‘Leave Your Ego at the Door’: A Narrative Investigation into Effective Wingsuit Flying

Abstract

In recent years there has been a rapid growth in interest in extreme sports. For the most part research has focused on understanding motivations for participation in extreme sports and very little research has attempted to investigate the psychological structure of effective performance. Those few studies that have attempted to explore this issue have tested models designed for traditional sport on adventure sports. However, extreme sports are not the same as adventure sports or traditional sports. This study employed a narrative approach to investigate experiences of effective performance in the extreme sport of proximity wingsuit flying. An overarching theme we labeled ‘leave your ego at the door,’ emerged based on four sub-themes: (1) know thy self, (2) know thy skills, (3) know the environment now, and (4) tame the ‘inner animal.’ These themes are presented and discussed in relation to performance and discovery narratives identified within elite sport, thereby shedding light on how participants’ experiences of the extreme sport of proximity wingsuit flying differ from dominant stories within traditional sports.

Full text

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH
published: 17 November 2017
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01985
Edited by:
John L. Perry,
University of Hull, United Kingdom
Reviewed by:
Chris Rowley,
Leeds Trinity University,
United Kingdom
Patrick R. Young,
Wingate University, United States
*Correspondence:
Eric Brymer
e.brymer@leedsbeckett.ac.uk
Specialty section:
This article was submitted to
Performance Science,
a section of the journal
Frontiers in Psychology
Received: 20 March 2017
Accepted: 30 October 2017
Published: 17 November 2017
Citation:
Arijs C, Chroni S, Brymer E and
Carless D (2017) ‘Leave Your Ego
at the Door’: A Narrative Investigation
into Effective Wingsuit Flying.
Front. Psychol. 8:1985.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01985
‘Leave Your Ego at the Door’: A
Narrative Investigation into Effective
Wingsuit Flying
Cedric Arijs1, Stiliani Chroni2, Eric Brymer3*and David Carless3
1Department of Physical Education & Sports Science, University of Thessaly, Trikala, Greece, 2Department of Sports and
Physical Education, Faculty of Public Health, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Elverum, Norway, 3Institute of
Sport, Physical Activity and Leisure, Carnegie School of Sport, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, United Kingdom
In recent years there has been a rapid growth in interest in extreme sports. For the most
part research has focused on understanding motivations for participation in extreme
sports and very little research has attempted to investigate the psychological structure of
effective performance. Those few studies that have attempted to explore this issue have
tested models designed for traditional sport on adventure sports. However, extreme
sports are not the same as adventure sports or traditional sports. This study employed
a narrative approach to investigate experiences of effective performance in the extreme
sport of proximity wingsuit flying. An overarching theme we labeled ‘leave your ego at
the door,’ emerged based on four sub-themes: (1) know thy self, (2) know thy skills, (3)
know the environment now, and (4) tame the ‘inner animal.’ These themes are presented
and discussed in relation to performance and discovery narratives identified within elite
sport, thereby shedding light on how participants’ experiences of the extreme sport of
proximity wingsuit flying differ from dominant stories within traditional sports.
Keywords: wingsuit flying, extreme sports, self-knowledge, narrative, elite performance
INTRODUCTION
Extreme sports are described as sporting activities where a mismanaged mistake or accident
would most likely result in death (Brymer and Schweitzer, 2017). While extreme sports share
some common ground with traditional sports, that of physical movement, they are different in
many ways. In particular, (1) extreme sports involve considerable danger and the potentiality
of death (Brymer and Schweitzer, 2013a); (2) extreme sports are not usually competitive in
the traditional sense (Breivik, 2010); (3) while examples do exist of extreme sports being
undertaken in urban environments (e.g., BASE jumping from buildings) for the most part
they take place in the natural environment and demand that the participant engages with
the natural environment (Brymer et al., 2010) and, (4) extreme sports are not governed by
strict rules, regulations, and constrained performance environments as typically found in more
traditional sports (Breivik, 2010). As such, extreme sports present different challenges than
many traditional sports, which are compounded by the fact that more broadly adventure
sport participation rates seem to be outgrowing many traditional sports (Wheaton, 2004;Pain
and Pain, 2005;Brymer and Houge Mackenzie, 2016). Extreme sports are also different from
other adventure sports. Though extreme and adventure sports share some larger common
ground, that of physical movement taking place in natural environment, they differ in the
degree of danger when doing the activity (Brymer et al., 2010;Brymer and Schweitzer, 2017).
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For example, unlike traditional climbing, extreme climbing does
not involve ropes or other protection and support. BASE jumpers
jump off solid structures (such as buildings and bridges) without
the aid of a second parachute or other safety devices more
common in other parachute sports.
The majority of extreme sport research has focused on
motivation for participation (Brymer, 2010;Kerr and Mackenzie,
2012) and used traditional theory-driven arguments frequently
portraying the participants as thrill-seeking, reckless, self-
destructive, and pathological daredevils. This traditional theory
driven perspective on extreme sports is most often based on
a deficit model and highlights the role of risk and risk taking
as the main driver for participation (Brymer, 2010). According
to this perspective, extreme sports are solely an outlet for
individuals with an innate desire for risky experiences (Farley,
1991;Zuckerman, 2000;Woodman et al., 2010). There are many
problems with this approach including that it does not reflect
the lived experience of the participants and assumes that the
main determinant of effective performance is the innate ability to
handle risks (Brymer and Schweitzer, 2017). Recent research on
extreme sports has revealed motivations that are more positive
and life enhancing and suggests that effective performance is
more than the innate ability to handle greater risks (Brymer, 2010;
Kerr and Mackenzie, 2012;Brymer and Schweitzer, 2013a,b).
