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Extreme Sports
A Positive Transformation in
Courage and Humility
E. Brymer
Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia
L. G. Oades
University of Wollongong, Australia
Extreme sports and extreme sports participants have been most commonly
explored from a negative perspective, for example, the “need to take
unnecessary risks.” This study explored what can be learned from extreme
sports about courage and humility—two positive psychology constructs. A
phenomenological method was used via unstructured interviews with 15
extreme sports participants and other firsthand accounts. The extreme sports
included BASE (building, antenna, span, earth) jumping, big wave surfing,
extreme skiing, waterfall kayaking, extreme mountaineering, and solo rope-
free climbing. Results indicate that humility and courage can be deliberately
sought out by participating in activities that involve a real chance of death,
fear, and the realization that nature in its extreme is far greater and more
powerful than humanity.
Keywords: humility; courage; extreme sports; risk-taking
Extreme sports are defined as leisure activities where the most likely
outcome of a mismanaged mistake or accident is death (Brymer, 2005).
Typically, participation is considered to be about crazy people taking
unnecessary risks, having “no fear” or holding onto a death wish—why else
would someone willingly undertake a leisure activity where death is a real
potential? Theories such as sensation seeking (Rossi & Cereatti, 1993;
Zuckerman, 2000) have been employed to provide explanations. However,
there may be more to it. Perhaps these definitions only work to an extent
where the potential outcome is less terminal? This article explores the reality
that participation at this level actually results in positive psychological
Journal of Humanistic
Psychology
Volume XX Number X
Month XXXX xx-xx
© 2008 Sage Publications
10.1177/0022167808326199
http://jhp.sagepub.com
hosted at
http://online.sagepub.com
1
Authors’ Note: The authors would like to thank the participants for their involvement in
extensive interview process. Thanks also to Dr. Trevor Crowe for useful comments on the
manuscript.
doi:10.1177/0022167808326199
Journal of Humanistic Psychology OnlineFirst, published on October 30, 2008 as
changes. Furthermore, the experiences of participants point to a clearer under-
standing of various positive constructs including courage and humility.
Emmons (1999) indicated that severe stress, most likely in the form of
trauma, tragedy, or death, drastically changes life. Maslow (1977) consid-
ered that these severe events would only result in deep changes if a person
was initially emotionally stable. Furthermore, continued inducements of
what Maslow termed peak experiences enhances a person’s sense of well-
being (Maslow, 1996). Interestingly, after Maslow’s heart attack in 1968, he
reportedly admitted that his whole life was positively transformed, as he
had now experienced a death of sorts. This experience removed the fear and
triggered his desire to live every moment of every day. He coined this new
aspect the “plateau experience” (Krippner, 1972). Wong (1998, 2000)
echoed such determinations and persuasively argued that by facing our own
fear of death and death itself, we become fully self-aware, and life takes on
a new, profound, and positive meaning.
Emmons (1999) asserted that for the resulting factors to be positive, the
participants would need to expect and have a measure of control over the
event, have the appropriate personal characteristics (e.g., resiliency, opti-
mism, hardiness), and have appropriate social and community support.
However, it is perhaps inaccurate to suggest that the extreme sport experi-
ence is just a trauma-inducing event. Perhaps as psychologists have been
studying the “unplanned” traumatic event, certain predetermined essentials
(e.g., the importance of social and community support) may not be a con-
sideration in the extreme sport experience.
Those studying the transpersonal elements of humanness have also por-
trayed personal transformations. Miller and C’de Baca (2001) described
“quantum” changes or epiphanies and found that the personal characteris-
tics resulting from such changes include humility, spirituality, and personal
growth. Philosophical writings throughout the wisdom traditions note the
potential of deep transformations that manifest themselves as core person-
ality or life world changes (Hanna, 1993; Mohanty, 1972; Spiegelberg,
1982; Zaner, 1970; Zimmerman, 1986). Certain events that bring us nearer
to the reality of our own deaths are positive life-changing experiences. This
article discusses two particular positive constructs, humility and courage,
that come about as a result of participating in extreme sports.
Humility is “characterised by an accurate assessment of one’s character-
istics, an ability to acknowledge limitations, and a ‘forgetting of the self’ ”
(Tangey, 2005, p. 411). A truly humble person would consider himself or
herself to be part of a larger concern rather than the center. Gerber (2002)
argued that to be truly humble, we must be in contact with something
2 Journal of Humanistic Psychology
greater and perhaps more powerful, not just larger, than self. Nature, God,
or our own potential are examples of the greater concern.
