Extreme sport

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Extreme sport is a name given by the media to the activities, which involve danger. They often include speed, height or physical exertion. These activities can be in the form of thrilling stunts. When a sportsperson is at a certain risk while performing that activity, he/she is said to be playing an extreme sport. Many of the extreme sports arouse excitement and serve as a spectacle for many sport enthusiasts. Extreme sports continue to attract the youth of modern times. Youngsters often enjoy participating in extreme sport events and most of us take great interest in watching people perform feats associated with adventure sports. Let us look at how extreme sports evolved.

Skateboarding

Skateboarding was first started in the 1950s, when all across California surfers got the idea of trying to surf the streets. No one really knows who made the first board -- instead, it seems that several people came up with similar ideas at the same time. Several people have claimed to have invented the skateboard first, but nothing can be proved, and skateboarding remains a strange spontaneous creation.

These first skateboarders started with wooden boxes or boards with roller skate wheels slapped on the bottom. Like you might imagine, a lot of people got hurt in skateboarding's early years! It was a sport just being born and discovered, so anything went. The boxes turned into planks, and eventually companies were producing decks of pressed layers of wood -- similar to the skateboard decks of today. During this time, skateboarding was seen as something to do for fun after surfing.

In 1963, skateboarding was at a peak of popularity, and companies like Jack's, Hobie and Makaha started holding skateboarding competitions. At this time, skateboarding was mostly either downhill slalom or freestyle. Torger Johnson, Woody Woodward and Danny Berer were some well known skateboarders at this time, but what they did looked almost completely different from what skateboarding looks like today! Their style of skateboarding, called "freestyle", is more like dancing ballet or ice skating with a skateboard.

Rock Climbing

In its simplest form, Climbing is the act of going up, whether it is on a hill, mountain, or artificial wall. It comes in many different types, styles, and variations. Rock Climbing history can be attributed to Mountaineering, since mountaineers always have this particular kind of drive to try more challenging climbs and terrains. Needless to say, Rock Climbing involves climbing on steep rocks and cliffs.

For quite a long time, Rock Climbing was only seen as a part of Mountaineering, where mountaineers would climb routes to prepare themselves for a climbing expedition. It served as a form of training in order to improve their climbing skills. In the 1920s, it gradually became known in the United States as an essential factor in mountain climbing. In the 1950s, Rock Climbing was considered as a sport on its own.

ice hockey

The origin of ice hockey is unknown, however, ice hockey probably evolved from the game of field hockey that has been played in Northern Europe for centuries.

The rules of modern ice hockey were devised by Canadian J G A Creighton. In 1875, the first game of ice hockey with Creighton's rules was played in Montreal, Canada.

Today, Ice hockey is an Olympic sport and the most popular team sport played on ice. Ice hockey is played with two opposing teams wearing ice skates. Unless there is a penalty, each team only has six players on the ice rink at a time. The aim of the game is to knock the hockey puck into the opposing team's net. The net is guarded by a special player called the goalie.

base jumping

Base jumping is sport that evolved form skydiving in the 1960’s. The beginnings of modern base jumping is not very well documented because it is still considered to be an illegal activity but it is believed that one of the earliest and likely the 1st base jump involved 2 parachutists atop El Capitan in the Yosemite National Park, California in the mid 1960's.

The 2 base jumpers, Brian Schubert and Michael Pelky, jumped off the 3600' (1100 meter) granite cliff. During their descent they were pushed back into the side of the mountain by the strong winds. Both suffered abrasions, severe bruising and broken bones. The sport consists of jumping off man-made and natural objects while wearing a parachute. The letters B-A-S-E is an abbreviation for Buildings, Antennas, Spans (Bridges), and Earth (Cliffs), the objects that are usually used to jump from.

Base jumping is an advance form of skydiving where the jumpers have to open their chutes in a relatively short period of time. The elevation difference from the jump off point and the landing zone is much less than skydiving. Often is the case that the vertical difference in launch and landing area is less than 200' (60 meters). Because of the short time periods involved, there is very little opportunity for the parachutist to deploy a reserve parachute if the main chute fails to open properly. For this reason, many base-jumpers don't bother carry a reserve chute.

Snow boarding

The thrill of catching a big wave aboard a fast-flying surfboard can be duplicated all winter long at numerous ski resorts that cater to the avid snow board enthusiast. Most of America's top ski resorts now offer related activities such as dedicated snow boarding areas. They also offer rentals or sales of boards and all sorts of related equipment.

Snow boarding at any of the top ski resorts presents an opportunity to enjoy a plush lifestyle after a long day in the mountains. The fresh air, the chill and the camaraderie of other enthusiasts is a thrill of the first magnitude for high-altitude athletes who love speed—and the voluminous bursts of churning snow that fill the air with a crystal spray resembling diamonds at their most sparkly.

Some resorts that make accommodations for snow board aficionados have full service spas, live music in the ski lodges and bubbling hot tubs in the fitness centers. Many resorts also have a full staff of personnel that specialize in massage, ski lessons and guided tours of the scenic environs.

Mountain Biking

Mountain Biking started during the 1970s in California, USA. Mount Tamalpais, better known as Mt. Tam, is widely considered as the origin of Mountain Biking. Often hailed founding fathers of Mountain Biking such as Joe Breeze, Gary Fisher, Charlie Cunningham, Keith Bontrager, and Tom Ritchey converted cruisers and balloon-tire bicycles into human-powered machines that are capable of passing through all kinds of road conditions. The first breed of mountain bikers were purely downhillers. They would ferry their bikes up a mountain with a truck and race downhill. They used coaster brakes in order to slow down from the descent. However, these old-styled brakes would heat up during descents in which they would have to be repacked with grease before going through another descent. This breaking mechanism was later replaced with cantilever brakes which were a lot lighter and much stronger. Simultaneously, riders felt that they had to bike up the hills or mountains in order to appreciate riding the descent, thus the birth of multi-speed bikes with shifters and gear in order to aid riders ride up the hills and mountains.