Knowledge about these other functions is still limited.
Performance in Extreme Sports
While research examining effective performance in extreme
sports is limited, researchers have started to reflect on how
adventure sport athletes (recreational and competitive) perform
optimally and in a manner that reduces the likelihood of
serious mishap, injury or even death (Kabush and Orlick, 2001;
Burke and Orlick, 2003;Griffith et al., 2006;Holland-Smith
and Olivier, 2013). For the most part research has focused
on applying psychological techniques used in traditional sports
to the adventure sports context. For example, studies have
investigated the use of imagery in skydiving and rock climbing
(Hardy and Callow, 1999;Boyd and Munroe, 2003;Fournier
et al., 2008), goal-setting in mountaineering (Bassi and Delle
Fave, 2010), mental preparation in skiing (Coleman and Orlick,
2006) and coping skills in a multitude of adventure sports
(Young and Knight, 2014). Although these studies provide some
valuable insights, the focus has been on investigating the use of
psychological skills in adventure sports where death is an unlikely
outcome of a mismanaged mistake of accident.
To date no work has been undertaken on extreme sports as
defined in the article, or wingsuit proximity flying in particular.
It is possible that effective performance in extreme sports is
different to adventure and traditional sports and that effective
performance in extreme sports does not perfectly match effective
performance in traditional sport or adventure. As such, similarly
to the development of sport specific models of performance
developed in the early days of sport psychology research
(Dishman, 1983), it might be import to develop extreme sport
specific models of performance. While valuable advances were
made testing clinical and educational psychology models in the
early years of sport psychology, the special characteristics of
sport and relationships within sport required the development of
sport specific models to speed progression. That is, findings from
studies applying techniques from traditional sports to adventure
sports might not reflect the lived experience of extreme sports
participants. A decontextualized perspective on psychological
skills that is purely about the awareness of and regulation of
thoughts, feelings, and behaviors may not be ideal for the extreme
sport athlete. Successful extreme sport participation entails more
than efficacious task execution, as effective performance is also
coupled with avoiding death through interactions with the
environment based on a deep understanding of environmental
characteristics (Brymer et al., 2010).
Narrative Research in Sport
Over the past decade, a number of narrative studies have
been conducted into the experiences of elite sportspeople (e.g.,
Douglas and Carless, 2006, 2009;Carless and Douglas, 2009).
This research has led to significant theoretical advances offering
new understandings around performance, lifestyle, wellbeing and
motivation. Because this literature has potential links to the
findings and interpretations this study we provide a brief review
below.
Across a variety of traditional sports at the elite/professional
level (e.g., golf, rugby, swimming, track and field, rowing,
hockey) a particular narrative type – the performance narrative –
has been shown to be dominant (Douglas and Carless, 2015).
Stories which follow the performance plot are most common
in elite sport culture, and are assumed by many to be the
only type of story high-level athletes can legitimately tell.
These stories script a particular way of being which revolves
around achieving performance outcomes to the extent that
performance concerns come to infuse all areas of the athlete’s
life. Hallmarks of performance stories include a prioritization
of competition, winning or being the best, discipline, sacrifice,
hard work, technique, and the relegation of other aspects of
life such as relationships, co-operation, enjoyment, exploration,
play (see Douglas and Carless, 2009). An alternative narrative
type – the discovery narrative – has also been identified which
prioritizes a different set of values based around exploration
and discovery. In this type of story, Douglas and Carless (2015)
suggest, the storyteller prioritizes experiences over outcomes,
describing a multifaceted self and a life full of people, places
and experiences. Play, adventure, fun, feel and a diverse range of
experiences characterize these stories. Success is achieved without
prioritizing sport over other areas of life and performance
outcomes are important only to the extent that they facilitate new
experiences, discoveries and explorations (Carless and Douglas,
2009).
Purpose of the Study
This purpose of this study was to begin to fill the gaps in existing
knowledge identified above through a narrative exploration
of participants’ experiences of effective performance in the
extreme sport of proximity wingsuit flying. Wingsuit flying is
a relatively new parachute sport involving a specially designed
jumpsuit that facilitates forward motion and directional control.
Proximity wingsuit flying has become increasingly popular and
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is considered the most dangerous parachute sport as it involves
flying close to structures at speeds of over 200 mph, which
means that the pilot has little time to correct errors (Mei-Dan
et al., 2013). Given the increasing popularity of extreme sports,
it is important to obtain a clear picture of the psychological
processes accompanying effective performance among successful
extreme sports athletes. Lessons learnt in this extreme sport
context also have the potential to enhance to open up new
perspectives on performance related cognition and behaviors in
other adventure and traditional sports. The study we present
here (part of a larger study on the use and development of
psychological practices by proximity wingsuit pilots) focused on
understanding the psychological practices experienced extreme
sport athletes employ to perform and to reduce the likelihood
of serious mishaps. We chose a narrative approach which
is premised on the belief that to understand wingsuit pilots’
psychological processes – meanings, motivations, beliefs, and
attitudes – it is necessary to take seriously their stories of
personal lived experience, and within the lived experience certain
practices lie.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
A narrative methodology was used to allow the participants to
relate, in first-person story form, their experiences, practices
and processes over time. A narrative is the general structure,
template or scheme people draw upon to tell their personal stories
(Smith and Sparkes, 2009). As a research approach in sports it
has been used to explore various topics, for instance the coach-
athlete relationship, sport identities, and Olympic experiences
(e.g., Sparkes and Partington, 2003;Douglas and Carless, 2006,
2015;Jowett, 2008;Carless and Douglas, 2013;Kristiansen, 2013).
