Unit Overview

In this unit you will be introduced to the summer and winter X games. You will see how the X Games began and how it truly has evolved into one of the most popular extreme sporting event of today. You will also study the FITT principles. To improve your overall fitness level you should follow these principles of exercise.

The X Games

The X Games are an annual multi-sport event with a focus on action sports. The X Games are controlled and arranged by US sports broadcaster ESPN (Entertainment Sports Programming Network). The Winter X Games are held in January or February (usually in January) and the Summer X Games are usually held in August. The both events are held in the United States.

The Summer X Games include these events:

Skateboarding

A form of recreation and sport that is popular among youths. A person rides standing balanced on a small board mounted on wheels.

Surfing:

A water sport of riding breaking waves toward the shore by means of a surfboard.

Rally car racing:

A professional and amateur automobile sport practiced throughout the world in a variety of forms on roads, tracks or closed circuits.

BMX Biking:

BMX bike racing is a type of off-road bicycle racing. BMX bike racing was derived from motocross racing. BMX races are sprint races on off-road, single-lap race tracks designed for the purpose of BMX racing. The track usually consists of a groomed, serpentine, dirt race course made of various jumps and rollers and a finish line. The term "BMX bike" is generally used to refer to race bikes, as well as those used for the dirt, vert, park, street and flatland disciplines of BMX.

Motocross:

Motocross is a recreational and competitive sport that uses motorcycles. This sport is practiced by both professionals and amateurs on roads, tracks, closed circuits, and natural terrain.

The Winter X Games include these events:

Snowboarding :

This is a winter sport that is somewhat like skiing. It has evolved from the sports of skateboarding and surfing.

Snowmobiling:

A snowmobile is also known as a snow machine, sled, or skimobile. A snowmobile is a land vehicle for winter travel on snow.

Skiing: A recreation sport and mode of transportation that involves moving over snow by the use of a pair of long, flat runners called skis

Snowskating:

A snowskate is a small, binding-less snowboard, or a skateboard deck with skis. Singles provide a more street style, where as 4x4 kits provide a more skateboard style. A snowskate is like a skate board without wheels and is used in the snow.

History of the X games

The story of the X games starts in 1993 when ESPN decided to devote a substantial amount of resources to the creation of an international gathering of action sport athletes. A team was assembled to develop the concept of the first ever X games. In April of 1994 ESPN held a press conference in New York City to announce that the first Extreme Games would be held in Rhode Island in June of 1995.

The Summer Games

The first Extreme Games were held July 24^th through July 1^st 1995 in Newport, Providence, Middletown, Rhode Island, and Mount Snow, Vermont. Athletes compete in 27 events in nine sports categories. Some of the events include:

Bungy Jumping – Also spelled “Bungee” jumping, is an activity that involves jumping from a tall structure while connected to a large elastic cord. The tall structure is usually a fixed object, such as a building, bridge, or crane. When the person jumps, the cord stretches and the jumper flies upwards again as the cord snaps back, and continues to oscillate up and down until the energy is dissipated.

The First Extreme Games were held July 24^th through July 1^st 1995 in Newport, Providence, Middletown, Rhode Island, and Mount Snow, Vermont. Athletes competed in 27 events in nine sports categories.

Some of the events include:

In-line Skating – A sport that uses a roller skate that have two, three, four or five wheels arranged in a single line.

Skysurfing – a sport that combines snowboarding and skydiving.

Sport Climbing – a style of rock climbing that relies on permanent anchors fixed to the rock especially bolts, for protection.

Street Luge - an extreme gravity-powered activity that involves riding a streetluge board or a street sled down a paved road or course. Street luge is also known as land luge or road luge.

Over 198,000 spectators attend the first Extreme Games. Sponsors of the first Extreme Games included Advil, Mountain Dew, Taco Bell, Chevy Trucks, AT&T, and Nike.

The organizers of the first games originally planned to hold the games every two years. However because of the enthusiastic response from the athletes, organizers, spectators and sponsors, ESPN decides to hold the event the following year. In October, ESPN announced that Rhode Island would be the location for the 1996 event.

The event name Extreme Games officially changed in January of 1996 to the X Games. The primary reasons for the change allowed easier translation to international audiences and better branding opportunities.

Over 200,000 spectators turned out for the second X Games held in June 1996. Kite skiing, windsurfing and mountain biking were replaced with wakeboarding. Wakeboardingis a surface water sport which involves riding a wakeboard over the surface of a body of water. It was developed from a combination of water skiing, snowboarding and surfing techniques like Wake boarding.

