Are There Any Extreme Sports Safe for Kids?

Sports are beneficial to both adults and children. It has psychological and physical benefits. Playing sports can improve fitness, coordination, and self-esteem and teach valuable lessons in self-discipline and teamwork.

Basketball and baseball may not be your child’s cup of tea, but one of these extreme sports for kids might be! Alternative sports like rock climbing, skateboarding, aerial arts, and parkour can provide children with various mental and physical benefits that will last a lifetime.

The same merits that a child gets from any sport will be received by a child who participates in an alternative sport — it truly is a matter of attitude and interest. The aim is to keep young kids active and engaged in play. That being said, there are different types of extreme sports suitable for your children to participate in.

Aerial Silks

Aerial silks are acrobatics performed while suspended from a fabric that wraps, swings, suspends, and spirals the performer’s body into different positions. Aerial silks classes are available for children aged 8 to 14.

If your kid’s favorite hangout spot is the jungle gym, chances are they will enjoy aerial. If your child gets nervous in a group setting, aerial art is a great option for them. A child’s mental and physical benefits from aerial arts are comparable to those obtained from more traditional sports such as gymnastics and dance.

Aerial arts, like all sports, carry some risk of injury, but professional programs are set up to keep students safe. Children train low to the ground during their first year and gradually climb higher to gain experience. Instructors are always nearby, and students work on crash pads.

Bicycle Motocross

Boy riding a bike on pumptrack

Bicycle motocross, or BMX, may be the way to go for bike riders seeking to up the ante on the adventure. Athletes ride special BMX bikes on rough terrain or other off-road lands. More experienced riders enjoy BMX stunt competitions and races.

BMX is a sport for people of all ages. Beginning at a young age allows riders to develop strength, balance, and bike handling skills. Children who participate in adventure sports are more likely to lead an active lifestyle as grown-ups, providing a variety of health benefits and increased self-confidence.

Indoor Rock Climbing

Indoor rock climbing is a growing subset of outdoor rock climbing on artificial structures built to look like natural outdoor rock. Indoor rock climbing encourages young children’s problem-solving abilities and discipline. The sport also teaches children to trust one another, fostering a feeling of togetherness among participants.

Rock climbing is similar to solving a puzzle in that it requires trial and error and patience. Rock climbing also allows children to express their creativity and arrive at their own solutions. The rock climbing community is a great environment that brings people from all walks of life together.

Introduce interested children to rock climbing between the 5 and 7, when they can use problem-solving skills learned from other activities. Various youth programs are available, including an introduction to rock climbing fundamentals through activities tailored to each climber’s skill level and age.

Young kids have a strong awareness of their bodies and understand the best ways to move. Most importantly, if your child appears interested in climbing, that’s reason enough to go check it out.

Skateboarding

a girl holding the hand of a boy while riding a skateboard

Skateboarding, an alternative sport, has seen a resurgence in popularity in recent years, with more tournaments being held, more skate parks opening, and more television coverage of the sport. Skateboarding was even included in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo for the first time in history.

For skateboarding, the entire world is your playground.

Children can enjoy skateboarding as young as four years old. You can purchase a board, helmet, knee pads, elbow pads, and wrist guards for as little as $140, and children can practice on any open stretch of asphalt or concrete or in skate parks.

Minor skateboarding injuries include bruised shins, scraped elbows and hands, and sprained ankles. Based on the data, three out of every four skateboarding accidents occur within the first week, and professional instruction and proper safety gear can help reduce the risk of these incidents.

Parkour

This sport involves moving from one point to another in a complex environment in the most efficient and fastest way possible, jumping, running, and climbing over obstacles on the way. Children can learn to bounce off the walls. The sport arose from military obstacle course training and is frequently compared to a noncombative martial art.

Parkour requires the development of whole-body athleticism to meet the sport’s requirements for speed, lower- and upper-body strength, agility, coordination, flexibility, and timing. This extreme sport serves as an excellent natural conditioning program. Students will gain skills that will enable them to succeed in the parkour program and other sports.

Most kids are a good fit for this “fun” way to get in shape, and you can sign up students as young as four years old or as soon as they can follow clear directions and are tall enough to scale the smaller mat systems.

Front view of smiling boy jumping over a metallic fence while looking camera on a bright day

The sport carries risks, including injuries ranging from minor abrasions to broken bones. The best way to get initiated with parkour is to find a reputable facility and take a trial class. Risks can be reduced by supervised progression and proper training.

Children are coddled growing up nowadays. Schools protect them if their parents do not.

Many of the sports and games we used to play at recess as kids have now been prohibited from the schoolyard. These bans fail to recognize that, yes, some children seek thrills, and others enjoy being in danger. There are numerous perks to participating in sports on their own, and you should not avoid “extreme sports” simply because they are extra dangerous.

Letting your thrill-seeking kid continue their risky behavior is rarely a good idea. It is far better to harness that energy into a sport where they are taught safety and limits and mentored. Remember, if your child is looking for a thrill, they will do so with or without your knowledge.

There are pros and cons of allowing kids to play extreme sports, and they may appear dangerous, but they help children and adolescents mature much more than their peers. These kids understand what their bodies are capable of, their limits, and the repercussions of their thrill-seeking.