A new class of sport has emerged in the last few decades, variously called extreme, adventure, action, and lifestyle sports. These activities are revolutionizing the notion of sport, exercise and physical activity and overtaking many traditional sports in terms of participation, and influence. They have developed into a significant worldwide phenomenon with considerable social and economic impact (Brymer and Schweitzer, 2017a). While participant numbers in many traditional team and individual sports such as golf, basketball, and racket sports have declined over the last decade or so, participant numbers in so-called extreme sports have surged. The current trajectory suggests that traditional sports will soon play second fiddle to these new and exciting opportunities. With the continually rising participation rates in these activities, science and medicine is starting to give these sports the same attention already given to traditional sports (Feletti et al., 2017). However, this attention needs to consider the unique and nuanced characteristics of the people involved, their motivation, and the activities. As already noted and further highlighted by many articles in this special edition, extreme sports are not well-served by approaches that stem from traditional sports research ...
Language: en
LA - en SN - 1664-1078 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.03029 ID - ref1 ER -