The proximity wingsuit pilots in this study were asked to share
stories from their lives in sport with the specific intention of
explicating an understanding of the psychological practices of
wingsuit flying.
Participants
Following ethics approval six pilots (aged from 30 to 45 years of
age) from across Europe accepted the invitation to participate.
Wingsuit proximity pilots were recruited based on three criteria.
The first was that participants were experienced in proximity
wingsuit flying, as this would warrant that pilots had a repertoire
of relevant experience and events to draw on. The second
criterion was participants’ capacity and willingness for reflection.
Third, the participants’ English language proficiency needed to
be at a level sufficient for understanding the questions asked
and verbally communicating personal experiences and opinions
with an English-speaking interviewer. Purposeful sampling
was used (Patton, 2002). Initially participants were contacted
based on demonstrated preparedness to engage in personal
reflection, in English, such as discussing their philosophies
or the mental aspects of sport (e.g., in previously published
interviews, documentaries, or personal videos). Participants were
also recruited though snowballing where potential participants
were referred to the first author by other participants.
The years of experience as wingsuit pilots ranged from 11 to
22 years. All participants had registered more than 1,000 skydives
and BASE jumps and were holders of national and international
titles in different parachute sub-disciplines, including wingsuit
flying. For confidentiality reasons a more detailed description
of each participant is not provided as competitive wingsuit
flying consists of a small group of easily identified athletes.
The study was approved by the University Ethics Committee of
the first author. All participants signed a consent form, before
participating in the study, informing them in writing of the study
purpose and process as well as their rights and obligations as
participants. For anonymity, all participants chose a personal
pseudonym to be used in all written reports.
Data Collection
A semi-structured interview process with open-ended questions
was developed and pilot tested to check for content and
fluidity. The initial interview questions were developed to guide
the interview process by encouraging participants to tell their
personal stories about the psychological practices of proximity
flying while also allowing for “serendipitous findings” (Strean,
1998, p. 342). The first three authors worked to ensure that the
questions were appropriately worded for the audience and the
research objectives. The questions were used as a guide rather
than as a structured process. The data presented in this paper
emerged from responses to questions such as: ‘Please describe in
detail how you prepare yourself mentally and physically before a
typical jump in wingsuit flying?’ and ‘Please now take me through
a typical wingsuit jump as if I were in your mind. What do you
think, feel, see, and concentrate on once you get air?’
Procedure
Pilots were initially identified via the World Wide Web and
those who fitted the three inclusion criteria were sent invitations
with a summary of the study. While the sport of wingsuit
proximity flying is growing it is still anew sport and participants
herald from all over the world. For reasons of high mobility
and pilot time constraints, interviews were conducted using
the communication software Skype. While the use of Skype
in research has been critiqued for its limitations in terms
of rapport building, its capacity to reach a broad participant
group across a wide geographical area in a timely and cost
effective manner does open up possibilities that the face to face
interview is not able to do. Despite the limitations research has
shown that interviews undertaken using Skype are comparable
to face to face interviews (Janghorban et al., 2014). In this
case, we found that Skype facilitated interviews with expert
proximity pilots that we would not have been able to recruit
because of geographical, financial and time constraints. With the
participants’ permission, all interviews were audio recorded and
subsequently transcribed verbatim. Interviews lasted between 45
and 90 min and were conclude when first author and participants
considered saturation had met. All interviews began with an
outline of the intention of the research project and ended
by asking if the participant had anything more they wished
to add. Transcripts and additional clarification questions were
sent to participants for comments (Culver et al., 2012). Three
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pilots answered these additional questions in writing, while one
pilot agreed to a second interview. The transcribed text of this
interview was also sent to the pilot for comments. Two pilots said
they did not have the time to respond to the additional questions.
All pilots confirmed the final transcripts of their interviews.
Data Analysis
The initial stage of the data analysis process involved immersion
in the data by listening to the interviews and reading the
transcripts multiple times before starting the thematic analysis
process. Following this, a categorical-content perspective (Hiles
and Cermák, 2008) was utilized where the text was first
broken down to relatively self-contained areas of content (we
isolated segments that related to specific discussions during the
interviews) before conducting a thematic analysis. The thematic
analysis process followed recommendations outlined by Braun
and Clarke (2006) for generating initial codes, searching for
themes, reviewing themes, defining and naming themes, and
producing the final report. The first author conducted the
interviews and undertook the initial stages of the thematic
analysis process. During analysis, another experienced qualitative
researcher, not involved in the study, provided further regular
feedback. Further analysis was undertaken with the other
authors to explore the form of the stories participants shared.
