Swepston 1

Eric Swepston
Prof. Julia Intawiwat
ENG 112-38
Date: 4-29-15
Extreme Sports
Imagine yourself flying down a hill, far faster than you know safe. It does not matter
though, you keep gaining speed. Youre going faster and faster. Suddenly, you have to make a
sharp left hand turn, but you cant turn fast enough. You hurdle over the edge of the path and
your mountain bike comes with you. You end up with a few scrapes and bruises, but no
significant injuries.
That story was about mountain biking, a sport that many people partake in. Mountain
biking is an activity that involves biking down a mountain on fairly narrow paths. Mountain
biking is hazardous though, it is extraordinarily easy to get hurt by going off the path or simply
falling over.

Photo Source: http://360niseko.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/hirafu-mountain-bike-park-1-2010.jpg

Swepston 2
Above is an example of mountain biking. This particular type is known as downhill
mountain biking, as you are only going downhill.
This is just one activity from a large group known as extreme sports. Extreme sports
come in many different forms and varieties, and some are more intense than others. Extreme
sports range from mountain biking to white water rafting, from scaling mountains to spelunking,
from backpacking to running marathons. However, most of these extreme sports can be
incredibly dangerous and risky. These risks include: loss or damage of personal property,
personal injury, or even death.
There are many clear disadvantages to these activities, such as the ones listed. These
sports can also be a burden to society. This is the case with Jason Andrico, a personal friend of
mine. He has participated in these sports for many years. He did so without any significant
injuries, until it all caught up with him. He was playing a simple game of football with some of
his friends and he pulled a Tebo. Tebowing is kneeling down on one knee and is named for
Tim Tebow, a football quarterback, pictured below.

.
Photo source: http://www.therightscoop.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/tebow_large.jpg

Swepston 3

Jasons knee, unknowingly, had been damaged from years of mountain biking and
backpacking, along with other extreme sports. It finally gave out when he kneeled. The knee cap
popped out of socket and then back in. When it popped back in, the bone surrounding the knee
cap chipped. A small bone sliver became lodged in between his knee cap and his femur. He has
since had many surgeries to remove the bone sliver and to repair his knee. This put a large
burden on his family, both monetarily and time wise. There was also a burden on his doctors and
friends who had to care for him during this process, which took many months.
Jason is just one of many others that have been hurt because of extreme sports. However,
there are many advantages. MountaingirlBC, an online blog writer, concludes that extreme sports
are a good outlet for many people. Partaking in these activities allows them to blow some steam
and can refocus their lives. She also states that it can provide adrenaline, which some people
have a deficiency of. This happens because their bodies can not or do not produce enough
adrenaline, or they simply require more than others.
I can testify to this, participating in risky sports or activities has refocused my life
numerous times. It has made me realize what is truly important and what is not. Partaking in
these sports gives you an enormous adrenaline rush, which helps me get an excellent nights
sleep. Another aspect of these sports is that they create new jobs. Jobs that cater to these sports
can be very lucrative; you can pay out your nose for a good whitewater rafting guide. In fact,
some towns only exist to cater to extreme sports. There are many small towns along the
Appalachian Trail that exist solely to provide food and gear for the hikers as they trek the
Appalachian Trail.

Swepston 4
One of the aspects of extreme sports is risk taking. Risk taking and gambling are heavily
intertwined with these adventures, which can be beneficial. This can teach good decision making
skills, it provides positive and negative reinforcement. Whether or not you should take these
risks, which can be very costly, is up to you. Alex Lickerman, a student counselor, discussed risk
taking in every day life. He stated that you should identify the probable out comes and weigh the
benefits and drawbacks. There is some risk in everything we do, even in our day to day lives. But
whether you should go whitewater rafting or skydiving is up to you. The method that Lickerman
describes can be useful for this. I have personally used a similar idea multiple times over many
years. I weigh the risks of each decision and estimate each outcome. Sometimes I guess wrong
and there have been negative outcomes, some of which have been painful. Sometimes these
decisions are split second; these choices have to be when you are hurtling down a mountain on a
bike.
Some people have higher tendency to take risks than others, though. This can really be
split into two sections, males vs. females. A joint study was done by the University of California
in San Diego and a private consulting firm, Glaser Consulting, to look at these gender
differences. The study showed that men had a much higher tendency to take risks than women.
However, women where more likely to gamble, if the drawbacks were nominal and the payoffs
were high. This study supports my own findings. Most women perceive taking big risks typically
as bad idea and unnecessary.
All of these ideas are some what useless when they are separate. But when I synthesized
the separate findings, it became a cohesive unit. All of this data shows that are a wide variety of
different extreme sports. There is a sport for almost everyone. There are also many disadvantages
to these, such as possible injury or death. But there are numerous advantages: extreme sports are

Swepston 5
an excellent way to blow off some steam, refocus your life, and create new jobs. Men have a
higher tendency to participate in risk taking than women. This means there are more men then
women actually doing these sports. All of this showed me that going out and taking risks is a
good thing and not something to be feared. However, I should not be foolhardy when doing so,
which is simply a bad idea.

I believe that extreme sports have an important role in society and are here to stay,
regardless of how risky they are.

Swepston 6
Works cited:
Andrico, Jason C., Personal Interview, September 2013.
Judgment and Decision Making, Vol. 1, No. 1, July 2006, Pp. 48. "Gender Differences in Risk
Assessment: Why Do Women Take Fewer Risks than Men?" Judgment and Decision
Making, Vol. 1, No. 1, July 2006, Pp. 4863 Gender Differences in Risk Assessment:
Why Do Women Take Fewer Risks than Men? (2006
Lickerman, Alex. "Should You Take a Risk?" Psychology Today. N.p., 22 Sept. 2013. Web. 25
Mar. 2015.
MountaingirlBC. "Living on the Edge: Extreme Sports and Their Role in Society."
Http://www.summitpost.org/. N.p., 9 Aug. 2006. Web. 24 Mar. 2015.
Photos:
http://360niseko.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/hirafu-mountain-bike-park-1-2010.jpg
http://www.therightscoop.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/tebow_large.jpg