The evolution of extreme sports in China : Where it’s been and where it’s headed.

The evolution of extreme sports, most notably skateboarding, BMX and aggressive in-line skating all have followed a similar growth path in Western culture. A sport begins on a very small local level. The early adopters participate in the sport for the love of doing it. These early adopters also drive all of the product innovation and logistical sport innovation. New methods and techniques continue to evolve over time and the sport grows and grows.

With the sports growth, more of the surrounding culture also grows. Clothing and apparel brands, magazines and media begin to aid in the economic growth of the extreme sport. The pioneers of the sport do not fall to the wayside but become legends and sport guides, similar to the founders of the American constitution.

The sport then begins to permeate the mainstream consciousness and officially peaks at the top of the trend bell curve. For example, skateboard pioneer Tony Hawk launched his mega-popular Sony Playstation game, “Pro-Skater” in the early 2000’s and sparked a revival in skateboard popularity. This brought skateboarding back into mainstream thought. In recent years it has sunk back to normal underground levels.

What happens next is an interesting characteristic of extreme sports. Unlike normal trends, they do not fade as quickly as other trends. Their low plateau level remains higher than other trends and is always ripe for a quick spike back to popularity. And every five years or so, the sport hits trend status and youth culture researchers proclaim it as the next “big thing”. But it’s always there, bubbling below the surface. Much like the aforementioned Tony Hawk skate peak, anything, such as a new product, or individual can bring back to life an extreme sport trend.

Welcome to China.

Extreme sports are in a completely different realm in China. Extreme sports have not been created by early adopters and pioneers. Rather, ideas, equipment, and techniques have been borrowed from pre-existing knowledge of extreme sports developed. The sports have not been created at a local level, thus certain aforementioned steps have been skipped. Adidas is doing a great job of working with local skateboarders and other athletes involved in action sports as a way to develop the sport, rather than simply promote the sport. This is crucial in driving a sport forward.

Early adopters of the extreme sports still remain in China. However, a sports involvement has no doubt been influenced by brands, existing sport culture from other countries, or from the government. What this does is take away a lot of the early innovation, history, and sport heritage that makes certain extreme sports so unique.

But that does not mean that innovation or progression doesn’t exist in Chinese extreme sports. Extreme sports in China have two rich opportunities. One is that there is room to localize and create uniqueness on a local Chinese level for an extreme sport. Two is that there is also room to create the heritage and history that is currently lacking in a Chinese extreme sport context. A sport like Parkour combines many elements of traditional Chinese thought and has strong potential to fully adapt from its French background into something that is uniquely Chinese. Imagine in 25 years where the Chinese extreme sports will be. It will be an interesting model to look at, both on a sociological level as well as to analyze the proliferation of trends.

So as extreme sports in China continues to grow, what are some things companies can be doing now to help these sports grow?

- Companies must educate their consumer about extreme sports. For example, in China, Burton Snowboards has launched their “Learn to Ride” program to teach new snowboarders the basics.

- Add legacy and legitimacy to the extreme sports heritage in China. A great example is Adidas Skateboarding. Rather than focusing only on international talent they’ve been building relationships with many local skaters, including Johnny Tang, and promote skating in China on an organic, grass-roots level rather than a top-down campaign style. Adidas gets it in China.

- Work with the government both locally and nationally to push extreme sports in both schools and communities. Much like Nike did by pushing for more adoption of basketball courts in public schools around in China in the 1980’s, extreme sport brands can increase the amount of extreme sport parks in large AND small cities around China. This will encourage more kids at a younger age to participate in extreme sports.

Like most things in China, once something pushes past niche status, the floodgates are open and water is gushing out. And there is always one brand that is leading the way. There are many extreme sports right now in China at the niche level, waiting for both consumers and brand to push them to the next level.