All sports have elements of danger associated with them. If you still have your signed cast from that first badminton injury though, you’ll need to up your game just to keep reading. Getting out of bed is risky in certain parts of the world, but there is a spirit of out-doing oneself in athletics, especially in the arena of extreme sports.
For average active people, it is enough to be in the great outdoors for a ball game; skiing if you’re near the slopes, surfing on the coast. Everyone from tennis players to hoop shooters push themselves toward an up-to-date personal best. Then there’s a whole other group of people whose thrill-o-meter seems to have piqued, they have a need to press on to greater heights, depths and lengths. These people live to break through their own tolerance levels.
WHAT’S THE APPEAL
Bungee and base jumps, spelunking and parkour, paragliding and freediving; folks are continually pushing the limits of the human physique and physical experience. Perhaps you can identify the gene carrier early, say, in the schoolyard. It’s no surprise that guy who was always turning back flips from the sliding board rather than sliding down properly should end up atop some bridge with elastics wrapped around his ankles. Participants in risky sporting efforts usually cite the adrenalin rush, the conquest of fear and the sheer joy of adventure as being the fundamental reasons for their chosen activities. So what about the danger element? Manageable risk seems par for the course. The general philosophy can be summed up into a few words: if you’re not pushing the envelope, you’re not really living. Some people just seem to need a bigger bite of the peach.
