trajectory suggests that traditional sports will soon play second fiddle to these new and exciting opportunities. With the continually rising participation rates in these activities, science and medicine is starting to give these sports the same attention already given to traditional sports. However, this attention needs to consider the unique and nuanced characteristics of the people involved, their motivation, and the activities. As already noted and further highlighted by many articles in this special edition, extreme sports are not well-served by approaches that stem from traditional sports research.
- Defining Extreme Sport: Conceptions and Misconceptions, opens in a new tab, Rhonda Cohen, Bahman Baluch, Linda Duffy, Frontiers in Psychology, Volume 9, (October 2018). The aim of this article is twofold: firstly, to demonstrate whether the term “extreme sport” in scientific terms, has developed into a misnomer, misleading in the context of the sports it tends to encompass, secondly, to propose a revised, more accurate definition of extreme sport, reflective of the activities it encompasses in the context of other non-mainstream sports. Based on this review it is argued that a new definition of an extreme sport is one of “a (predominantly) competitive (comparison or self-evaluative) activity within which the participant is subjected to natural or unusual physical demands. Moreover, an unsuccessful outcome is “likely to result in the injury or fatality of the participant, in contrast to non-extreme sport”.
- To Analyze Thrill, Define Extreme Sports, Ralf Buckley, opens in a new tab, Frontiers in Psychology, Volume 9, (July 2018). Extreme sports can provide an ethically and experimentally feasible tool to analyze thrill. To use this tool, extreme sports must first be defined in a non-circular way, independent of participant psychology. Existing concepts, from different disciplines, focus, respectively, on drama, activity types, or consequences of error. Here, I draw upon academic and popular literature, and autoethnographic experience, to distinguish extreme from adventurous levels for a range of different outdoor sports. I conclude that extreme outdoor adventure sports can be defined objectively as those activities, conditions, and levels, where participant survival relies on moment-by-moment skill, and any error is likely to prove fatal. This allows us to examine the motivations, experiences, and transformations of individuals who undertake these activities. In particular, it will allow us to examine the emotional experience of thrill, previously studied principally as an aspect of personality, from new neurophysiological and evolutionary perspectives.
- Action sports for youth development: critical insights for the SDP community, opens in a new tab, Thorpe H, International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, Volume 8(1), pp.91-116, (2016). This article identifies new trends in youth sport participation, particularly the growing popularity of non-competitive, informal, non-institutionalised ‘action sports’ (e.g., skateboarding, moto-cross, kite-surfing, snowboarding). A number of international examples and qualitative research, including interviews and media analysis, are cited. The discussion considers the potential of action sports for making a contribution to the sport for development and peace (SDP) movement.
- Examining group walks in nature and multiple aspects of well-being: a large-scale study, opens in a new tab, Marselle M, Irvine K and Warber S, Ecopsychology, Volume 6(3), pp.134-147, (2014). Outdoor walking groups promote the benefits of social interaction, connections with nature, and physical activity. This study sought to identify the mental, emotional, and social wellbeing benefits from participating in group walks in nature. A sample of 1,516 adults belonging to either ‘Nature Group Walkers’ or non-walkers were compared. Controlling for covariates, this research found that participants in walking groups suffered significantly less depression and perceived stress, as well as having enhanced feelings of wellbeing. This study identifies the mental and emotional wellbeing benefits derived from participation in group walks in nature and supports the potential mental health benefits of outdoor group walk programs.
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