Extreme Sports Research Articles

Advanced Lignin‐Based Hydrogels with Superior Stiffness, Toughness, and Sensing Capabilities

AbstractHydrogels, known for their 3D polymer networks and high water content, are widely used in applications ranging from agriculture to tissue engineering and soft electronics. However, balancing toughness and stiffness in hydrogels remains a significant challenge due to the inverse relationship between these properties. In this study, a dual‐network hydrogel is developed composed of lignin/poly(N,N‐dimethylacrylamide) (PDMA) and sodium alginate/Ca2⁺ (SA/Ca2⁺) using a solvent exchange method. This hydrogel incorporates multi‐level energy dissipative structures, resulting in both high stiffness and toughness. Specifically, the DL/S0.1Ca0.5 hydrogel exhibited impressive mechanical performance, including a tensile stress of 3.7 MPa, a tensile strain of 1100%, and a tensile modulus of 8.7 MPa, along with remarkably high toughness of 97,000 J m−2 and work of extension of 25 MJ m−3. Additionally, it demonstrates exceptional rupture and collision resistance, outstanding conductivity of 19.7 S m−1, and high strain sensitivity with a gauge factor up to 7.78. These features highlight its potential for use in extreme sports protection and wearable sensors, representing a significant advancement in the development of multifunctional hydrogels.

PCNet: a human pose compensation network based on incremental learning for sports actions estimation

Human pose estimation has a wide range of applications. Existing methods perform well in conventional domains, but there are certain defects when they are applied to sports activities. The first is lack of estimation of the extremity posture, making it impossible to comprehensively evaluate the movement posture; the second is insufficient occlusion handling. Therefore, we propose a human pose compensation network based on incremental learning, which obtains shared weights to extract detailed features under the premise of limited extremity training data. We propose a higher-order feature compensator (HOF-compensator) to embed the attributes of the extremity into the torso and limbs topology structure, building a complete higher-order feature. In addition, to improve the occlusion handling performance, we propose an occlusion feature enhancement attention mechanism (OFE-attention) that can identify occluded keypoints and enhance attention to occlusion areas. We design comparative experiments on three public datasets and a self-built sports dataset, achieving the highest mean accuracy among all comparative methods. In addition, we design a series of ablation analysis and visualization displays to verify that our method performs best in sports pose estimation.

Determining Validity and Reliability of an In-Field Performance Analysis System for Swimming

To permit the collection of quantitative data on start, turn and clean swimming performances in any swimming pool, the aims of the present study were to (1) validate a mobile in-field performance analysis system (PAS) against the Kistler starting block equipped with force plates and synchronized to a 2D camera system (KiSwim, Kistler, Winterthur, Switzerland), (2) assess the PAS’s interrater reliability and (3) provide percentiles as reference values for elite junior and adult swimmers. Members of the Swiss junior and adult national swimming teams including medalists at Olympic Games, World and European Championships volunteered for the present study (n = 47; age: 17 ± 4 [range: 13–29] years; World Aquatics Points: 747 ± 100 [range: 527–994]). All start and turn trials were video-recorded and analyzed using two methods: PAS and KiSwim. The PAS involves one fixed view camera recording overwater start footage and a sport action camera that is moved underwater along the side of the pool perpendicular to the swimming lane on a 1.55 m long monostand. From a total of 25 parameters determined with the PAS, 16 are also measurable with the KiSwim, of which 7 parameters showed satisfactory validity (r = 0.95–1.00, p < 0.001, %-difference < 1%). Interrater reliability was determined for all 25 parameters of the PAS and reliability was accepted for 21 of those start, turn and swimming parameters (ICC = 0.78–1.00). The percentiles for all valid and reliable parameters provide reference values for assessment of start, turn and swimming performance for junior and adult national team swimmers. The in-field PAS provides a mobile method to assess start, turn and clean swimming performance with high validity and reliability. The analysis template and manual included in the present article aid the practical application of the PAS in research and development projects as well as academic works.