Courage, in physical terms, is considered to be “the ability to overcome
the overwhelming fear of harm or death” (Lopez, Koetting O’Byrne, &
Petersen, 2003, p. 186). Those who modeled high sensation-seeking behav-
ior and who demonstrated mastery, positive feelings, and little fear in high-
risk situations are regarded as fearless. Overconfident people feel little
worry before a high-risk situation but have greater feelings of fear preced-
ing further similarly risky situations. Most often, courage is considered in
relation to facing situations that were not sought, in contrast to extreme
sport participation, which is voluntarily sought out. Courage, then, is about
facing fears and taking risks (Lopez et al., 2003). The risk-taking, however,
is not necessarily pathological.
This study is significant as it followed a hermeneutic phenomenological
method that did not presuppose that extreme sports are pathological. This
article discusses one aspect of the greater findings by asking, “What can the
experience of extreme sports tell us about courage and humility?”
Method
This article, part of a larger hermeneutic phenomenological study on the
extreme sport experience, examines the implications of the findings for
understanding courage and humility.
Participants
In total, 15 participants from Europe, Australia, and the United States,
10 male and 5 female athletes aged 30 to 70 years were included (a) for
being extreme sport participants, that is, participants of leisure activities
where the most likely outcome of a mismanaged mistake or accident is
death; (b) for their ability and desire to unravel the extreme sport experi-
ence; and (c) for being outside the age group typically discussed in the lit-
erature about alternative sports. The extreme sports included BASE
(building, antenna, span, earth) jumping, big wave surfing, extreme skiing,
waterfall kayaking, extreme mountaineering, and solo rope-free climbing.
Participants of alternative, lifestyle, or subculture sports that did not fit the
definition as outlined above, including surfing, skiing, and so on at a level
where death would be rare or nonexistent, or sports such as skateboarding
and BMX, were not included. Participants were chosen for the sake of the
Brymer, Oades / Extreme Sports 3
phenomenon (Van Kaam, 1966) and for their ability to explore the experi-
ence, not for their knowledge of the phenomenological framework.
Procedure
Focused conversations with extreme sport participants were conducted
face-to-face or by phone. The first author, a committed participant of adven-
ture sports, though not at such an extreme level, conducted all interviews.
One question guided the interview and analysis process: “What is the
extreme sport experience?” Or, to put it another way, “How is the extreme
sport experience perceived by participants?”
Further data sources including video, biographies, and autobiographies were
sourced from all over the world including India, China, Taiwan, and Nepal.
The first stage of the interview analysis involved listening to each tape
immediately after undertaking the interview (Amlani, 1998; Ettling, 1998).
The second step involved repeatedly listening to and reading individual
interviews and transcripts. Each individual tape/transcript was listened to,
read, and thematically analyzed as a separate entity, though all transcripts
were revisited as themes became more explicit. Both formal and nonformal
understandings of potential themes were continually questioned, chal-
lenged, and assessed for relevancy. Questions such as, “What is beneath the
text as presented?” “Am I interpreting this text from a position of interfer-
ence from theory or personal bias?” and “What am I missing?” guided the
intuiting process.
Both verbal and nonverbal aspects of the interviews were considered.
Interesting phrases were highlighted, and any relevant nonverbal consider-
ations were noted. Accepting Steinbock’s (1997) argument that phenome-
nological descriptions are not about reproducing “mere matters of fact or
inner feelings” (p. 127), these notes were reconsidered in terms of potential
underlying thematic phrases or meaning units (DeMares, 1998; Moustakas,
1994). A similar interpretation process was undertaken with video, biogra-
phies, and autobiographies.
All such emerging themes were assessed to determine any potential con-
nections. Certain initial thematic ideas were grouped and further defined.
These second-order themes were considered against the original transcripts
to ensure the accuracy of interpretations. This whole process was repeated
again and again, testing the assumptions, until interpretations seemed to
gain some solidity and form. The reviews were then assessed against the
words of those participating in an attempt to expose what might be a more
appropriate understanding of the extreme sport experience.
4 Journal of Humanistic Psychology
The following quotes illustrating the themes have been taken from a
variety of sources. Where the source is a direct participant quote, we have
include initials only.
Results and Discussion
A Positive Transformation of Self
Extreme sport participants directly related their experience to personal
transformations. This is succinctly expressed by the following quote from a
professional extreme kayaker: “Kayaking has changed my life, it has taught
me who I am. Going to rivers changes who you are in a positive way”
(Luden, cited in Heath, 2002, p. 1).