This allowed the form of individual participant’s stories to be
compared and contrasted to the more general performance and
discovery narrative types discussed above. The identified themes
were then sent to the wingsuit pilots for member reflections
(Tracey, 2010). This procedure aimed to enrich the analysis
process and ensure that the authors did not have sole ownership
or power over the final interpretations (Willig and Stainton-
Rogers, 2008).
Findings
The following sections explicate one theme from a larger study on
the extreme sport experience which we have called ‘leave your ego
at the door.’ This theme emerged from the analysis of the content
of participants’ accounts of their lived experiences of wingsuit
flying. Four interrelated sub-themes emerged from the data: (1)
know thyself; (2) know thy skills; (3) know the environment
now; (4) tame the ‘inner animal.’ Taken together, these themes
provide insights into the psychological practices that underpin
pilots’ survival (chances of living to fly another day), performance
(effective participation in both recreational and competitive
flying), and personal rewards (the benefits of wingsuit flying).
Below, we consider these themes in turn, referring to pilots by
their chosen pseudonym and omitting details that could make
them recognizable.
Know Thyself
Wingsuit pilots stories reflected the ancient Greek aphorism
‘know thyself,’ sometimes described as the greatest form of
knowledge, transcending time and context. The aphorism
conveys deep knowledge of the self which for Socrates, as
described by Xenophon (1923) and Plato (1982) in the Socratic
dialogs, was the ultimate form of knowledge guiding a person’s
thoughts and actions. All pilots placed emphasis on learning to
honestly tune into personal motivations and underlying values in
the process of performing optimally. They elaborated on how the
development of this kind of awareness is both a proactive and an
ongoing process. Awareness of values and motivations is not only
needed before undertaking the first wingsuit flight but further
supports and guides their development. The ability to ‘know thy
self’ underpins and fosters the process of mastering human flight.
For Medusa the continual process of tuning into ‘why’ he
participates in wingsuit flying reveals that flying is something
fundamental to living, something that he ‘can’t live without’:
I kind of tune into why I’m doing this. Like what is so special about
this and why I do this? . . . I’m doing it because I love what I do
and the feeling of flying is something I can’t live without.
The sense of an activity that is experienced as special is also
evident in this account from Pinky:
When I’m flying for myself doing something new or just carving
through terrain, I like to make noises to myself like [makes flying
noises like “whoosh!”]. They enrich my experience as I like go
carving past something or flying in between something. Keeps me
in the moment and also makes me feel like I’m a child and I’m
playing. It’s one of the things adults forget to do is play. So when
I’m jumping for myself, I do become a bit of a child, I make noises,
I giggle, I laugh, when my parachute opens I scream and yell with
joy when I’ve done something that pleases me.
While the content of these excerpts offers insights regarding
the importance participants attached to knowing themselves, the
form of the excerpts offers a second level of insight. In this
sense, pilots’ stories about ‘knowing thyself’ – as these excerpts
illustrate – also deviated (in terms of form) from the dominant
performance narrative type. Performance stories revolve around
performance outcomes, technique, sacrifice, a future focus, hard
work (Douglas and Carless, 2006, 2015). In contrast, Pinky
describes how flying “makes me feel like I’m a child and I’m
playing” while Medusa says “the feeling of flying is something I
can’t live without.” These examples are not typical performance
stories of hard work, discipline, sacrifice and competition.
Rather, they follow the contours of the discovery narrative type,
which prioritizes experiences of exploration, playfulness, joy, feel,
surprise and immersion in the present moment (Douglas and
Carless, 2006, 2015).
The discovery orientation evident in pilots’ stories appears
to be an important factor also in regard to their ongoing
participation. Steve, for example, shared the following story as he
reflected on pilots who have died:
It’s always the same question: Is it worth it? Is it giving me enough
satisfaction and pleasure to be worth it? The day it would not give
me satisfaction and pleasure, I would quit. But it’s hard sometimes,
especially this summer with all the accidents. You ask yourself a
lot of questions.
His words reveal a practice of continually re-evaluating his
connection to flying in order to reflect on meaning and purpose,
perhaps as differentiated from something that drives a pilot to
push his limits. Meaning and purpose, for Steve, does not revolve
around the values of the performance narrative, but instead the
discovery values. He explains how the core value that guides
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participation stems from the question “Is it worth it?” For Steve,
the deep internal sense of satisfaction, pleasure, and the meaning
he gains from flying are key to participation and if these were not
present he ‘would quit.’
An affinity for discovery stories over performance stories
was as well evident in participants’ accounts that highlight the
‘processes’ of wingsuiting as being more important than the
‘outcomes.’ Participants recounted how tragic and unnecessary
accidents often occur when the pilots are preoccupied with
a desire to achieve a spectacular outcome (e.g., fly the most
dramatic line before anyone else does and to share the act with the
world). Even in competition, survival and life values prevail over
pushing boundaries to achieve any short-term victory. Knowing
thy self was discussed by all participants as foundational practice
that was in danger of being overlooked and skipped due to the
rapid pace of the evolution of the sport, its growing popularity,
and the ‘get there quickly’ attitude of many potential pilots. This
underlined a prediction that in the near future low knowledge
and awareness of self might lead to increased casualties. As
Christopher said, “Everyone in all extreme sports is skipping the
processes now. But with BASE jumping this results in death,
not just a broken ankle like in skateboarding.” For Steve, pilots
overlook self-knowledge and self-awareness because “lust for life
is getting smaller than your lust for attention. It’s an ego problem
or it’s just being really unconscious.” Here, participants forewarn
of potential dangers from pursuing to the extreme a performance
story.