The Winter Games

The site of the first-ever Winter X Games is announced at a press conference on June 1996. The event was held in Snow Summit Mountain Resort in Big Bear Lake, California. The first Winter X games were held January 30^th through February 2^nd 1997. The Winter X Games gained media exposure due to their big name sponsors and star-studded athletes. The Winter X Games inaugural year was televised to 198 countries and 38,000 spectators attended the actual four day event. In 1998, the attendance dropped to 25,000 spectators. But just two years later, a record attendance of 83,500 people attended the Winter X Games. The Games continue to grow thanks to certain marketing plans such as The Interactive Village, Musical Line-Ups, and the Snowskate Park. The first Winter X games included competitions in snowboarding, ice climbing, snow mountain bike racing, and super-modified shovel. Since 2002 the Winter X Games have been held at Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen, Colorado, and according to ESPN they will continue to be held there through 2012.

Super-modified shovel racing- a snow sport that got it start from competitors on a snow shovel racing down a snowing slope. Today’s competitors use soap box derby type vehicles with skis attached to them instead of wheels.

Ice Climbing - an activity of ascending inclined ice formations such as icefalls, frozen waterfalls, cliffs and rock slabs that are covered with ice refrozen from flows of water. The climbers use ropes, ice picks and crampons to climb the ice formations. Crampons are attachments to outdoor footwear that feature metal parts to provide traction on snow and ice.

Crampons

Snow Mountain Bike Race- an activity where the participant rides a mountain bike down a ski slope at a high rate of speed.

Snowboarding -is a sport that involves descending a snow covered slope on a snowboard that is attached to a rider's feet using a special boot set onto mounted binding. The development of snowboarding was developed by combining the sports of skateboarding, surfing and skiing. It was developed in the U.S.A.

Big Names and Super Stunts of the X Games

· After eleven failed attempts, skateboarder Tony Hawk finally lands a 900-degree spin referred to as “the 900”.

· Mat Hoffman lands the no handed 900-degree spin in the 2002 Summer X Games.

· Jamie Bestwick pulled off the first ever double tailwhip flair in the BMX Vert Best Trick event in the 2005 summer games.

· In the 2007 summer X Games, Jake Brown gets hurt after landing the first 720 in Big Air competition. He fell from 40 plus feet in the air and landed on his backside on the flat. The force of the fall knocked his shoes off and after 8 minutes lying motionless, he walks away with help. He suffered a fractured wrist, bruised lung and liver, whiplash, ruptured spleen, and a concussion.

· American snowboarder/skateboarder Shaun White, who is also known as the "Flying Tomato" because of his shaggy red hair, has mastered some of the toughest tricks in the game. He has obtained a number of medals and awards, including the 2008 Laureus Sports World Sports Award for the Best Action Sportsperson of the Year and he holds the record for Winter X Games gold medals with nine.

· Danny Kass an American snowboarder has a signature move known as the "Kassaroll" (backside rodeo), which is an extremely difficult trick.

The FITT Principles

To improve your overall fitness level, you should follow the principles of exercise.

Frequency

Set up a regular schedule for exercising. Try to accumulate 50 to 60 minutes daily with more vigorous workouts three to four days a week. This is to improve your fitness level. You are likely to see improvement when you exercise regularly and have a schedule for your workout. Also, you are more likely to continue your exercise plan when you have a workout schedule.

Intensity

For your muscles to get stronger or you body to get fit, you must work harder when you are exercising than when you are at rest. When you are performing aerobic exercise, your heart should beat faster and your breathing should increase. What is aerobic exercise?

Aerobic exercise

Aerobic exercise is when your body uses oxygen to produce energy for physical activity. Aerobic means ‘with oxygen’. During intense aerobic exercise, your body uses more oxygen and your breathing and heart rate increase. Over time, regular aerobic exercise will improve your health and fitness and reduce levels of body fat.

Types of Aerobic Exercise

Whatever activity you choose to do, it should be something you enjoy. Different forms of aerobic exercise include:

Walking, jogging or running

Swimming

Dancing

Aerobics classes and water aerobics classes

Cycling

Skating

Line dancing

Ballroom dancing

Make sure you work harder when you are exercising than when you are at rest, but please don’t overdo it. Working your body too hard can cause injuries.

Type

You need to exercise your body the same way that you are going to use it. For example, aerobic exercise will not help build flexibility. Flexibility is the ability to move a body joint through its normal full range of motion. Lifting weights will not increase your aerobic endurance. For flexibility, you must do flexibility exercises. To increase your aerobic capacity, you must increase your heart rate. For strength, you must work your muscles.

Time

Gradually increase the number of times you do an exercise, the length of time that you perform an exercise, and how hard you exercise. It usually takes six to eight weeks to see physical improvements. So, don’t get discouraged. You might not see results right away. Just keep on working hard. Remember that you are worth it! You will begin to feel better about yourself shortly after starting your exercise program.