Participant reports often indicated that these transformations were per-
manent, instant, and unexpected. McCairen (1998) was transformed after
one whitewater expedition. Bane (1996) changed after one windsurfing ses-
sion. Schultheis (1996) changed as a result of one mountaineering event.
Jacobs (1998) experienced a transformation after one extreme kayaking
experience. The instantaneous nature of the transformation is expressed by
one participant (a committed professional medical doctor with years of
training in the profession) who was persuaded to take part in a single event
as an adult of 28 years despite initially thinking that undertaking such activ-
ities was crazy and tantamount to a death warrant.
I really felt like I was out of my depth, I was seriously challenged and a couple
of times I did think “I am going to die” but I didn’t. At the end of the day I had
an epiphany because I did not die but I really enjoyed it, a whole environment
that I never imagined existed was opened to me. My life has been radically
altered by that choice by that day. I can trace my change of path to that day, and
I might not have gone. I just went to work and this guy said hey do you want to
do this on the weekend and I didn’t know that my life was about to be turned
totally on its head on the weekend. (GS, BASE jumper, mid-40s)
A woman BASE jumper put it this way:
I’ve been meditating for years and running for years so change was coming
slowly you could see progress but I had explosive change in a short period of
time so it was a catalyst for explosive growth. (HS, BASE jumper, early 40s)
Bane (1996), who wrote that his experience of windsurfing in storm con-
ditions triggered a complete life transformation, was clear that he felt better,
Brymer, Oades / Extreme Sports 5
as a result of this particular windsurfing session, than he had felt for a long
time prior to it. It was this feeling that triggered his quest to reexplore the
experience through other extreme sports and that his quest would
change everything it touches, take me places I’ve only imagined. It will allow
me to reach out and touch... something. Something desirable, something
mythical. But as is true of all fairy tales, it will extract a price. (p. 5)
Participants seem clear that the extreme sport experience is a transfor-
mational experience that spills over to life in general. A surfing participant
in this study experienced the transformation into his personal life, after
exploring a description of the activity itself through a particularly large
wave. Essentially, the wave was so big that other surfers dropped off the
back and did not surf it.
That’s what I mean when I say “that buzz” I mean I might die in bed. I’ll
probably try and remember those things and I’ll just go “yes,” I’m ready to
go, see you later, because nothing can upset you when you think of those
things. (TR, big wave surfer, late 40s)
He continued by declaring that although surfing this particular wave hap-
pened 15 years prior to our interview, the inner transformation that came as
a result of surfing this wave still remained. Even years later, these inner
changes, coupled with recollections of being able to surf such a wave, pro-
vided the strength to get through a divorce or what he described as the
“worst moments of my whole life” (TR, big wave surfer, late 40s).
Like I said I think it just makes you a better person makes you more content
makes you realize more what life is all about and the pleasures in life. (TR,
big wave surfer, late 40s)
Bane (1996) wrote,
Extreme sports change people who participate in them. While a bungee
jumper might feel a certain rush of immortality, the other extreme sports offer
something far less tangible-and far more rewarding. (p. 9)
For Ogilvie (1974), participants are “extremely autonomous people who
march to their own beat” (p. 93), are self-assertive, forthright, loners, and
emotionally stable. Participants have few friends but really trust those that
are considered friends; and certainly participants do report that they have
very few real friends but that they would trust these friends with their lives
and, quite frankly, often do.
6 Journal of Humanistic Psychology
Humility
Another typical response is that participation at such an extreme
level teaches humility (Ahluwalia, 2003; Breashears, 1999; Muir, 2003;
Spence, 2001). For Gonzales (2003), humility is an essential element
for successful participation in extreme environments, a humility that
Gonzales related to the Zen philosophy of being open in attitude. Bane
(1996) reflected on his initial intentions and described his experiences
as follows:
I came to risk sports looking for Indiana Jones. Or, at least, someone like
him. Some part and parcel of our mythology, cowboy or samurai, riding the
edge jaggies for all their worth. Instead, I found a group of puzzled people
with a tiger by the tail, interested not so much in mythology as in touching
and holding an experience as ephemeral as spider silk, ghostly as morning
mist over Montana river...
There is, I think now, even more to the edge than the ephemeral feeling.
