Extreme sports, they sound, well… extreme, don’t they?
As a kid I grew up wanting to be an extreme athlete. I saw the VHS tapes and read the magazines of my hero’s doing cool, crazy things and dreamed of following them. I wanted to be a cool kid, who didn’t?
I would go outside and ollie a few kerbs and chickenfoot a few kickflips on my skate board or jump out of a tree. In my head I convinced myself I was doing the same as them.
As I got older, I realised of course that I wasn’t, not quite at least. I still loved every minute of it though.
I mentioned that I watched VHS and read magazines, real ones you can hold in your hand, so yes it was before the good old tinterweb.
Getting into an “extreme” sport back then wasn’t as easy as it today, especially if you didn’t live in a suitable part of the country. These days it’s all there for you on the web, the path to start, the instructors, the courses you can book, the purpose-built walls or parks. It’s easy. So, I wonder why so many people seem to be afraid to try them.
I have taken so many people out climbing that have told me “there is no way I could climb rock like that” or say to me “you are mad I have seen it on the telly, I don’t know how you do it”
The secret is that Extreme sports are more often than not, not that extreme at all.
Sure, stick big Dave McLeod on you tube and watch him send Rhapsody and you will have even the hardest weekend warrior sweating through his pants.
And don’t even get me started on Alex Honnald with his Free solo documentary. If I had a pound for every time someone told me they saw him on telly doing that “free climbing”.
I got bored of trying to explain what free climbing is and that I take my eleven-year-old son free climbing regularly. And no, that they didn’t need to call child protection on me.
I now casually mention I haven’t seen it and that it doesn’t surprise me that he doesn’t have to pay for climbing as he is so famous. Throws them off a bit.
Of course, when we are down the pub with football loving friends, we embellish a few titbit’s and sex it up a little. We are extreme athletes after all, we have a mythical reputation to uphold.
Yes, we may have done something at the edge of our limit this particular weekend but there have been plenty of times when we have plain and simply dawdled or bottled it all weekend.
The point is Dave Mcleod didn’t one day just decide to go to climb a route that has a potentially ‘fall and die’ scenario. Alex Honnald didn’t just decide to go for a ramble and then accidently solo Freerider.
It’s a progression and most of the time the general armchair viewer or enthusiast only sees the culmination of years of practice and dedication. It’s something we all know but seem to forget when it relates to a sport or anything we are not familiar with.
This progression can be voluntarily stopped at any time. You don’t have to go from riding a few local trails to riding the Cuillin Ridge, you can stop somewhere in the middle or even right at the start.
I know lots of casual climbers that never push their grade or fall on their gear.
I know lots of casual skaters that are not as young and bouncy as they used to be or maybe totally new to the pastime, but still love the lifestyle and skate community. They go to the park, get involved but they are not trying to land laser flips or skate vert.
You can repeat this for mountaineering, BMX, diving etc.
There are lots of people enjoying so called “extreme” sports in a totally non “extreme” way.
I even know people that love going climbing for the weekend but they only belay! Basically, an active picnic for them. Gold if you can find a few of those to knock about with.
The important part is that those that are not at the “extreme” end of their action sport career are not having any less fun than those that are.
If we stopped saying that these are “extreme” sports (are they even sports by the way) maybe we could get it across that the entry level barrier is much lower than is presumed.
So, get down to your local climbing wall. Buy a set-up from your local skate shop. Take your bike over the nearest trails. Get involved in an action sport.
Just get started and do something. The world’s most famous base jumper Carl Boenish didn’t just jump off a cliff on a whim he started at the beginning.
Go find your beginning … it’s a lot easier than you think.