“Action sports” is a misnomer (Part 1)

Is bowling a sport, or a game? Is ice-dancing a sport or an art form? Is golf a sport or a hobby?

The only useful response to each of these questions is: It’s whatever you want it to be. There’s no point putting labels on things that inherently resist definition — things like skateboarding, surfing and snowboarding, for instance. Not everyone will agree and nothing will be accomplished.

But that answer is unsuitable when it comes to separating people into an Us and a Them — and that’s what young people expect from their “action sports” (note that the term itself is just a waffly rendition of “sport,” one that’s eschewed and ridiculed by actual participants.) We define ourselves through these activities, and because we have an ingrained need to self-categorize, we must know: Am I an athlete, or a skater?

This identity crisis pervades board sports today, wherein opportunities for real money and fame have sparked an arms race of sorts: boarders need to get serious about pushing their performance levels in order to stay relevant. That’s problematic because modern boardriding is chartered as a distinctly non-serious activity in the first place. It seems that the high-performance tail has begun to wag the lifestyle dog, so to speak — being that lifestyle is the reason there’s even any action sports industry to speak of. It’s all backwards.

Furthermore, the sponsor dollars on offer, which boarders will do any number of pushups and wind sprints to capture, are supplied by selling that lifestyle more than by selling a performance standard. The appeal of a Shaun White depends far less on his adding yet another rotation in the half-pipe than on the perception that Shaun is a flashy gallivant having an unreasonably good time, eight days week. At some point, high performance exhibits diminishing returns, if and when it comes at the cost of that freewheeling image board sports are built around.

When the fun goes, the audience will go as well — or at least change.

— Stuart

Advertisement