It has its own time its own space. The edge has its own gravity, like a great
dark star on the edge of the known universe. We approach the star only with
the greatest of caution, because its gravity has the power to rip away our pre-
conceptions, our sure knowledge of the way things are, to let us see the way
things might be. The dark star has the power to give us back our feelings,
sometimes in exchange for our lives.
I have never met anyone who has stood, however precariously, on the
flanks of a great mountain, or who has been, however, briefly, to the
dark world at the edge of the abyss, and not come back changed.
Changed how? More humble, perhaps, more aware of the fragility of
life. (p. 232)
A BASE jumper interviewed for the study related that before BASE, he
was engrossed in his professional life as a successful emergency medical
professional, on a defined career path that one could argue would be the
ideal of many.
I can only compare myself now with what I used to be when I was not an
adventurer and was a more closed, arrogant, limited, unbalanced person and
you know the worst part was I didn’t even know I was unbalanced. Pretty
well every aspect I handle differently now. For example when I practice med-
icine now I’m a lot more aware of a patient, not just bed four’s got a stroke
or what ever. I’m much more aware that Mrs. so and so is a lady who’s got a
lot of other things and just happens to have a stroke right now. (GS, BASE
jumper, mid-40s)
Brymer, Oades / Extreme Sports 7
Another BASE jumper put it this way:
Well for me it’s about accepting that you’re mortal and that you’re very vul-
nerable and that you’re like a piece of dust really or a leaf in the wind. When
you accept that then the power of one day becomes more than just paying lip
service to an idea, does that make sense. So self possessed in that you have
accepted that while you’re like a leaf in the wind you can also make a differ-
ence and you can also explore parts of yourself that you had no concept of
even being there. (HS, BASE jumper, early 40s)
This quote illustrates the effect of accepting death, connotations of releas-
ing control or surrendering during the “active” aspect of the event and
exploring parts of oneself that one was not even aware existed.
Jacobs (1998), a double PhD (health psychology and education) and
kayak explorer, underwent a similar change as a result of one unplanned
extreme kayak event. Essentially, whilst on a river expedition he found him-
self in the midst of a flash flood and a river that turned from grade five to
grade six. In Jacobs’s words,
I had changed. I found myself to be more forgiving and more patient; reflec-
tion replaced reaction more often than before. My hard logic more readily
made room for intuitive considerations, something I had seldom given much
notice I no longer thought of truth as something definite and unyielding but
as something woven into both sides of an issue. (p. 17)
Bane (1996) wrote that by the halfway point of his quest the extreme
sport experience had changed him spiritually: “I am struck with how far
I’ve gone, both literally, in miles, and spiritually in my head” (p. 107).
Laird Hamilton (see Williams, Hamilton, Kachmer, & Pineda, 2001), an
internationally renowned pioneer of extreme surfing, considered that he
developed an appreciation of life and living through his experiences of the
natural world as something greater than humanity, a realization that
changed him emotionally, physically, cognitively, and spiritually. Reaching
the highest point on Earth also seems to be a prolific instigator of so-called
spiritual transformation (Ahluwalia, 2003; Benegas, 2003; Chiow, 2003;
Weare, 2003). Breashears (1999) explained the relationship as one akin to
a facilitator:
If ever there was a mountain that can temper human arrogance and teach
humility, it’s Everest. Whatever name you want to give it, the Nepali
Sagarmatha, or the Tibetan Chomolungma—the Mother Goddess—or the
8 Journal of Humanistic Psychology
British surveyor general’s name, Everest, the mountain is a massive living
presence that changes everyday. With the terrible winds of 1986, it seems that
Everest was intent on showing us how fragile we truly are. (p. 171)
And I was certain that in exploring the terrain of the mountain, we were
really exploring a far more mysterious terrain—the landscape of our souls.
(p. 242)
Thus, as Arnould and Price (1993) briefly pointed out, the nature-human
relationship seems to be one where the immense power of nature acts as a
pointer to our inner beings. Lynn Hill the climber also noted an exploration
of her inner nature:
It’s all about learning to adapt totally to the environment you’re in. I think it
provides the perfect opportunity for learning about what makes you tick.
When you’re that involved in the external world, you can really explore your
inner nature. (Hill, cited in Olsen, 2001, p. 66).
Thus, it would seem that participation at a level where death is a poten-
tial outcome, where the external is clearly more powerful and aids learning
about the internal, triggers humility. It is not so much about being in some-
thing larger as it is akin to Gerber’s (2002) arguments and the development
of a new world perspective.