The emergence of new mountain biking media practices: toward a culture of inclusive mountain biking

Mountain biking has grown rapidly in the past thirty years, yet only 20% of participants in the UK are women. Prior research on media representations in action sports identifies its role in reproducing masculine sporting cultures. Focus on mountain biking is limited, and has failed to give voice to women’s experiences with the sport’s media, nor explore the entanglement between sport and media practices. This study takes a practice theory approach. We theorize women mountain biker’s media practices, bringing these in dialogue with a content analysis of two online mountain biking media sites. We find the media continues to anchor male authority and reinforce hypermasculinity, falling short of its transformative potential. Women disengage and can feel disconnected from mountain biking, yet al.so reject and curate an alternative culture through online media practices which opens up spaces for new schemas of meaning and practice performances to emerge.

An applied cognitive task analysis investigation of professional judgement and decision-making in a small group of high-level, UK-based caving instructors

ABSTRACT The professional judgement and decision-making processes of adventure sports coaches’ leadership practice is a growing area of research. However, the PJDM and underpinning epistemology of caving instructors has recived limited research focus. The decision-making practice of professionals working in complex and constrained environments has significant transferability to domains such as rescue and emergency services. Consequently, this paper investigates the leadership practice of a purposive sample of 3 UK based caving instructors, utilising an Applied Cognitive Task Analysis to access expert cognition. The study aimed specifically to examine the decision-making processes of this sub-group of outdoor professionals who work in difficult, multifaceted and demanding environments. Results supported and built upon previous work in adventure sports, specifically in confirming the complexity of judgement and decision-making underground. In particular, decision-making creates high cognitive loads because of environmental factors inherent in extended caving journeys. Loads are assuaged by the application of heuristics and planning, but naturalistic decision-making processes remain numerous and multifaceted. Findings have implications for National Governing Body instructor training programme design, with particular reference to the development of decision-making expertise in complex environments.

Creativity in sports: The crucial role of motor skills

What enables athletes to perform creative actions in their sports? In the last two decades, sports studies have predominantly assumed that divergent thinking (DT) is the key ingredient and have developed sport-specific DT tests to assess players’ creativity. However, a fundamental question remains: Do players who score high on sport-specific DT tests perform more creative actions on the field? The DT approach in sports has recently been challenged by the hypothesis that creative actions are primarily enabled (or limited) by players’ motor skill repertoires. Here, predictions based on the DT and motor skill approach are tested in the domain of soccer. Studies 1a and b tested male under-12 players, and Study 2 tested female under-19 players of a professional soccer club. All three studies indicated no correlation between the creativity of actions performed on the field (rated with the Consensual Assessment Technique) and players’ soccer-specific DT. In contrast, moderate to high correlations between on-field creativity and motor skills were found. These results challenge the DT approach in sports and the validity of sport-specific DT tests, highlighting the crucial role of sensorimotor skills in performing creative actions in sports or other domains in which creative performance is embodied through motor actions.

Paddling as ‘Pelagic Postcolonialism’: Pacific voyaging resurgence, ocean justice and outrigger canoe racing (Va’a) in Fiji

This article presents an exploratory study of va’a, or outrigger canoe racing, in Fiji, based on 13 semi-structured interviews with paddlers and administrators. The sport, which is deeply embedded in Pacific seafaring heritage, emerged in Fiji in the 1980s against the historical background of the region’s decolonisation. The paddling community subsequently developed notable inclusivity in terms of gender, ethnicity and age, in contrast to the gendered and racialised nature of dominant sports in the country, notwithstanding persisting geographical/class disparity. Fiji paddlers have cultivated va’a into a multifaceted sporting practice that simultaneously constitutes a highly competitive modern game, a hip and cool recreational activity, and a cultural movement underpinned by ocean-centred regionalism and an agentic community coalesced around the shared pursuit of ocean justice. Whilst their active involvement in ocean/climate action parallels the environmental activism of nature-based lifestyle sports in other global locations, Fiji paddlers’ engagement with and stewardship of the ocean are inseparable from postcolonial resistance to the subjugation of the Pacific Ocean, knowledges and cultures, a direct consequence of which is the ocean/climate crisis, an unprecedented existential threat to the Pacific Islands today. The distinct nature of their paddling practice may be described as a ‘pelagic postcolonialism’.

Psychological traits of extreme sport participants: a scoping review.

