X-Sports

Tweet

Rick Stevenson, 16 years old, spends every minute he can on the mountain. He and his friends go snow-boarding1 every weekend. "It's incredible," he says. "The winds are so strong, the boards go 50 miles an hour." His friend Laura Fields agrees. "No one goes skiing anymore," she says. "That's for the old folks." Rick and Laura are part of a new trend in sports. It has its own language, words such as "rage," "juice,"2 and "energy." It has its own clothing, such as skin-tight bicycle suits in rainbow colors or baggy tops and pants.3 And it's not for the old or the easily frightened. Its philosophy is to get as close to the edge as possible.4 And more and more young athletes are taking part in these risky, daredevil5 activities called "extreme sports," or "X-sports." In the past, young athletes would play hockey6 or baseball. Today, they want risk and excitement-the closer to the edge the better. They snowboard over cliffs and mountain-bike down steep mountains.7 They wind-su