| Extreme Sports are the latest craze in our culture and | | | | Trickbladers use the same parks as skateboarders |
| kids as young as four and five years old are | | | | and wear specially designed roller blades with smaller |
| fascinated with it. As a parent of a 16 year old who | | | | thicker wheels and have an added feature called a |
| has been skateboarding and surfing since he was | | | | grind plate to help them do tricks like sliding down rails. I |
| seven, I can tell you that it does make you nervous | | | | know, it makes my skin crawl just thinking about it! The |
| when they do the crazy tricks. Some people hate | | | | idea is to be able to do a lot of the same tricks |
| extreme sports and some people think they are a | | | | performed by skateboarders. |
| blessing, let's take a closer look. | | | | Skateboarding is thought of as the original extreme |
| The positive side of kids being involved in extreme | | | | sport beginning in the 1960s when surfers put wheels |
| sports in that they are out getting exercise and the | | | | on short boards to give them a way to cross train |
| television in your living room is starting to collect dust, | | | | when the surf wasn't up. These early skateboarders |
| plus your electric bill is lower. You have probably been | | | | are probably amazed at the way the sport has |
| hoping for this to happen for awhile but you aren't sure | | | | developed with the huge half pipes and long rails that |
| about the choice of sports. Although skateboarding is | | | | you see skateboarders riding today. It just makes me |
| probably the first of the extreme sports, it is only the | | | | cringe to watch as they slide down a handrail while |
| beginning. Some of the others that kids are really | | | | standing on a skateboard but incredibly my son has |
| getting into these days include BMX biking and | | | | done it for over nine years and never broken a bone. |
| trickblading. | | | | If you are like me, the first time that you watch your |
| BMX bikes are like a regular bike on steroids, they are | | | | child go sailing through the air on a jump or paddling out |
| built heavy and tough to be able to take the | | | | in eight foot surf you will feel like your heart is going to |
| punishment of all the jumps and tricks, plus they have | | | | pound out of your chest and you will be cringing every |
| special pegs for the feet and padding to protect the | | | | time they fall but as long as they have the right safety |
| biker where they are most likely to come in contact | | | | gear and are always with a buddy they will be fine, |
| with the bike. These bikes are designed mainly for | | | | injuries are far more common in traditional sports. |
| tricks and racing and are mostly used on dirt tracks | | | | Encourage your kids, these days it's hard to get them |
| and courses. | | | | to like anything. |