Senior Ben Thatcher first started snowboarding when he was 10 years old and living in Michigan. He strapped on his neighbor’s snowboard, went down his neighbor’s backyard hill and he fell in love with the feeling he experienced. Since then, he has spent about 15 days every year snowboarding in resorts in Colorado, Michigan and Indiana. 

Thatcher is just one of the many athletes who have turned to extreme sports as a form of physical activity.  According to a 2008 article by XtremeSport, extreme sports have risen higher than ever in popularity.  For example, skateboarding participation has risen 49 percent and snowboarding participation has risen 51 percent between 1999 to 2008.  Thatcher said he has noticed the growing popularity of extreme sports at CHS, especially of people who are involved in snowboarding or long boarding.

Skateboarding instructor Steve Hill said there are many factors that are responsible for the recent rising popularity of extreme sports. One of them is the recent ease of accessing sport facilities, specifically in Carmel.

Hill said, “Before 2008, Carmel did not have a skate park. Before 1995, there was no such thing as a rock climbing wall in Carmel. Those are things that have come about recently. Now that they’re more accessible to people, (they) can just drive  10 minutes from their house and go to a skate park.”

In addition, Hill said the fact that playing certain sports are becoming more of a lifestyle than just the sports themselves is another reason as to why extreme sports have become more popular.

“Nowadays, people don’t just go play basketball and say, ‘I played basketball today.’ They identify themselves as a basketball player, so they’ll buy the shoes, buy the jerseys and (video) games,” Hill said. “The same is true with skateboarding. You don’t just go out and ride on a skateboard. You identify yourself as a skateboarder; it’s a lifestyle. You’ll buy the shoes, the clothing and all the different things that go into it as well.”

Hill said there are also many differences between extreme sports and traditional sports that may cause people to gravitate towards extreme sports, such as the individuality aspect.

“Unlike other traditional sports, aside from maybe golf or tennis, you don’t have to have a team or anything like that to participate in something like skateboarding, surfing or snowboarding. You can just do it completely on your own.”

Thatcher, who has previously taken part in lacrosse and rugby, said that being on his own while snowboarding was definitely one factor that drew him to the sport.

He said, “I like individual sports because of the instant gratification of how you perform, knowing that it’s solely you that you have to rely on for improvement. And there is not a lot of stuff to hold you back. You can train on your own. You can do things on your own to improve yourself.”

In addition, Thatcher said snowboarding is a method of expressing himself, similar to how others uses music or art to express themselves. He said people can add their own style to certain tricks and make them their own.

Thatcher also said he likes the adrenaline he gets from doing jumps in snowboarding that he can’t get from other sports.  Sports medicine teacher Scott Turnquist said adrenaline is a major reason why extreme sports is gaining popularity.

“A lot of times people are looking for a rush and get that naturally (through extreme sports),” Turnquist said. “Any time you’re trying to push yourself to that limit, there’s the element of not only that rush, but the challenge, the need to be able to say that you’ve pushed the envelope a little bit.”

Despite all the positive aspects of extreme sports, there is one factor that is not as enticing: the danger. Although Thatcher said he has not broken any bones from snowboarding, he has received a concussion, scratches and bruises after bad trips and falls.

While Turnquist said all sports have inherent risks, extreme sports in general are more dangerous than traditional ones. One reason is the speed.

“You’re talking about people moving at higher velocities, people doing changes in body direction and body position you don’t normally see, so that can definitely lead to more injury,” Turnquist said. “Typically there are more chances of catastrophic injury in extreme sports, serious injuries that can cause long-term health effects or death.”

In addition, Turnquist said extreme sports have many factors that can’t be controlled, such as the weather and surroundings which can make the sport a lot more dangerous. Thatcher said one uncontrollable aspect of snowboarding is the unexpected  tree runs.

He said, “A thing I quite like to do is tree runs, which is ungroomed snow and tree obstacles. If you haven’t skied before, you have no idea where the trees are, and if something goes wrong, you could crash and possibly injure yourself to a degree.”

Turnquist said there are no methods to totally eliminate all the risks, but there are many ways to decrease the chance of injury. He said, “Finding safe ways to prepare yourself, having an understanding of the craft you’re trying to participate in and making sure you have the proper safety equipment whenever possible lowers the chance of injury. Also, the more you practice, the less chance you have of injuring yourself and the more familiar you are with what you’re doing. Your ability levels increase, which slightly decreases your chance of injury.”