Dissecting Action Sports Studies

Abstract

The term “action sports” broadly refers to a wide range of mostly individualized activities such as BMX, kite-surfi ng, skateboarding, surfi ng, and snowboarding that differed – at least in their early phases of development – from traditional rulebound, competitive, regulated Western “achievement” sport cultures ( Booth and Thorpe, 2007 ; Kusz, 2007a ; Wheaton 2004, 2010 ). Various categorizations have been used to describe these activities, including extreme, lifestyle, and alternative sports. In this chapter, however, the term action sports is used as it is currently the preferred term among committed participants and industry members in North America and Australasia (many of whom reject the overly commercialized “extreme” moniker imposed upon them by transnational media and mainstream sponsors during the midand late 1990s). Many action sports gained popularity during the new leisure trends of the 1960s and 1970s and increasingly attracted alternative youth, who appropriated these activities and infused them with a set of hedonistic and carefree philosophies and subcultural styles ( Booth and Thorpe, 2007 ; Thorpe and Wheaton, 2011a ; Wheaton, 2010 ). While each action sport has its own unique history, identity, and development patterns ( Wheaton, 2004 ), early participants allegedly sought risks and thrills, touted anti-establishment and do-it-yourself philosophies, and subscribed to an “outsider identity relative to the organized sports establishment” ( Kusz, 2007a : 359; Beal, 1995 ). Developing during a “historically unique conjuncture” of transnational mass communications and corporate sponsors, and entertainment industries, and amongst a growing affl uent and young population, many action sport cultures have “diffused around the world at a phenomenal rate” ( Booth and Thorpe, 2007 : 187). Over the past fi ve decades, action sports have become a highly visible feature of popular culture. Action sports athletes appear on the covers of Rolling Stone , Sports Illustrated , and FHM and feature in advertisements for corporate sponsors such as Nike, Mountain Dew, and American Express. Recent estimates suggest there are more than 22 million Americans currently participating annually in the four most popular action sports – skateboarding, snowboarding, BMX riding, and surfi ng – with many participating on a regular basis and engaging in an array of other action sports ( AMG, 2007 ). Reliable