Extreme sports have increased in popularity, particularly over the past two decades. Theories explaining participation in extreme sports tend to focus on risk. Consequently, extreme sports participants are often characterized by an accentuated desire for risk and abnormal personal traits, but the positive aspects of extreme sports are often neglected in the literature. This scoping review summarizes extreme sport motives, emotions and personal characteristics. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) Checklist, three databases were searched (PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, SportDiscus and, PsycInfo) on 20th April 2023. Studies were included if they were originally articles written in English and examined psychology traits in extreme sport participants. In total, 39 manuscripts met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed in the present review. There is no unique profile for individuals involved in extreme sports. Risk and fear are considered natural characteristic of participation, and many positive aspects are associated with involvement in extreme sports (e.g., organization, planning, confidence). The quality of experience is often reported to justify extreme sport participation. Changes in emotions and motives characterized the reversal theory, which in combination with the flow approach, could explain the participation in extreme activities. A dynamic ecological approach considering the interaction between individuals and the environment should be adopted to understand individual motives, behaviour and emotions.

A Lifestyle Sport Training On Cognitive Outcomes In Children With ADHD: A Randomized Controlled Trial

A Lifestyle Sport Training On Cognitive Outcomes In Children With ADHD: A Randomized Controlled Trial

The Application of Deep Learning in Sports Training

In response to the problems of overfitting, susceptibility to interference information, and insufficient feature expression ability in existing deep learning methods for sports action recognition, the author proposes a deep learning sports action recognition method that integrates attention mechanism. This method proposes a video data augmentation algorithm in data preprocessing to reduce the risk of model overfitting. Then, during the video frame sampling process, the existing sampling algorithms are improved to effectively suppress the influence of interference information. In the special section, the network residual consolidation is proposed to improve the feature extraction capacity of the structure. The Long Term Time Transform (LSTM) network is used to solve the problem of the global correlation of the spatial correlation, and the classification algorithm is achieved by Softmax. and the classification algorithm is proposed. The experimental results show that the recognition rates of this method on UCFYouTube, KTH, and HMDB-51 data are 96.73%, 98.07%, and 64.82%, respectively.

Beyond 4 × 4: Paramotoring a novel approach to accelerate plant exploration in challenging environments

Societal Impact StatementAddressing the burning environmental crisis, we explore how the ‘extreme sport’ of paramotoring can enhance and accelerate scientific exploration with minimal environmental impact compared to off‐road vehicles. Our study demonstrates the scientific potential of paramotoring to access fragile desert ecosystems and investigate unrecorded habitats and species. Comparisons with 4 × 4s showed significant reductions in CO2‐eq emissions for longer missions and ninefold faster travel times. Unlike off‐road vehicles, which can damage the equivalent of over one football pitch in area per linear kilometre driven, paramotors cause minimal damage. Integrating extreme sports and science can accelerate data and specimen collection for more effective habitat conservation. This has the potential to spark discoveries and engagement across diverse communities.Summary In the face of an urgent climate and environmental crisis, we explore the potential of paramotoring to expand scientific reach and collection capability without the environmental harm associated with off‐road vehicles. In Peru's fog oasis desert, we brought together paramotor experts and scientists to conduct missions involving monitoring, plant sampling, surveying, sensor placement and transportation. We compared the environmental impact and time taken by paramotoring with surveys conducted using off‐road vehicles and walking. Shorter paramotor missions showed small differences in CO2 equivalents and time efficiency compared to off‐road vehicles. However, longer missions (28 km from base camp) revealed up to nine times faster travel and two thirds less CO2 equivalent emissions. Notably, off‐road vehicles left a substantial environmental footprint (700 to 8000 m2 per km), whilst paramotors had a minimal impact, with a tiny surface ‘footprint’ of just a few square metres, representing orders of magnitude (1000 to 10,000) less environmental impact. With basic training in identification and sampling, paramotorists collected plant specimens that are invaluable for ongoing and future scientific study. Whilst logistical and safety challenges in transporting scientists via paramotors need further investigation, the benefits, especially compared to surface travel, are evident. Integrating extreme sports into scientific endeavour promises wider and more comprehensive exploration, new discoveries and increased engagement across diverse communities—and in summary—offers significant potential to address urgent environmental challenges.

