Sports – to its extremity

By Yanagi Kaze and Twist and then Collide

Extreme sports are frivolous activities depicted by media as having an incredibly sky-scraping level of intrinsic jeopardy. These activities time and again involve incredulous speed, tremendous height, and soaring level of physical exertion, exceedingly specialized gears and breathtaking stunts.

Nowadays, these superb sports were widely entertained by the public. Here in the Philippines these varieties of sports are generally accepted by the thrill-seeking Filipinos. Tourists’ spots like Bora, Cam Sur, Siargao, Anilao and the like are also the prominent spots for these intense sports.

Here is the roll of burgeoning forceful sports throughout the planet:

New Moon Said it

Adding a new dimension to the sport of diving, cliff diving is defined as the acrobatic perfection of diving into water from a high cliff. Braving the rough rocks, divers take a plunge in the hard-hitting water beneath to experience a thrill to last for a lifetime.

This dangerous sport originated from the Hawaiian Island of Lana´i in 1770. Kahekili, the king, demanded that his men leap off high cliffs and enter the water feet first without a splash, to prove their courage and loyalty. Today, after centuries, the activity has expanded into a sport that is marked by immense courage, focus, thrill and risk.

Cliff diving is one of the riskier kinds of diving; hence, extreme caution is a must. To the benefit of the divers, certain standards have been set to minimize the risk factor. Some of these include determining the height of the jump (23 – 28 meters for men, 18 – 23 meters for women), an ideal entering speed of 75 – 100 km/h, and a free fall time of 3 seconds.

Cliff diving is mentioned in New Moon, the sequel of Twilight. Bella saw the Quileute boys diving of the cliff when she’s off playing with Jacob.

Gills Anyone?

A little known sport, underwater hockey is what some divers like to do during the winter months when the outside water is too cold for diving. The sport was invented in Great Britain during the 1950's when some British divers were looking for ways to stay fit during the winter.

The game is played using nothing more than snorkeling equipment - and of course the stick, protective gear and gloves - which add breathing as an important game factor, meaning players have to manage the oxygen in their body. The game is played at the bottom of the pool using a puck weighing over one kilogram. The sport is tough and tiring though it is not as bad for experienced divers capable of holding their breath for extensive periods of time. The sport is becoming increasingly popular around the world and some countries have formed national teams which take part in world championships.

Roll Around the Bush

Effectively throwing yourself down a slope in a giant ball, or ‘Zorbing”, is one of the latest extreme sport craze to sweep the world. This bizarre sport, invented in 2000, involves a giant plastic ball, which has two skins, one inside the other. The person zorbing is in the area between the skins, which is pumped up with air. The middle ball effectively suspends them on a cushion of air 700mm off the ground and the ball is then rolled down a hill.

Like a number of other extreme sports, such as bungee jumping, zorbing originated in New Zealand. There are two different ways to zorb - either harnessed inside the ball, or "hydrozorbing", which involves putting water in the ball, which zorbers can slide around on as it revolves.

Suicide? Nah! Just For Fun!!!

BASE jumping, also sometimes written as base jumping or basejumping, is an activity that employs a parachute or the sequenced use of a wingsuit and parachute to jump from fixed objects, with the parachute unopened at the jump. "BASE" is an acronym that stands for the four categories of fixed objects from which one can jump:

• Building
• Antenna
• Span
• Earth

Dash Like Spiderman

Free running is a form of urban acrobatics in which participants, known as free runners, use the city and rural landscape to perform movements through its structures. It incorporates efficient movements from parkour, adds aesthetic vaults and other acrobatics, such as tricking and street stunts, creating an athletic and aesthetically pleasing way of moving. It is commonly practiced at gymnasiums and in urban areas that are cluttered with obstacles.

The term free running was coined during the filming of Jump London, as a way to present parkour to the English-speaking world. However, free running and parkour are separate, distinct concepts — a distinction which is often missed due to the aesthetic similarities. Parkour as a discipline emphasizes efficiency, whilst free running embodies complete freedom of movement — and includes many acrobatic maneuvers. Although the two are often physically similar, the mindsets of each are vastly different. The founder Sébastien Foucan defines free running as a discipline to self development, following your own way.

Extremeness – forever electrifying

Ages ago, extreme sports are not that well-liked but then again, the new generation is bored to death with the predictable sports. Extremeness is somehow engaging nowadays. With the adrenaline running through someone’s vein it will sure give you the creeps!