Know Thy Skills
The theme ‘know thy skills’ reflects participants’ emphasis on
the importance of understanding personal capabilities. Valuing
technical knowledge is a key characteristic of the performance
narrative (Douglas and Carless, 2015) and, in this way, pilots’
accounts sometimes followed the contours of this narrative
type. An important distinction, however, is the way that pilots
often focused on knowing the limits of their technical skills
and capabilities, rather than relentlessly seeking to maximize
or ‘push’ their skills. This knowledge was seen as critical as
making decisions based on a realistic perception of capabilities
was described as essential both for performance and for keeping
a pilot safe. They suggested flying without this knowledge leads
to being out of control. Pinky exemplified this:
You have to know your limits, otherwise you are just out of
control. But I do believe that everyone with the right guidance
has the capability of flying a wingsuit off a mountain. It’s a very
enriching experience, very rewarding; it allows you to focus on
the now and live in the moment, forget about your worries in life
and I wish that everybody could understand their position in the
greater scheme of life.
In this excerpt Pinky describes how learning to evaluate and
appreciate personal constraints (both facilitative and restrictive)
and working within personal constraints while flying reduces the
chances of being ‘out of control.’ His account also communicates
a belief that wingsuit flying is less about talent or ability, and
more about learning, development and the ‘right guidance.’
Finally, by contrasting flying to everyday life, Pinky related flying
to a positive life enhancing experience associated with finding
meaning in the ‘greater scheme of life’ which enhances the
possibility of leading an authentic life.
All pilots emphasized that it was important to take time
to develop capabilities before initiating wingsuit flying. The
general attitude toward progression was voiced by Pinky, who
emphasized, “slowly stepping it up and realizing that you don’t
have to achieve everything in one summer season. You can
come back the next season and crunch a little bit harder again.”
The importance of ‘slowly stepping it up’ was exemplified by
contrasting concerns about what might happen if the journey was
ignored in place of the quick fix. As Christopher related:
If you’re pushing your own boundaries too quickly then you’ll be
like a horse with blinkers on. People need to go back and do all the
steps and remember [it’s] about the journey not the destination,
because you can’t get it back once you’ve learned it and learning
it is so much fun. Getting your skills up! So people are missing
the point. I’d say probably it’s not about having big balls anymore,
because the technology is so good. But it’s about arming yourself
with knowledge and longevity, and that’s the key to a great career
and happiness. It is about learning to see not just what is in front
of you but what is all around you, and to not only see it but feel it
as well. Sort of like a sixth sense. But you can’t make this happen
overnight. The ‘bigger picture’ can take years, if not a lifetime to
get sorted.
In this quote, echoes of a discovery narrative are once again
evident as Christopher describes the process of learning to
wingsuit as a journey rather than an outcome, which leads to an
awareness that facilities ‘a sixth sense’ or the ability to ‘feel’ what is
happening all around. This is less a performance story of narrow,
time-limited, goal-directed focus on a particular outcome or
destination; more a discovery story of openness, learning, taking
one’s time and prioritizing the journey. For Christopher, it’s
“about the journey not the destination.” Christopher’s story
transgresses the performance narrative further when he posits
that macho attributes are not required and that focusing on
performance outcomes can result in reduced awareness of
capabilities which ultimately leads to greater danger. Pinky
echoed this perspective, stressing that knowing one’s capabilities
is an ongoing process because it only takes one mistake to end a
pilot’s life: “You can always come back the next day and come a
little closer. But you can’t come back the next day if you’ve gone
too close.”
So while participants’ stories within this theme share some
similarities with performance stories (e.g., valuing personal
capabilities and technical knowledge), they also differ in
important respects. This difference, we suggest, revolves around
the inclusion of a broader range of factors that pilots consider
to be personal skills. While performance stories tend toward
a relatively narrow focus on the self and one’s technical
capabilities (see Douglas and Carless, 2015), pilots’ discovery
stories portray a broadening, outward-looking way of being.
Moving toward a discovery plot, the stories collected from these
wingsuit pilots extend conceptions of what constitutes ‘skill’
in elite performance beyond the technical capabilities that a
person possesses (as articulated in performance stories), toward
deeper, more profound understanding of personal abilities. Pilots’
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conceptions of ‘skills’ thereby incorporates values, processes,
insights and personal motivations align more closely with
discovery stories.
Know the Environment Now
A strong thread in participants’ accounts was the need to know –
to tune into and be aware of – the environment in which they find
themselves at a particular moment in time. Participants described
how attending to the external environment was essential for
successful flying and that this awareness was actively developed
rather than an innate or inbuilt ability. The pilots were adamant
that ‘tuning into’ the present moment was not solely about
connecting with internal states but also about being ‘connected
with the environment.’ Steve exemplified the importance of this
awareness:
In a sport like ours it’s a question of survival. If you’re not perfectly
in the present moment, if you’re not ultra-connected with your
environment, like an animal who’s hunting, you take many more
risks. Being able to be perfectly in this present moment will make
you much more aware and basically much more efficient in what
you are doing.