The Impact Of The Recreational Flow Experience On The Perception Of Wellness Among Individuals Engaged In Extreme Sports

The Impact Of The Recreational Flow Experience On The Perception Of Wellness Among Individuals Engaged In Extreme Sports

Editorial

Shortly after the fantastic 2024 Olympics in Paris, we would like to invite you to take a longer peek at the newest issue of the Archives of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, starting with “Dark Side of Personality and Extreme Sports. Case of skydivers” by P. Próchniak and A. Próchniak. And although skydiving is not exactly (yet?) among the Olympic Games, the exploration of personalities of sportspersons proves a compelling snippet in the quest into understanding why it is only some and not others that succeed in a particular discipline, and whether those features that shape them affect their everyday lives, too.

Snowboarding while Black: race, aesthetics, and Jamaican migrant workers

ABSTRACT How snowboarding intersects with race in a Canadian mountain resort is explored in this research note. Snowboarding is now globalised but emerged in the USA in the 1960s as an alternative lifestyle sport. Race was embedded in its birth as then, as now, snowboarding is dominated by privileged White participants who are mostly male. The White dominance is masked as whiteness is invisibilized by claims of being neutral or colour-blind. Yet, a Black presence surrounds snowboarding. The second theme examines snowboarding’s commodification of Black aesthetics. It uses Black music and urban fashion to enhance and market its supposedly radical or coolness credentials to its suburban White audience. The mining of Black aesthetics is unacknowledged and thus whitewashes the economic exploitation of Black culture. Migrant workers are the backbone of snow resorts, and the third theme examines this use of transnational labour. It probes why Australians are the visible workers on the snow-kissed slopes and front desks, while Jamaicans are the invisible labour in catering and housekeeping. The use of migrant labour is racialised and further reifies the whiteness of snowboarding. Black snowboarders, riding the snowy slopes for leisure, expose and disrupt the politics of race and place in snowboarding.

Dark Side of Personality and Extreme Sports. Case of skydivers

Aim of the studyThe study aimed to identify the personality traits of skydivers from the Dark Side of Personality model.Subject or material and methodsTo identify the Dark Side of Personality traits of 40 Polish skydivers (M age = 26.70, SD = 7.80) and 42 low-risk sport athletes (controls, M age = 25.50, SD = 6.60), several scales were used. These were the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM), Impulsive Behavior Scale (UPPS-P), Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire (NARQ), and Mach-IV Questionnaire.ResultsThe skydivers group had a significantly higher mean of Admiration, Boldness, Positive impulsivity and Sensation seeking than the control group. In addition, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted for the scales of the Dark Side of Personality. It revealed four basic factors: Impulsivity, Social Insensitivity, Planning action, and Thrill Seeking.DiscussionAll four factors discriminate between the study groups but the coefficient of discrimination is high for the Impulsivity and Thrill Seeking factors and lower for the other two factors. It means that Impulsivity and Thrill Seeking are probably the most important factors in understanding extreme sports in the context of the Dark Triad of Personality. The search for new and powerful experiences, combined with a lack of control over one’s own behaviour are the main determinants of involvement in extreme sports.ConclusionsThe results obtained suggest that skydivers do not reveal pathological tendencies. Their participation in extreme sports may be an expression of normal personality and temperamental traits that do not interfere with everyday functioning.

A survey of video-based human action recognition in team sports

Over the past few decades, numerous studies have focused on identifying and recognizing human actions using machine learning and computer vision techniques. Video-based human action recognition (HAR) aims to detect actions from video sequences automatically. This can cover simple gestures to complex actions involving multiple people interacting with objects. Actions in team sports exhibit a different nature compared to other sports, since they tend to occur at a faster pace and involve more human-human interactions. As a result, research has typically not focused on the challenges of HAR in team sports. This paper comprehensively summarises HAR-related research and applications with specific focus on team sports such as football (soccer), basketball and Australian rules football. Key datasets used for HAR-related team sports research are explored. Finally, common challenges and future work are discussed, and possible research directions identified.

