In a world dominated by American football, soccer, and many other sports that require a ball, we tend to push extreme sports to the back burner, despite their intrigue. With that said, what does it really mean to be on X-Games mode? Let’s break it down.
Extreme sports, also known as action or adventure sports, are activities perceived as involving a high degree of risk. From board sports like snowboarding, skateboarding, and surfing to skydiving, BMX, and even parkour, the world of extreme sports is immense and diverse. They’re also accessible; if you’ve ever jet skied, went paragliding, or rock climbing on vacation, you’ve participated in extreme sports.
While extreme sports are risky to partake in, there are other ways to be involved with them from spectating live to watching them in the comfort of your home. The X-Games, an event organized and broadcast by ESPN, annually celebrates extreme sports and their athletes across the world during the summer and winter seasons. Those who travel to experience the games in person get the opportunity to immerse themselves in the hosting country’s culture and see live music performances as well. While I haven’t had the chance to travel for the X-Games, I still love to watch them live and keep up with my favorite athletes on social media.
Apart from the X-Games, the Olympics is now a pioneer in bringing extreme sports into the limelight. This past summer in Tokyo, surfing, skateboarding, sport climbing, and BMX freestyle were introduced in the Olympic program. With athletes like Shaun White and Chloe Kim dominating the Winter Olympics in snowboarding, there’s no doubt that extreme sports will become more mainstream in the years to come.
For more in-depth information on each individual sport and athlete as well as the games themselves, I highly recommend visiting http://www.xgames.com/ and checking out everything on the website. While we’re used to the NFL football season in the fall and filling out our March Madness brackets in the spring, there is a whole world of unfamiliar sports out there that is waiting to be explored—sports that are exciting, risky, and test the limits of athletes every day.
Although extreme sports may seem like they’re not your cup of tea, I promise there’s something for everyone if you take time and look into it—you never know if you might find a new passion!
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