Steve vividly expressed this intense state of tuning into
momentary environmental fluctuations with the metaphor ‘like
an animal who’s hunting.’ He is acquainted with the reality
that his sport can result in death, and because of this, survival
heavily depends on being attuned to potentially significant
environmental factors. Dakota described how attending to the
environment requires ‘noticing’ – focusing on and attending to –
a broad range of environmental factors:
I’m usually assessing the conditions so I’m noticing everything
around me, if there’s clouds, I’m noticing the trees, and if there’s
wind blowing, noticing if the birds are flying, where they’re flying,
how they’re flying because that can give me a good idea if there
are any thermals in the air or a decent breeze. Because all of this is
going to affect me once I actually jump.
The performance narrative, according to Douglas and Carless
(2015), is a story about overcoming through power and/or
superiority, of striving to win regardless of the obstacles you
may encounter – commonly by considering that obstacles are
there for all and it is about the survival of the fittest (mentally
and physically). In a performance story, they suggest, the athlete
may be understood to be in opposition to all obstacles to success
(competitors, conditions, injury, etc.). Yet these pilots’ stories
reveal a sense of trying to connect with – co-operate with –
potential obstacles (such as weather conditions).
Steve described how his experience of time changes through
the need to notice and weigh this ever-changing range of
environmental factors:
You’re like in a tunnel. This 1 min seems to be 5 min. There’s
distortion of time, you are super sharp in your senses. In fact to me
it’s optimal focus with letting go of everything. Because you have
to be in the present moment. There is no way you can multitask
in such a survival-based situation.
The outcome of this process of noticing and weighing
environmental factors prior to a flight is sometimes the decision
to not jump at all. Bumblebee recounted how an experienced
wingsuit pilot’s decision not to jump had a powerful influence on
his own decision making:
A lot of times you might hike hours and hours to get somewhere,
blood sweat and tears to get to an exit point and then the weather
conditions just aren’t right. Now a lot of people would [jump]
anyways, whereas he was the guy that had no problems turning
around and then hiking back down. And I remember the first time
that happened in [location]. I was just shocked. I was just like, “But
we’re up here, it’s not that bad. . .”, and he was just, “I’m not feeling
it (. . .) the winds are this and that, it’s just not a good idea to go
so I’ll hike down and see you at the bottom.” Just like “Waw!”
You know, somebody like that I really looked up to in the sport of
proxy flying had that kind of willpower. It really stayed with me.
Here again, the narrative form of participants’ stories under
this theme also contrast with the plot of performance stories.
Pilots stories do not revolve around ‘conquering’ or ‘overcoming’
the environment or the weather conditions (as a performance
story likely would), but instead they describe becoming aware
of and responsive to these variables. Pilots’ stories portray a
sensitivity and responsiveness to what is going on around them.
While the performance narrative might be understood to require
performance independent of or despite external factors, pilots’
stories follow a different kind of narrative plot which prioritizes
awareness, responsiveness and co-operation.
Tame the ‘Inner Animal’
While awareness and preparation during the time before the
jump is important, a successful jump also relies on a dynamic
process of continual re-assessment while flying. The theme
‘tame the inner animal’ reflects an ongoing awareness of one’s
inner states as well as environmental boundaries and individual
capabilities that combine to support effective decision-making
while actually flying. For instance, Bumblebee explained that,
for him, success (i.e., effective performance) in wingsuit flying
depends on the ability to manage the desire to push beyond one’s
capabilities:
You can tell yourself everything you want when you’re on the
cliff edge, but once you jump and you start flying most people
have that animal taking over where you [tell yourself] “You can
make that turn, you can make that corner, you can make this” and
you just “Go, go, go, charge!” And the people that live through
this world are the ones who in that moment of nanoseconds and
the surreal experience, have the mental power to realize that their
inner animal is trying to convince them to maybe push it too far.
So for me, being on a cliff edge, fighting that emotional battle
of [thinking of] the whole family [back home] and “What am I
doing?” is the glue that keeps me aware of that animal inside. That
helps me not be that guy that tries to drag my toes through the
trees, but instead stay ten feet off the trees.
Here Bumblebee used an animal metaphor to articulate the
intense conflict that arises during flight. He described how a
successful pilot is aware of two contradictory elements that need
to be actively managed in order to constrain the craving to
push beyond limits and potentially tempt death. According to
Bumblebee a pilot’s awareness and mental strength must work
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Arijs et al. Leave Your Ego at the Door
collectively within ‘nanoseconds’ to preserve safety. Christopher
also articulated this conflict and emphasized that being aware of
inner states and personal capabilities enhanced safety for him:
I try not to push past my limits, I try and just run it 50–70% all
the time to ensure my safety. I don’t run it a 100%. I could do so
much more with my abilities and just my skills over the years, but
I’ve seen so many of my friends die because they were running
at 100% that I don’t want to do that. I just walk away. If you’re
running at a 100% then you’ve got nothing left. And then if you
hit a flat spot on a wingsuit flight and you’re running at a 100%,
you are in big trouble. I think you’ve got to leave your ego at the
door with a lot of these sports.
‘Leave Your Ego at the Door’
In the preceding excerpt Christopher used the phrase ‘leave your
ego at the door’ to express concisely and evocatively a notion
that other participants also raised, that a successful flight is about
holding back, to perform optimally within maximum capacity.
This act of balance between awareness and regulation means that
while the pilot knows he can do more he deliberately retains a
margin which provides the capacity to resolve unexpected issues.
All interviewed pilots reported that it was imperative to be aware
of skills and to accept limits at all moments during the flight.