Sports action recognition algorithm based on multi-modal data recognition

The recognition of sports action is an important research subject, which is conducive to the improvement of athletes’ own level. To improve the accuracy of multi-modal data action recognition, based on the Transformer module, this study introduces a multi-head attention mechanism, fuses multi-modal data, and constructs a multi-stream structured object relationship inference network. Based on PointNet++ network and combining five different data fusion frameworks, a motion recognition model that integrates RGB data and 3D skeleton point cloud is constructed. The results showed that the Top-1 accuracy of multi-stream structured object relationship inference network was 42.5% and 42.7%, respectively, which was better than other algorithms. The accuracy of the multi-modal fusion model was improved by 15.6% and 5.1% compared with the single mode, and by 5.4% and 2.6% compared with the dual mode, which showed its superiority in the action recognition task. This showed that the fusion of multi-modal data can provide more abundant information, so as to improve the accuracy of action recognition. The accuracy of the action recognition model combining RGB data and 3D skeleton point cloud was 84.3%, 87.5%, 90.2%, 90.6% and 91.2% after the combination of different strategies, which effectively compensated for the problem of missing information in 3D skeleton point cloud and significantly improved the accuracy of action recognition. With a small amount of data, the Top-1 accuracy of the multi-stream structured object relationship inference network in this study was superior to other algorithms, showing its advantages in dealing with complex action recognition tasks. In addition, the action recognition model that fuses RGB data and 3D skeleton point cloud also achieved higher accuracy, which is better than other algorithms. This study can meet the needs of motion recognition in different scenarios and has certain reference value.

Digitalization in action sports: blessing or curse?

PurposeThis study aims to identify how the use of digital technology for performance and commercial aspects of action sports can both create and destruct value.Design/methodology/approachExploratory research based on 30 interviews with coaches, athletes, judges, federations, fans and sponsoring organizations from Europe, across five action sport disciplines that are included in the Olympic program.FindingsValue creation of digital technology use related to the performance aspect of action sports fall into two categories: performance enhancement and performance evaluation. Value creation related to the commercialization aspect of action sports relate to specific technologies, in particular a video streaming and a centralized data and engagement platform, as well as to possibilities for betting and making sponsoring more measurable. Notably, such value creation opportunities are also accompanied by possible value destruction, as they interfere with the ethos of action sports (i.e. the unique nature and special culture).Originality/valueDrawing from service-dominant logic and adopting the value creation/destruction lens, this paper is the first to study how digitalization in the areas of performance and commercialization may further intensify tensions related to the ethos of action sports. Our approach is inclusive in terms of the types of digital technologies, action sport disciplines and stakeholders considered.

Online Social Influence and Negative Emotions toward Snow Sports Brands: Moderation and Mediation Effects

This article draws on the stimulus–organism–response (SOR) model to understand the role of negative emotions in the anti-brand behaviors of online users who consume snow sports brands. To this end, both the online social influence and the mediating effect of symbolic incongruence (stimulus) on the generation of negative emotions (anger, stress, frustration, fear, boredom and sadness) (organism), and how these influence the formation of negative customer brand engagement (nCBE) (response), are analyzed. The study also analyses the moderating effects of “level of expertise”, this makes it possible to capture differences in behaviors based on the profile of the users in each of the proposed relationships. Questionnaire responses of 400 ski and snowboard users over 18 years of age were analyzed using a quantitative methodology. The results obtained have important theoretical and practical implications, since they confirm that online social influences have both a direct and indirect (mediating) effect on negative emotions, which positively affects the nCBE of online users of snow sports brands. Significant differences in behavior based on experience level (moderation effect) were also found. The study proposes useful practical recommendations applicable in online environments that the extreme sports industry could use to neutralize/avoid highly detrimental consequences.

High-risk, Critical Decision-making under Time Pressure: Some Parallels and Learning from Split-second Choices Made in Extreme Adventure Sports

In a world beset with crises, everyone from professional manager down to the layman is keen to understand how to make quick decisions under emerging disruptive situations. This article, employing self-reflective analysis of critical incidents, describes the author’s personal experiences from the field of adventure sports categorised as high-risk, critical decisions, involving split-second choices—while sky-diving and flying—to trace the mental cognitive processes from a decision maker’s perspective. This is used to discuss and establish a practitioners’ operational framework for high-risk, critical decision scenarios, drawing upon established theories and frameworks from cognitive, social and psychological decision research.