Includes air, land and water sports.

This book celebrates the whole wild world of adrenalin sports, where men and women grapple with the elements and with themselves, as they get ever closer to the limits of human sporting achievement. There is comprehensive coverage of all sports with an apparent lack of rules and a real surplus of danger: bungee jumping, hang gilding, mountain biking, powerboating, skateboarding, snowboarding, whitewater rafting and a host of others.

This book celebrates the wild world of adrenaline sports: bungee jumping, hang gliding, mountain biking, power boating, snow and skateboarding, whitewater rafting, and a host of others.

Over the last decade extreme has become a popular adjective to describe a range of physical pursuits and activities such as bungee jumping, dirt biking, skysurfing and street luge. Yet, notwithstanding its widespread usage, extreme remains largely a connotative term to differentiate individualistic, adventure-type sports with high aesthetic components from more functional and traditional team sports such as baseball, basketball, cricket, football and hockey. However, as well as its physical characteristics extreme also connotes an ideological dimension that refers to a range of anti-social attitudes, many of which are embodied and stand in sharp contrast to conservative, mainstream middle-class sporting values. Indeed, the ideology of extreme attracts as much attention among scholars interested in the study of sport as the physical elements. The Encyclopedia of Extreme Sports offers a comprehensive dissection of this new and emerging phenomenon, and its characteristics, philosophy, ideology, functions, history and future. component-risk-from a number of disciplinary perspectives including history, sociology, psychology, theology and physiology. In examining the history of individual extreme sports, the Encyclopedia explores ancient, feudal and cross-cultural forms while also looking at the appeal of modern extreme activities to entrepreneurs, marketers, advertisers and the media as they seek to connect with consumers in the critical 13-34-age cohort. The commercialization of extreme sports as well as their institutionalization-formation of governing bodies, grand prix circuits, and inclusion in traditional mega-events such as the Olympic Games-highlights another critical dimension addressed by the Encyclopedia, their contradictory and paradoxical nature. As numerous commentators have observed, participants in extreme sports are typically no less racist, sexist and class and status conscious than their brothers and sisters participating in mainstream sports. cross-cultural and historical extreme sports; thematic essays; biographies of leading extreme exponents; descriptions of the best known extreme playgrounds.

What they lack in rules they make up for in danger. In The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Extreme Sports, revised and updated, readers will find advice on clothing and equipment, safety tips, trick moves and background explanations on a range of extreme sports including whitewater rafting, bungee jumping, snowboarding, and skydiving. This celebration of some of the most awesome feats of daring and adventure takes us to the very limits of human physical possibility.

Sports and leisure activities serve as a mirror, allowing us to examine the attitudes and values of everyday people. This new reference explores the development and influence of sports in American culture, as well as how sports icons, commercial enterprises, organizations, sporting events, and even fan culture have changed from decade to decade and from era to era, from the foot races of colonial times to the extreme sports of today. Each chapter focuses on key aspects of sports in American culture, including such topics as ethnicity, gender, and economics. Enhanced with numerous sidebars on the movers and shakers, key sporting trends, as well as the controversies that threatened to tear the sports world apart, this insightful reference is ideal for high school and college students who are interested in tracing the evolution of sports and American culture throughout the nation's history. Features include a timeline of important events, numerous photographs, and a bibliography of print and electronic sources for further

Pushing the limits. Extreme sports vigorously test the limits of an individual's strength, agility, and courage. One's adversary in these sports is not another athlete but the forces of nature, particularly gravity. Extreme Sports celebrates the wild world of high adrenaline sports with concise profiles of forty-one sports. The sports range from bungee jumping to whitewater rafting. Each sport is described with lively text and illustrated with dynamic action photography. The sports featured in Extreme Sports are organized alphabetically in three major sections: Nine Air Sports: BASE jumping, ballooning, hang gliding, sky diving, sky surfing, etc. Seventeen Land Sports: Ice climbing, ice yachting, mountain boarding, skateboarding, street luge, etc. Fifteen Water Sports: Jetskiing, power boating, snorkeling, wakeboarding, windsurfing, etc. Extreme Sports also features less known sports, such as freediving: a sport that requires participants to swim into the deepest reaches of the ocean carrying only the air they hold in their lungs. Freedivers have pushed the limits of unassisted breathing dives to go below 400 feet. The book includes an extensive list of books, magazines, associations and clubs that would-be extreme athletes can contact to obtain more information for each sport. Although participating in extreme sports is clearly not for every sports enthusiast, Extreme Sports is.