We see this point as important and, once again, something of a
deviation from culturally preferred and endorsed performance
stories in sport such as ‘no pain, no gain’ or ‘just do it.’ These
wingsuit pilots stories are about not ‘pushing to the max,’ not ‘just
doing it’ in conventional elite traditional sports terms, to instead
be aware and judicious of the four themes discussed above – in
essence: oneself, one’s skills, one’s immediate environment, and
one’s ego.
In this sense, ‘leave your ego at the door’ may be understood as
afoundational way of being for wingsuit pilots which starts (and
progresses) with the deliberate intention to tune into personal
motivations and values as well as skills and capabilities. To
achieve this foundational way of being, pilots’ accounts suggest
that the four sub-themes discussed above needed to realized.
In other words, when pilots were able to attend to knowing
themselves, knowing their skills, knowing the environment and
taming the inner animal, they were able to ‘leave their ego
at the door’ and perform optimally. This way of being has a
temporal configuration characterized by an active process of
becoming and being increasingly aware, sensitive, conscious,
attentive, alert, and responsive to self, skills, environment and
motivations. While the essence of the experience happens during
each flight, the process required for effective flying can take years
to develop. This development is active and ongoing, perhaps most
clearly evident when pilots described their personal preparations
for flight. As Bumblebee exemplified, the preparation process
includes reflections on personal values and meanings – an
ongoing connection with his being – that keep his flying safe.
He shared how the conflicting emotions he feels before jumping,
tempered by thoughts of his family, mediate what he does while
jumping:
For me, being on a cliff edge, fighting the emotional battle of
[thinking about] the whole family [back home] and “What am I
doing?” is the glue that keeps me aware of that animal inside me.
This helps me not to be that guy who tries to drag his toes through
the trees, but instead stays ten feet off the trees.
Medusa also described how he deliberately attempts to center
himself and to be at one with the self and the environment:
I like to actually go and close my eyes at the exit point that I’m
going to jump [off] and take deep breaths and feel the air, which
way the air is moving. Feel the air toward my body. It helps me
calm down and it helps me tune my mind and instead of being
overamping I’m calmer.
Medusa deliberately evokes a state of calmness before he
jumps via a routine that generates both an internal and
environmental focus. All pilots reiterated that the process of
seamlessly connecting with both the self and the environment is
developed over time, as the following accounts illustrate:
I center my body and mind. I think it is something that takes time
to learn. You need to be at one with yourself and [to] put all your
energy into the one moment of leaping off the object, this way you
are in tune 100% with your surroundings and yourself and the
present moment. (Christopher)
The most important thing for me personally is to not jump until
I’ve calmed all my nerves. And [I] found a way to get my heartbeat
to slow down to normal, by breathing deep, have that kind of
feeling of Zen and not be rushed into a moment of jumping before
you’re ready. That’s probably the most important part, [to] have
your mind in the right place before you exit. (. . .) I go from a point
of nervous, where it feels like a pinball in my head, it’s bouncing
around and there’s a lot of nerves and I’m excited and I feel the
adrenaline, to eventually through breathing I get to a point of just
a calm. (. . .) It’s not nervousness and excited, you’ve finally found
a way to change that into what almost feels happy and warm. Like
a place of peace. (Bumblebee)
In summary, all pilots identified three instrumental aspects
of present-moment awareness. First, being fully in the present
was vital for execution. Second, present-moment awareness is
simultaneously an internal focus and an attunement with the
environment. Third, present-moment awareness is deliberately
cultivated as a key aspect of flying optimally. This kind of
‘pre-flight practice,’ as described by participants above, does
not seem to be a replication of the traditional pre-performance
routines (Cotterill, 2010, 2011;Cotterill et al., 2010;Yancey et al.,
2011) and arousal reduction techniques (Thelwell et al., 2006;
Guillot and Collet, 2008;Gucciardi et al., 2010) encouraged
in conventional sporting practice. While this pre-flight practice
brings the pilots to the desired mental and physical state for
optimal execution, it appears to be a notably different kind
of experience, at times drawing elements of the dominant
performance narrative, but more often following the contours of
the less frequently heard (in sport) discovery narrative.
DISCUSSION
This paper aimed to elaborate on the psychological practices
proximity wingsuit pilots employ to perform effectively and to
reduce the likelihood of serious mishaps through taking seriously
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Arijs et al. Leave Your Ego at the Door
pilots’ stories of their lived experience. A surprising finding is
that the form of pilots’ stories deviate in fundamental ways
from the dominant performance narrative in sport where the
overriding focus is on achieving performance outcomes (see
Douglas and Carless, 2006, 2015). Instead, these pilots’ stories
follow more closely the contours of the discovery narrative
type (see Douglas and Carless, 2006, 2015). This distinction
is significant as the wingsuit pilots in this study are achieving
high-level or elite performance without adopting or subscribing
to the values of the culturally dominant narrative type in
elite sport. By exhibiting instead the plot of the discovery
narrative, their stories map another way to be effective at the
elite level. This finding contributes to and extends existing
narrative research in elite sport and suggests that further research
into the experiences of extreme sport participants has the
potential to contribute valuable new insights to the field of sport
psychology.