Courage
Breivik (1996) found that Himalayan climbers were less tense than the
general population. On comparing his results to those of McMillan and
Rachman (1988), who concluded that Everest climbers were fearless, Breivik
realized that the participants in his study were more courageous on a contin-
uum spanning fearlessness, courage, and overconfidence. Whilst extreme
sport participants may feel generally less anxious, they do feel heightened
anxiety or fear whilst participating (Robinson, 1985). For Schultheis (1996),
this experience was as if “possessed by something between panic and eupho-
ria, dread and ecstasy” (p. 7). In the words of one BASE jumper,
You can’t even begin to try to make somebody who hasn’t done it understand
how frightening, how exciting, how peaceful and beautiful that sensation is.
(TD, BASE jumper, cited in Richardson, 2001)
Far from approaching the task without anxiety and stress, participants feel
extreme levels of stress or fear—they are just able to work with it. This
Brymer, Oades / Extreme Sports 9
point was poetically described by the great waterfall kayaker Corran
Addison as he recalled preparing, and eventually succeeding, to kayak over
an extreme 30-meter waterfall in France.
So there I stood in France that day, my bladder ready to explode. It’s not like
I really needed to go—after all I had just been to the bathroom only minutes
before, but somehow nature had come up with a little extra, and for some
unknown reason, there was some urgency in the matter. But there I was, the
pillar of strength, feeling rather embarrassed about the fact that for the third
time in as many minutes I needed to take a piss. Not exactly what you would
expect to be the great deliberation in my mind at that time, what with the task
of surviving a 30m waterfall at hand, but the biggest debate seemed to be
whether to once again unzip my fly, thus delivering the testimonial to those
about that I was paralysed with fear.
Which brings us to the bit about being paralysed. Now it is one thing to
be paralysed with fear, but the unfortunate result of such a condition is the
very real possibility of permanent paralysis following a botched line because
the fear within was too great. It takes a very special mind to be able to put
that fear aside. (Addison, 2003, p. 2)
Participation does result in experiences of fear. However, contrary to the
indications of the generally considered reaction to fear, participants are not
immobilized. Far from assuming the typical notion of flight, fight, or freeze
associated with the rush of adrenalin, it would seem that participants are
somehow able to remain calm and focused on their performance.
Participants are clear that fear is a constant companion that requires great
psychological skill to overcome; furthermore, to freeze in the face of fear
would be to invite injury or worse (Addison, 2003; Meyer, 2000).
It would seem that for those dedicated to extreme sports, the adrenaline
junky is considered detrimental to their chosen activity. This is succinctly
expressed by a BASE jumper:
The trouble with BASE as it gets more well known is it starts to attract extrem-
ists, people who want that edge thing, that sort of high risk adrenalin are com-
ing across and they’re dying. (TD, BASE jumper, cited in Richardson, 2001)
The same BASE jumper goes on to explain that a decision to jump is made
by balancing the natural state of fear with knowledge based on personal
capabilities and technical expertise. It is only when these considerations are
effectively balanced that the magic that Schultheis (1996) alluded to begins.
10 Journal of Humanistic Psychology
Thus, it would seem that courage might not just be about how one copes
with events that are not searched for but might also be involved in activities
that are searched out. Extreme sports are events where participants feel real
fear, are fully aware that death might be involved, but are also aware that
powerful positive psychological experiences are probable.
Conclusion
Extreme sports are leisure activities where a mismanaged accident or
mistake would most likely result in death. Participants live this realization
every time they undertake their chosen activity. Participating at this level
involves real fear and brings one in contact with nature at its most extreme.
It is these points that act as frameworks for experiencing humility and
courage. Being in nature at this level transforms the human tendency for
anthropocentricity and replaces it with ecocentricity and the realization of
true courage and humility.
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E. Brymer received his PhD from the departments of psychology and educa-
tion in Wollongong, Australia. He is a lecturer and consultant with more than
20 years’ experience in adventure recreation and outdoor learning as a partic-
ipator, coach, manager, lecturer, and consultant in the United States, Europe,
United Kingdom, Asia, and Australia.
L. G. Oades, MBA, PhD, senior lecturer at the University of Wollongong, NSW,
Australia, is a clinical, health, and coaching psychologist. He completed his PhD
on adolescent risk-taking. He has traveled extensively, including hiking, mountain
climbing, and SCUBA. Lindsay has an active research program developing self-
development-oriented programs, including applications for people with enduring
mental illness, international university students, and people in business contexts.
Brymer, Oades / Extreme Sports 13