Perhaps central to the performance/discovery distinction we
have identified is how, for these elite wingsuit pilots, success (such
as executing effective jumps) is less about achieving performance
outcomes (such as winning or being the best), and more about
living to fly another day. As one participant put it, “In a sport
like ours it’s a question of survival.” Jenkins (2013) notes the
prevalence of battle or war metaphors in sports stories which,
according to Douglas and Carless (2015), serve to raise the
stakes of sporting contests, portraying winning as a matter of
life or death. They observe how, “in war stories, winning is
survival while losing is death,” while “in sport whether or not
a team or individual wins or loses is not a matter of life or
death” (Douglas and Carless, 2015, p. 13). The perspective for
these wingsuit pilots, however, is that a poor outcome can
and does result in death. We propose that this core existential
contrast (between sports in which participants do not typically
risk death and winsguit flying where they do) calls for,supports
and perhaps even requires participants to narrate their lives
in ways that are at odds with the dominant narrative within
sport.
According to the wingsuit pilots in this study, on any given
day the active stage of flying is about knowing, accepting and
regulating the relationships between individual features, task
features, and environmental features. This balanced co-existence
of awareness, acceptance, and regulation led us to choose the
expression leave your ego at the door to encapsulate a way of
being and doing that these participants narrated and endorsed.
Critical to this phrase, are the four themes of knowing self, skills,
environment and taming one’s ‘inner animal.’ On the basis of
participants’ accounts, a wingsuit pilot would not be able to ‘leave
his ego at the cliff’s door’ if all these other types and levels of
awareness were absent.
In contrast to current research on self-awareness in extreme
sports which suggest that extreme sport athletes deliberately
avoid any attempt to be self-aware (Castanier et al., 2010)
proximity pilots in this study went to great lengths to stress
the importance of self-knowledge. Self-awareness is viewed as
an essential element of successful flying. To an extent, the
pilots in this study described psychological elements that mirror
Vealey’s (2007) model of mental skills which emerged based
on traditional sports, in that they emphasized the importance
of developing self-awareness over time, tuning into the present
moment just before the activity, and the continual process
of attunement while flying. However, the pilots in this study
emphasized the importance of a dynamic person-environment
interaction and value-guided action (to walk away and try again
at another time) over any effort to avoid or attempt to change
the uncomfortable present-moment awareness associated with
not being ready for a particular jump (either because of present
moment conditions or their skill level). This continuous dynamic
person-environment interaction and value-guided action takes
the wingsuit performers many steps away from the traditional
elite sport unconditional competition for the survival of the
fittest. Further, they emphasized the importance of performing
well within personal capabilities in order to avoid tempting
death.
In the introduction we suggested that understanding the
experience of effective performance in extreme sports could
help inform extreme sport athletes and perhaps even add to
traditional sports. Findings from this study suggest that effective
extreme sports participation is not about innate abilities, who
can take the biggest risk or who can demonstrate the most
macho line. Athletes interested in extreme sports ought to spend
time cultivating self-knowledge and guiding values before taking
part. Rather than pushing the limits, effective participation is
dependent on honest continual self-evaluation and the courage to
walk away and participate well within personal capabilities. While
majority of traditional sports do not usually involve experiences
that might end in death there are still some learnings that might
be of use. Considering that the interviewed pilots’ pre-flight
practice brings them to an optimal mental and physical state
(e.g., focused, absence of heightened pre-execution anxiety) that
leads to effective jump execution, traditional performing might
be also effective if guided by deep values and close connection
with ‘thy self.’ Moreover and in view of recent death cases post
athletic retirement, traditional athletes’ lives (during and after
sports) might be more prosperous if winning and traditional way
of being and doing for elite achievement were put into a different
perspective (not the ultimate and only goal), one cultivated by
meaning and purpose.
CONCLUSION
Self-knowledge, the ability to tune into the environment and
the courage to walk away are clearly important elements for
the safe and optimal execution of proximity flying. Pilots in
this study highlighted the importance of values, of a proactive
process of tuning into the self and environment before flying
and of an ongoing process during flight, the ultimate aim being
to live to fly another day. Findings from this study suggest
that far from avoiding self-awareness, self-awareness is vital for
effective participation. Successful proximity flying does not seem
to depend on an innate ability but the cultivation of meaning and
purpose supported by values that reach beyond the activity and
stretch into life. Effective participation – and long-term one –
is dependent on the development of profound knowledge of the
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Arijs et al. Leave Your Ego at the Door
relationship between self, task and the environment. In these
ways, we suggest that wingsuit pilots’ stories of their experiences
differ markedly from the dominant performance narrative in
sport. Instead, the more closely resemble the discovery narrative
type, scripting an alternative way of storying, navigating and
living life as an elite performer.
ETHICS STATEMENT
This study was carried out in accordance with the
recommendations of University of Thessaly’s Ethics Committee
with written informed consent from all subjects. All subjects gave
written informed consent in accordance with the Declaration of
Helsinki. The protocol was approved by the ‘name of committee.’
AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
CA lead the project, gathered the data and was instrumental in
developing the article, the topic area and interpreting the data.
EB was instrumental in developing the article, the topic area
and interpreting the data. SC was instrumental in developing
the article, and interpreting the data. DC is a narrative specialist
and was instrumental in interpreting the data from a narrative
perspective.
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Conflict of Interest Statement: The authors declare that the research was
conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could
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Copyright © 2017 Arijs, Chroni, Brymer and Carless. This is an open-access article
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